Pediatric Support Services: Improving Access to Mental and Behavioral Health Resources
Grant Status: Completed
Training Category: Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program (HTPCP)
Project Director(s):
Kerry K Sease, MD, MPH, FAAP
Prisma Health
255 Enterprise Blvd, Suite 110
Greenville, SC 29615
Phone: 864-454-1090
FAX: 864-454-1114
Email: Kerry.Sease@prismahealth.org
Problem:
Access to timely, appropriate specialized mental and behavioral health care remains a challenge for many pediatric patients and their families, particularly those living in underserved areas and those with multiple concurrent concerns. This project will improve the health status of children, adolescents and their families by enhancing care coordination and improving case management of pediatric patients with mental and behavioral health concerns.
Goals and Objectives:
Improve pediatric mental and behavioral health by increasing screening rates and improving access to care. Objective(s): 1: Increase rates of physician screening and referral for mental and behavioral health concerns; 2: Enhance the availability of relevant, up-to-date and appropriate mental and behavioral health care resources to which providers can refer patients and their families; 3: Increase the connection rate of pediatric patients to mental and behavioral health services.
Methodology:
The proposed project will add mental and behavioral health to the existing Pediatric Support Services (PSS) initiative coordinated by the Bradshaw Institute for Community Child Health & Advocacy within Children's Hospital of Greenville Health System (GHS) in Greenville, South Carolina. It will provide mental and behavioral health screening and referral training to pediatric practices, create a robust referral database (CORD) and provide care coordination via CONNECT.
Coordination:
Project roles include Project Director (PD): Kerry Sease, MD, MPH; Project Manager (PM): Lisa Soenen, MSW; Project Coordinator (PC): to be hired; Project Evaluator (PE): Jacqueline Forrester, MPH; and the Project Advisory Board. Each member of the team will have specific responsibilities as outlined in the attached work plan.
Evaluation:
The proposed project will be evaluated rigorously to measure the extent to which the project objectives have been met, as well as the extent to which these outcomes can be attributed to the work of the project. To do so, the project team and an internal evaluation specialist within Bradshaw Institute, with oversight from the Project Advisory Board, will prioritize data collection, analysis and continuous quality improvement throughout the project's five-year lifespan.