Pediatric Mental Health Care Access - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services proposes to expand MC3 Community, Michigan’s established statewide pediatric mental health care access program. MC3 provides pediatric and primary care providers with child and adolescent psychiatric consultation, behavioral health guidance, care coordination, provider education, and referral/resource support. Though available today, the needs continue to be great, and the expansion is necessary and timely. Michigan faces significant unmet pediatric needs related to mental health, substance use, neurodevelopmental and other general behavioral health needs, including depression, suicidality, trauma exposure, substance use concerns, early childhood behavioral health needs, and co-occurring medical and behavioral health conditions. These needs are compounded by shortages of child and adolescent psychiatrists and other behavioral health professionals, especially in rural areas, health professional shortage areas, medically underserved communities, and other high-need settings. As a result, pediatricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, school-based health clinicians, and other primary care providers are often responsible for managing behavioral health concerns despite limited specialty access and fragmented referral systems. MC3 Community will expand provider-to-provider teleconsultation and care coordination for providers serving children and youth across Michigan, with targeted outreach to rural and health professional shortage areas, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, Tribal Health Centers, school-based health settings, Medicaid/CHIP-serving practices, and other underserved settings. MC3 will also expand provider education on screening, assessment, treatment planning, medication management, referral, follow-up, suicide risk, trauma-informed care, adolescent substance use, early childhood behavioral health, family engagement, and practical non-pharmacologic strategies. The project will strengthen referral/resource infrastructure by curating trusted resources, improving regional referral information, identifying resource gaps, and developing tools and workflows to support referral navigation. Behavioral Health Consultants will support providers with care coordination, referral/resource navigation, and follow-up support for complex cases. By the end of the project period, MC3 Community will enroll at least 500 new providers, increase consultation and care coordination services by 5% from the Year 1 baseline, deliver at least 20 education activities, reach at least 500 providers through education, update or develop at least 5 online educational resources, curate or update at least 20 trusted resources, and develop or adapt at least 4 targeted tools or workflows. Through these activities, MC3 Community will help primary care providers identify behavioral health needs earlier, manage concerns more confidently, and connect children, youth, and families to appropriate behavioral health and community resources.
