MAMH Awarded MGB Grant to Promote Pediatric Behavioral Health Urgent Care

The project will support grants to pilot pediatric urgent care programs providing timely, clinically appropriate services and support for children and adolescents to protect them from serious crises, emergency care, and unnecessary hospitalization.

The MGB award will build on MAMH's work since 2015 with the Children’s Mental Health Campaign (CMHC) to develop and promote a consensus based model for urgent care services for children and adolescents with behavioral health conditions. The Pediatric Behavioral Health Urgent Care study, funded by the Miller Innovation Fund and the Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation, was completed in response to findings from the C.F. Adams Charitable Trust-funded CMHC study of pediatric emergency department (ED) boarding. The project included collaboration with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, which supports demonstration of adult behavioral health urgent care.

With the MGB award, MAMH will plan and launch a competitive grant program targeted to comprehensive community behavioral health organizations in partnership with local schools serving children, youth, and families from culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse communities. MAMH will select grantees and support them with technical assistance, engage with them in a learning community, and evaluate their progress and outcomes with an eye to informing replication of the program model.

The award was announced Oct. 28 as part of a $50 million portfolio of community health and mental health investments that MGB is making in 20 different organizations to promote public health and equity in Massachusetts.