Funded Projects

Problem:

This project responds to the need for demonstrated practice solutions to widespread unmet behavioral and mental health needs among children and adolescents in New Mexico. The overarching purpose of NM-ABC is to increase timely detection, assessment, treatment, care coordination and referral for children and adolescents presenting to pediatric primary care settings (including pediatric practices, family and community health practices, Federally Qualified Health Centers and other entities where primary care is provided to children and youth) with behavioral and mental health concerns.

Goals and Objectives:

The goal of NM-ABC is to increase timely detection, assessment, treatment, care coordination and referral for children and adolescents presenting to pediatric primary care set-tings, including pediatric practices, family and community health practices and Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Methodology:

NM-ABC will fulfill this purpose via a combination of training, resource development and dissemination, clinical and nonclinical consultation and care coordination using telehealth and virtual platforms that incorporate evidence-based clinical practices and the Project ECHO telehealth capacity-building approach.

Coordination:

The state's Title V program in the Department of Health, in partnership with three units of the University of New Mexico's Health Sciences Center -- the Center for

Development and Disability, the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychiatry - will establish a new statewide Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Network in New Mexico entitled NM Access to Behavioral Health for Children (NM-ABC).

Evaluation:

Assessing the quality of the New Mexico Access to Behavioral Health for Children (NM-ABC) program will focus on three components of the program as required in the Notice of Funding Opportunity:

• The experiences of and impact of the program on pediatric primary care practices ability to diagnose, treat, refer and respond to pediatric patients' behavioral and mental health need
• The quality of work by the NM-ABC core clinical and outreach team and adjunct faculty in providing TeleECHO continuing education and community training, clinical consultation, dissemination of information and care coordination within New Mexico as well as nationally
• The impact of the NM-ABC program on increasing access to timely behavioral health care for children and youth in NM