Early Childhood Mental Health Specialty Program
Project Description:
The Autism in Primary Care (APC) program has had direct impact on access for children and families, primarily those coming from the most economically disadvantaged and racially marginalized communities in our area. The APC program began small (with just two psychologists) and has grown to a team of five integrated mental health psychologists serving four primary care sites (Anacostia, ARC, Shaw, Columbia Heights) within CNH's Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health, which primarily serves DC's Medicaid population. Since 2019, this program has successfully served over 250 children and families in receiving timely, equitable autism evaluation. As reported in our recent publication from data analyses with 250 children, 81.2% of evaluations resulted in a new diagnosis of autism and services were provided with significantly less wait time (M=90.38 days, SD=57.52) than standard of care requiring referral to a tertiary care setting (M=158.08 days, SD=85.34). This program has also improved efficiency in our hospital system by leveraging the resource of embedded mental health psychologists in primary care settings to provide a critical service of autism diagnostic evaluation for well-triaged, high-risk children.
Core Function(s):
Performing Direct and/or Demonstration Services
Area of Emphasis
Quality Assurance, Health-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Urban
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Regional
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
