Virginia Includes Telehealth in New Pediatric Mental Health Program

Virginia has launched a statewide initiative to give children, teenagers and young adults better access to mental health services, including through telehealth channels.

The Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP), in development since 2018, aims to give the commonwealth’s primary care providers the resources to manage pediatric mental health. This includes access to online resources and education for the providers, virtual links to child psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers for consults, and connected health tools to help families get the help they need.

“Virginia ranks 41st in the nation for our mental health workforce, which is unacceptable,” Health and Human Resources Secretary Daniel Carey, MD, MHCM, said in a press release that accompanied a ceremony this past weekend. “The Virginia Mental Health Access Program – more than three years in the making with partners and resources in place throughout the commonwealth – is a significant step forward in helping Virginia’s families access the kind of mental health care they need for their children.”

Unveiled in connection with National Mental Health Awareness Month, the effort is part of a strong national push to address rising rates of stress, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, due in part to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Children and young adults have been especially hard hit.

The program has four key components – including telehealth, which officials said would be integrated with the statewide network later this year. The other components are education, access to behavioral health consults and care navigation for patients and their families.

The addition of connected health platforms is expected to enhance a program that has focused primarily on telephone services over the past two years, during which more than 500 PCPs have used the consult line for more than 1,000 consults, and more than 450 PCPs have received training.

The program was borne out of a five-year, $2.25 million grant awarded to the commonwealth in 2018 by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In 2019, Governor Ralph Northam budgeted $1.2 million to support the program, and in 2020 he set aside an additional $4.2 million.

Virginia’s announcement comes on the heels of a federal announcement last week to add more than $14 million from the American Rescue Program to expand the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) program. Overseen by the HRSA, the program now consists of 21 projects in 21 states, including Virginia.

Advocates hope that the emphasis on telehealth will help overworked primary care providers access the support they need to not only provide better care for their patients, but improve their own workflows and lifestyles. The platform also offers more opportunities to reach underserved patients and connect with those who can’t or won’t visit a doctor’s office or clinic.