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.
HHS recently announced a $27M the expansion of this work. Read the October 3, 2022 Press Release.
Access the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (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 $12.9 million dollars.
- Programs now reach 43 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, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enacted in 2022, provides an additional $80 million dollars over 4 years for PMHCA. This will allow the program to expand to hospital emergency departments and schools. Forty-nine PMHCA programs received 1-year expansion awards. Three national organizations, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center, and the School-Based Health Alliance, also received 1-year expansion awards to provide technical assistance to PMHCA expansion award recipients.
Awardee Guidance and Resources
- PMHCA fact sheet (PDF - 178 KB)
- Performance reporting resources
- PMHCA Second Annual All-Awardee Meeting (July 8-9, 2021) - Access the recording, objectives, slides, state sustainability information, and the meeting booklet.
- 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 - 226 KB)
- Trends in Mental Health Concerns Reported to Two Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF - 552 KB)
- Addressing National Workforce Shortages by Funding Child Psychiatry Access Programs (PDF - 697 KB)
- Academic-Community Partnership to Improve Pediatric Mental Health Access: Missouri Child Psychiatry Access Project (PDF - 471 KB)
- A Systematic Review of the Methods Used to Evaluate Child Psychiatry Access Programs (PDF - 271 KB)
Contact Our Project Officers
- Madhavi M. Reddy, MSPH - 301-443-0754
- Cara de la Cruz, PhD - 301-443-0764
- Kelly Hughes, MPH - 301-945-3331
- Katherine Gainer, MPH - 678-333-8825
- Jordanna Snyder, MPH, CHES - 301-945-9482
- Patrice Moss, MPH - 301-287-0112