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Currently Skimming:

3 Promoting Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health for Children Across Sectors
Pages 15-32

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From page 15...
... FEDERAL- AND STATE-LEVEL STRATEGIES The federal and state governments play an important role in advancing MEB health for children. The federal level typically involves laws and guidance, one participant said, and the state level is focused more on the rollout and implementation of those laws.
From page 16...
... to 21 states to look at pediatric mental health care access; funding for seven states to conduct screening and treatment for maternal depression-related behavioral disorders; and the Integrated Care for Kids state payment model through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) .2 A challenge to the design of these policies at the state level is the lack of systematic implementation, making it difficult to share lessons across states or understand whether certain interventions have worked for other similar communities or regions, according to one participant.
From page 17...
... One person noted that one of the problems that led to the HRSA behavioral health access grants was the trouble pediatricians often had in finding psychiatrists to whom to refer patients. There often were long wait times for referrals, and families had a hard time accessing care.
From page 18...
... However, they were able to identify five big bucket areas to coalesce around to make their voices more powerful: workforce, insurance coverage and repayment, integration of MEB health into pediatric primary care, early identification and intervention, and mental health parity (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Coalition, 2019)
From page 19...
... Through a health resource center, they receive help that includes securing health insurance, accessing substance abuse programs; and accessing community services such as food stamps, energy assistance, and housing.4 The fourth example came from the maternal and child health sector in Indianola, Mississippi, where infant and maternal mortality rates were abnormally high. Five years ago, the Delta Health System went to communities to identify leaders and gave them a stipend to reach out to pregnant mothers and connect them with the health system.
From page 20...
... Barriers to Success While there has been clearly demonstrated success at the local and community levels in this area, participants identified barriers as well. Four big barriers to engagement mentioned by participants were transportation, language, child care, and food.
From page 21...
... In O ­ regon, a participant shared, the policy landscape created early childhood hubs for collective impact. Recommendations from the Oregon Health ­ olicy Board, through its Care Coordination Organizations (CCOs)
From page 22...
... Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development is full of resources and important findings and recommendations. Those messages could be translated into shorter and more digestible pieces, another participant added, making it easier to reach interested policy makers and researchers.
From page 23...
... The participant suggested that organizations such as the National Academies could invest in learning how to distinctly brand and bring authenticity to researchers so they can deliver important messages to legislators and business leaders without getting caught up in technical details and statistics. Lauren Caldwell, director of the Children, Youth and Families Office of the American Psychological Association, said her office helps businesses see the return on investment by bringing in researchers to conduct studies.
From page 24...
... EDUCATION STRATEGIES Formal school settings have much to offer in terms of improving MEB health, as children spend a large portion of their day in school. Some par­ ticipants suggested the importance of informal settings, too, including out-of-school time, adult learning programs, and early child care environments to ensure this effort is comprehensive and takes advantage of all opportunities.
From page 25...
... Teachers and educational providers can focus on promoting student success, tying ­ "wins" into self-esteem and self-efficacy, and empowering students to prevent dropout and promote their success across physical, cognitive, and emotional dimensions. Short-term behavioral health interventions were also suggested as a promising practice in the education sector.
From page 26...
... For example, one participant shared the prospect of "contagion" efforts and social network mapping, which provides insight into who child or youth leaders are and where problems may arise. Partnering with marketing and communications groups is another new idea that can positively frame these interventions to show they are about broadly influencing workforce development, the well-being of adults, and more, not only about children.
From page 27...
... This discussion centered on the need to partner with schools, daycares, summer programs, and other specialists to achieve the goal of improved MEB health for children. MEB Health Challenges for Children and Families Describing the current situation in health care, Thomas Boat estimated around 5 percent of the total childhood population in the United States has a disabling, complex, chronic disorder that needs ongoing medical a ­ ttention.
From page 28...
... This investment could include behavioral health integration in emergency department, inpatient, or outpatient settings; training primary care providers on mental health; or better care management to ensure that children do not fall through the cracks of the system. Overall, there is a need for more common language across disciplines, aligning messaging to disseminate the information in a way that can start changing societal attitudes.
From page 29...
... A participant noted that capturing and harvesting data from outside the health care system should be improved so it is easier to understand whether children are meeting the functional outcomes that are being examined. Current EHRs do not do a good job of communicating with other systems and are also not conducive to behavioral health needs and reporting.
From page 30...
... . This is a scalable program, he said, and an example of how to be more creative in scaling behavioral health promotion.
From page 31...
... Some states are using proceeds from tobacco taxes and sugar-sweetened beverage taxes to fund early childhood development programs, which is a win in two ways. Suggestions for the Forum's Work One participant suggested a role for the Forum, as a neutral convener, in working together with relevant stakeholders to see what it could look like to have MEB health fully integrated into the child health care system.


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