42 U.S.C. § 254c: Pediatric mental health care access grants

supporting the development of statewide or regional pediatric mental health care telehealth access programs; and supporting the improvement of existing statewide or regional pediatric mental health care telehealth access programs. be a statewide or regional network of pediatric mental health teams that provide support to pediatric primary care sites as an integrated team; support and further develop organized State or regional networks of pediatric mental health teams to provide consultative support to pediatric primary care sites; conduct an assessment of critical behavioral consultation needs among pediatric providers and such providers’ preferred mechanisms for receiving consultation, training, and technical assistance; develop an online database and communication mechanisms, including telehealth, to facilitate consultation support to pediatric practices; provide rapid statewide or regional clinical telephone or telehealth consultations when requested between the pediatric mental health teams and pediatric primary care providers; conduct training and provide technical assistance to pediatric primary care providers to support the early identification, diagnosis, treatment, and referral of children with behavioral health conditions; provide information to pediatric providers about, and assist pediatric providers in accessing, pediatric mental health care providers, including child and adolescent psychiatrists, developmental-behavioral pediatricians, and licensed mental health professionals, such as psychologists, social workers, or mental health counselors and in scheduling and conducting technical assistance; provide information to pediatric health care providers about available mental health services for children in the community and assist with referrals to specialty care and community or behavioral health resources; and establish mechanisms for measuring and monitoring increased access to pediatric mental health care services by pediatric primary care providers and expanded capacity of pediatric primary care providers to identify, treat, and refer children with mental health conditions. emergency departments; and State educational agencies, local educational agencies, Tribal educational agencies, and elementary and secondary schools. An entity receiving information, consultative support, training, and technical assistance under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall operate in a manner consistent with, and shall ensure consistency with, the requirements of subsections (a) and (c) of section 7101 of title 20 1 with respect to such information, consultative support, training, and technical assistance. 1 See References in Text note below. In this subsection, the term “pediatric mental health team” means a team consisting of at least one case coordinator, at least one child and adolescent psychiatrist, and at least one licensed clinical mental health professional, such as a psychologist, social worker, or mental health counselor, and which may include a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. Such a team may be regionally based. A State, political subdivision of a State, Indian Tribe, or Tribal organization seeking an award under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a plan for the comprehensive evaluation of activities that are carried out with funds received under such award. A State, political subdivision of a State, Indian Tribe, or Tribal organization that receives an award under this section shall prepare and submit an evaluation of activities that are carried out with funds received under such award to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably require, including a process and outcome evaluation. In administering awards under this section, the Secretary may coordinate with other agencies to ensure that funding opportunities are available to support access to reliable, high-speed Internet for providers. The Secretary may not make an award under this section unless the State, political subdivision of a State, Indian Tribe, or Tribal organization involved agrees, with respect to the costs to be incurred by the State, political subdivision of a State, Indian Tribe, or Tribal organization in carrying out the purpose described in this section, to make available non-Federal contributions (in cash or in kind) toward such costs in an amount that is not less than 20 percent of Federal funds provided in the award. provide, or continue to provide, technical assistance to recipients of awards under subsection (a); and award a grant or contract to an eligible public or nonprofit private entity (as determined by the Secretary) for the purpose of providing such technical assistance pursuant to this subsection. To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated, $31,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.