CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A partnership between two West Virginia health initiatives are now bringing their resources together to combat the limited access of child and adolescent psychiatry services in the state.
Aetna Better Health of West Virginia, who provided $1.5 million in support, and Community Care of West Virginia recently have come together to develop the Critical Access to Pediatric Psychiatry Program (CAPP WV).
According to the two organizations, it’s a “pioneering initiative aimed at providing rapid access to specialized child psychiatry services for at risk-populations throughout West Virginia.”
Community Care Behavioral Health Chief Medical Officer Kevin Junkins said it’s a great need which various limitations in the state have perpetuated for far too long.
“We in West Virginia, we’re the most oppressed state in the nation, we’re in the midst of the substance epidemic, we have a lot of socio-economic disparities, and unfortunately, we don’t have the mental health resources in the state, especially the rural parts,” Junkins told MetroNews.
Aetna Behavioral Health Medical Director Lauren Swager reiterated that the need for mental health resources to children in the state is vital, and it’s also being prolonged by the growing number of kids struggling with depression, anxiety, among other mental health-related issues. 
“It’s a desperate need in terms of need, our families on every survey beg us for more mental health support, our providers often acknowledge their wish to have access to more specialized care, whether it’s medications, therapies, diagnosis,” said Swager.
Junkins said it’s a systematic problem that disproportionately affects more at-risk populations of children, such as those in the foster care system and adoptees.
CAPP WV is meant to bridge the gap between access to child psychiatry and at-risk populations statewide by enhancing that access to specialized care and psychiatric evaluations directly in the state to limit the need for them to travel out-of-state to receive it.
“One of the things that we found is that a lot of these children who are maybe involved in the system, maybe getting involved in juvenile justice is that they hadn’t had a psychiatric evaluation, that hadn’t had the opportunity to be involved in proper psychiatric care,” said Junkins. “They had a primary care provider who was doing the best they could, but they didn’t have access to that specialized care.”
CAPP WV will serve Aetna members enrolled in the state’s Mountain Health Promise program, including children in foster care and other similar adoption care organizations.
The program will collaborate with pediatricians and primary care physicians to provide recommendations for behavioral health experts.
The program will also provide timely psychiatric evaluations in emergencies, ensure that critical expertise is available at small rural ERs, and facilitate bridging appointments to long-term established behavioral health providers.
“This will help us take some of the burden off of the rural care providers who are really feeling the brunt of the mental health crisis because they don’t have access to those mental health resources and to that specialized care, we’re going to be there to help give them opinions and help guid their care so they can feel better about the care they’re providing but also so they can have better outcomes,” said Junkins.