Rural Healthcare: Assessment of the Need for Pediatric Behavioral Health ECHO

Pediatric behavioral and mental health is under served in many rural counties across the country. Primary care providers manage many patients within this population. The purpose of this project is to assess the need for pediatric behavioral and mental health services in rural Utah. The objectives of this project are to: (1) Assess the need of pediatric behavioral and mental health support in rural Utah primary and pediatric providers; (2) increase provider knowledge of Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO); its usefulness and schedule to providers within Uintah County, Utah; (3) explore the utilization of teleconsultation (e.g. Project ECHO) to address pediatric behavioral/mental health in rural Utah. One of the fastest growing populations of mental health patients is among pediatric and adolescent age groups. The prevalence of diagnosable psychiatric disorders among this population in the United States is estimated to be as high as 32%. Due to the lack of specialty behavioral healthcare providers, primary care practitioners provide a large proportion of behavioral health care in rural America. The Project ECHO teleconsultation program has been successful in helping to expand specialty healthcare to rural communities and is a cost-free partnership between community healthcare providers and a University of Utah interdisciplinary team of specialists. Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes sessions consist of providers presenting cases for specialty consultation through televideo conference. A pediatric behavioral and mental health needs assessment was developed and conducted in the form of a questionnaire sent to rural Utah primary and pediatric providers. This was an electronic questionnaire distributed in cooperation with the Association for Utah Community Health (AUCH), Utah Academy of Family Physicians (UAFP), as well as the University of Utah Project ECHO. An educational presentation was presented to rural primary and pediatric providers within Uintah County, Utah. Disseminated information from needs assessment was presented to Project ECHO coordinators and the administrative team for consideration and discussion of possible pediatric behavioral health ECHO delivery options in the future. In summary, this project aims to: (1) provide supporting evidence of the need for a pediatric behavioral health ECHO implementation; (2) provide support and knowledge to rural providers concerning Project ECHO; specifically in the area of pediatric behavioral and mental health; (3) increase behavioral health delivery in rural and underserved counties of Utah; (4) begin discussion of implementing a pediatric behavioral health ECHO with planning of said project to take place in the near future.