This program brings behavioral health consultation, training, and support to pediatric primary care and other providers so that children’s mental health needs are met.
Access the FY 2023 Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) Awards Chart or the FY 2022 PMHCA Awards Chart to find the organizations and amounts HRSA invested.
Are you a provider who needs support providing pediatric behavioral health care?
Access Information and Tele-consultation Services
Increasing access to pediatric mental health care
We want to make sure that providers working with children in primary care practices, schools, emergency departments and other settings are confident and competent to screen and help children with behavioral conditions. Our Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) programs build workforce capacity.
We aim to make early identification, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of behavioral conditions a routine part of children's health care services. We fund state and regional pediatric mental health care teams. These teams provide:
- Tele-consultation and training to pediatric primary care providers
- Resources and referrals to providers, families, and community members
PMHCA quick facts
- Funding began in 2018 with $10 million dollars to fund 21 PMHCA programs.
- In 2021, the American Rescue Plan provided additional funding of $80 million dollars, supporting 29 PMHCA awards through 2025.
- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enacted in 2022, provided an additional $80 million dollars over 4 years for PMHCA. This allows program expansion to hospital emergency departments and schools. Forty-nine PMHCA programs received 1-year expansion awards. Three national organizations, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center (EIIC), and the School-Based Health Alliance, also received 1-year expansion awards to provide technical assistance to PMHCA expansion award recipients.
- In 2023, the program awarded $19 million to 25 recipients. The awards to the AAP and EIIC also continue for another year.
- 54 programs now reach 46 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Chickasaw Nation, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.
Awardee guidance and resources
- FY23 New Awardee Orientation (October 23, 2023) and slide deck (PDF)
- PMHCA fact sheet (PDF - 1 MB)
- PMHCA program evaluation (PDF)
- Performance reporting resources
- Maternal and Child Health Tele-Behavioral Health Programs Annual Meeting (August 28-29, 2023)
- Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief: Considerations for Using Telemental Health Services for Children and Youth
- Using Telemental Health Services to Meet the Needs of Children and Youth: A Virtual Workshop
- Tips for AAP Chapters: Increasing Access to Behavioral Health Care via Telehealth by Partnering with Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Programs
- Pediatric Primary Care Provider Comfort with Mental Health Practices: A Needs Assessment of Regions with Shortages of Treatment Access (PDF)
- Trends in Mental Health Concerns Reported to Two Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF)
- Addressing National Workforce Shortages by Funding Child Psychiatry Access Programs (PDF)
- Academic-Community Partnership to Improve Pediatric Mental Health Access: Missouri Child Psychiatry Access Project (PDF)
- A Systematic Review of the Methods Used to Evaluate Child Psychiatry Access Programs (PDF)
Awardee videos
- Maryland Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care (BHIPP) Video
- Michigan Child Collaborative Care-Connect Video
- MS Child Access to Mental Health and Psychiatry (CHAMP) Video
- Missouri Child Psychiatry Access Project (MO-CPAP) Video
- Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP) Video
- DCPAP (DE) Video
- Alabama PATHS program
- Kansas KSKidsMAP program
- New Jersey Pediatric Psychiatry Collaborative Pediatric Psychiatry Collaborative Introduction Video 2019 - YouTube
- Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program
PMHCA map
Map of the United States and territories showing which areas received HRSA PMHCA funding, as well as special topical areas including schools, emergency departments, both, or other.
HRSA-PMHCA Funding: Alabama (schools); Alaska (schools); Arkansas (schools); California (schools); Colorado (both); Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (general); Connecticut (both); Delaware (both); District of Columbia (schools); Federated States of Micronesia (general); Florida (emergency departments); Georgia (general); Guam (both); Hawaii (general); Illinois (general); Indiana (emergency departments); Iowa (general); Kansas (schools); Kentucky (schools); Louisiana (both); Maine (both); Maryland (emergency departments); Massachusetts (general); Michigan (both); Minnesota (emergency departments); Mississippi (schools); Missouri (schools); Montana (schools); Nebraska (both); Nevada (general); New Hampshire (schools); New Jersey (emergency departments); New Mexico (schools); New York (schools); North Carolina (schools); North Dakota (schools); Ohio (both); Oklahoma (emergency departments); Palau (both); Rhode Island (both); South Carolina (schools); South Dakota (both); Tennessee (both); U S Virgin Islands (schools); Utah (both); Vermont (schools); Virginia (emergency departments); Washington (both); West Virginia (emergency departments); Wisconsin (emergency departments); Wyoming (both).
Not HRSA-PMHCA funded: American Samoa; Arizona; Idaho; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Puerto Rico; Republic of the Marshall Islands; Texas.
Points of interest. Tarrant County, Texas, received HRSA PMHCA initial and expanded funding for schools (the rest of the state did not receive funding). The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma received initial and expanded funding for both schools and emergency departments (the rest of the state received funding for emergency departments only). Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians (CI) in Minnesota received initial and expanded funding for schools (the rest of the state received funding for emergency departments).
Contact our project officers
- Madhavi M. Reddy, M.S.P.H. - 301-443-0754
- Cara de la Cruz, Ph.D. - 301-443-0764
- Kelly Hughes, M.P.H. - 301-945-3331
- Katie Gainer, M.P.H. - 240-463-5092
- Jordanna Snyder, M.P.H., CHES - 301-945-9482
- Patrice Moss, M.P.H. - 301-287-0112
- Kaitlyn Craig, M.A. - 240-475-2603