Funded Projects

Problem:

Children and youth in South Dakota are experiencing significant mental health care needs, which are exacerbated by the chronic shortage of health care and mental health professionals, and numerous barriers to accessing care. Capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of children with behavioral health conditions in primary care settings in South Dakota is limited by many challenges rooted in geographic, demographic, and economic disparities and characteristics of the state, and persistent provider shortages. Within each of these categories, unique socio-cultural disparities exist, especially within American Indian and Tribal communities. In response, this project seeks to address these challenges by establishing a new statewide Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) program. The purpose of this program is to promote behavioral health integration into pediatric primary care and increase capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of child and adolescent behavioral health conditions by reducing disparities in access to behavioral health care, especially in rural and underserved areas. We will accomplish this through establishing training and technical assistance, resource development and dissemination, and a tele-consultation platform using evidence-based practices.

Goals and Objectives:

Goal: Increase capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of child and adolescent behavioral health conditions in primary care settings by reducing disparities in access to behavioral health care, especially in rural and other underserved areas.

Objective 1: Engage with key stakeholders to establish an advisory board, obtain content expertise, and recruit primary care practices and providers to participate in the program.

Objective 2: Establish a training and technical assistance program utilizing Project ECHO to increase capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of child and adolescent behavioral health conditions in primary care settings.

Objective 3: Establish a statewide Pediatric Behavioral Health Resource Website and Pediatric Behavioral Health Consultation Line to increase capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of child and adolescent behavioral health conditions in primary care settings.

Methodology:

In response, this project seeks to address these challenges by establishing a new statewide Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) program. The purpose of this program is to promote behavioral health integration into pediatric primary care and increase capacity to provide routine screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of child and adolescent behavioral health conditions by reducing disparities in access to behavioral health care, especially in rural and underserved areas. We will accomplish this through establishing training and technical assistance, resource development and dissemination, and a tele-consultation platform using evidence-based practices.

Coordination:

University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, Avera Health, Sanford Health, Horizon Health, South Dakota Department of Health-MCH Title V Program, South Dakota Department of Social Services-Division of Behavioral Health, Helpline Center, Urban Indian Health, and Monument Health.

Evaluation:

It is our intention to design a local evaluation that both measures the program's performance as it relates to federally established criteria and speaks to the overall success and impact of the SD-PMHCA program across all participating community settings, as well as provides answers to questions of local/rural/tribal interest within each community setting.

Assessing the quality of the South Dakota Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program (SD-PMHCA) program will focus on four goals as required in the Notice of Funding Opportunity:

• Increase the number of providers using the program for real-time behavioral consultations and/or care coordination support services (including referrals).
• Increase the number of providers trained on child and adolescent behavioral disorders, including screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
• Increase the number of provider trainings that incorporate equity and respectful or culturally and linguistically responsive care.
• Increase the number of children and adolescents for whom a provider contacted the program for consultation and/or care coordination support services, especially those living in rural and other underserved areas.