Boston Children's Physicians' Group Receives $1 Million in Additional Funding to Support Innovative Behavioral Health Integration Program

BOSTON, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pediatric Physicians' Organization at Children's (PPOC), a preferred Boston Children's Hospital Community of Care member and one of largest pediatric primary care physician organizations in the U.S., announced that it has received an additional $1 million dollars in funding from the Payor-Provider Quality Initiative, to expand its behavioral health integration (BHI) program aimed at improving access to pediatric behavioral health services for children and families in need.

The new program involves collaboration between the PPOC and Boston Children's Departments of Psychiatry and Social Work. "Boston Children's and the PPOC share the goal of providing the highest quality pediatric care in convenient community settings," said Sandra Fenwick, president and CEO of Boston Children's. "Through the behavioral health integration program, the PPOC has taken an important step towards meeting that goal by improving access to care and more seamless coordination of services for our patients and their families with behavioral health needs."

The PPOC's program has received a total of nearly $2 million in funding through the Provider-Payer Quality Initiative (PPQI), a unique partnership established by Boston Children's with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Care and state Medicaid. Launched in 2009, the PPQI's mission is to accelerate the transformation of the pediatric care delivery system by exploring innovative approaches, models, tools and technologies to improve health outcomes and reduce medical costs.

"The issue of behavioral health care services delivery is a major challenge facing primary care physician [PCP] practices," said Greg Young, MD, president and CEO of the PPOC. "Through the behavioral health integration program, we believe we can improve health outcomes for thousands of children and their families, while also taking steps to reduce health care costs."

The program implements a new model of care, integrating behavioral health specialists in PPOC practices to assess patients, provide treatment, and make referrals as necessary. Integrating behavioral health providers, along with strengthening partnerships with community-based clinicians and specialists from Boston Children's department of Psychiatry, will increase access and shorten wait times for needed services.

In a recent survey by the PPOC of its physician members, 71 of 72 practices said that addressing gaps in behavioral health service delivery was their top clinical priority. The PPOC's new program aims to address these gaps in services by bringing together several components including the creation of a behavioral health learning community for PCPs, nurses, medical home care coordinators, and other practice staff.  The learning community provides continuous education for the medical home team on the specific behavioral health needs of children.  The PPOC's BHI team is also providing clinical and operational support to practices that are transforming their model of care to include the management of behavioral health as a core competency.  "There is a tremendous need for primary care physicians to think more holistically about child health and expand their capacity to address childhood health issues beyond the physical," says Jonathan Benjamin, MD, a PPOC physician with Drs. Benjamin, Spingarn, & Rottenberg in Newton, Mass. "The PPOC's new program will help PCPs address their patients' behavioral health needs, ultimately providing better care for patients and their families."

"As pediatricians become more effective at managing routine behavioral health problems in primary care, we hope it will free-up capacity among community-based behavioral health specialists to see more patients who require more intensive and longer-term care," says Jonas Bromberg, PsyD, program manager for the behavioral health integration initiative. "It's a priority for the program to make an impact like this across the larger continuum of community care.  As members of the primary care team become more attuned to early signs of behavioral health problems, we have the opportunity to intervene earlier, before problems get too big.  This means better care and results for patients, while improving the quality of care and reducing costs."

"Our doctors are now able to introduce families directly to a behavioral health clinician, which is very powerful for the families when they can meet someone inside the pediatrician's office. Behavioral health care is better coordinated in this model, and we are intervening with families earlier, which is extremely powerful for providers and families," says Lester Hartman, MD, a PPOC Physician with Westwood-Mansfield Pediatrics.  "My hope is that we will see adolescents who have anxiety as children take control of it and prevent depression. In this way it's also a prevention model."

A highly innovative element of the program is a twice-monthly case rounds, which uses  high-quality video conferencing technology to allow PCPs to present and discuss challenging cases with a team of clinical experts that includes a child psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist, and a clinical social worker.  "These sessions provide direct clinical support to the team presenting the case, and are a channel for continuous learning for the other participants," says Glenn Focht, MD, the PPOC's Chief Medical Officer.  "These regularly scheduled telehealth sessions have had demonstrable impacts on pediatrician's ability to improve clinical practice and enhance the quality of care they are providing to children and families with behavioral health needs."

"We're not simply creating easier ways for pediatricians to pass these problems downstream, but are transforming the way pediatricians think and practice," says Dr. Bromberg.  "We are building a new culture of pediatric care in which PCPs routinely involve a behavioral health clinician in their patient care.  We want providers and families to understand that mental health is health, and that primary care includes attention to medical and mental health issues."

The PPOC's BHI program will be a featured participant in Boston Children's Hospital's State House Breakfast on April 30^th, where physician's and staff from the hospital will meet with elected officials to advocate for legislation to keep children healthy and safe.

About the Pediatric Physicians Organization at Children's (PPOC)
The PPOC is the largest pediatric primary care physician organization in Massachusetts and one of the largest in the U.S.  Members of the PPOC are an exclusive group of more than 80 practices and over 280 physicians in Eastern Massachusetts. Committed to providing the highest quality family-centered care, PPOC physicians are also on the medical staff at Boston Children's Hospital. The PPOC is collaborating with Boston Children's to better integrate primary, specialty and hospital care.  The PPOC has been recognized for its high scores on quality and efforts to reduce the cost of care.

About Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital has been ranked as one of the nation's best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for the past 23 years. Offering a full range of pediatric services for patients from birth through early adulthood, Boston Children's is home to the world's premier pediatric research facility and is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Through Boston Children's Community of Care, Boston Children's physicians provide world-class, community-based pediatric and pediatric specialty care throughout eastern Massachusetts. For more information on locations please visit: bostonchildrens.org/locations.

CONTACT:
Bethany Tripp
Boston Children's Hospital
617-919-3110
[email protected]

SOURCE Boston Children's Hospital

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