Ohio investing $84M in initiative to improve behavioral health care for children
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that Ohio is investing $84 million to increase access to services and support for behavioral health care for children.
“When children are mentally, behaviorally and physically stable and healthy, they are more likely to do better in school, avoid potentially risky behaviors and make sounder decisions, putting them on paths that will help them reach their full potential,” DeWine said in a news release.
Funding for the initiative
The Pediatric Behavioral Health Initiative will use American Rescue Plan funds that were allocated in House Bill 168, which was sponsored by state Reps. Mike Loychik of Bazetta, R-63rd, and Mark Frazier of Newark, R-71st.
Funding has been awarded to:
Akron Children’s Hospital: $7 million, to help create regional behavioral health centers to provide psychiatric services, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs and outpatient therapy. The project will increase access to behavioral health services in local communities and provide opportunities to partner with community agencies to fill gaps in services.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center: $10 million, to help fund a new inpatient facility at the College Hill Campus that will feature private rooms for patients, a new neurobehavioral partial hospitalization program, along with a severe behavioral day treatment program, dedicated areas for therapy and additional treatment space.
Dayton Children’s Hospital: $25 million, to help build a new mental health building that would double inpatient treatment capacity, expand the partial hospitalization program, increase access to psychology services and add a bridge service to ensure smooth transitions for children and their families as they transition from one level of care to another.
ProMedica Russell J. Ebeid Children’s Hospital: $17 million, to renovate existing space in its inpatient pediatric psychiatry unit, establish an ambulatory outpatient building with comprehensive resources to better serve families and work with local partners to develop services and programs to meet the community’s needs.
University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s: $15 million, to renovate and expand its inpatient Children Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, creating sensory-friendly spaces and leveraging technology to better accommodate patients.
Appalachian Children’s Coalition — Integrated Services for Behavioral Health: $6.45 million, to expand the Youth and Family Wellness Center in Chillicothe, strengthening southeast Ohio’s Behavioral Health System of Care and reducing the need for families to travel long distances to receive specialized care. Integrated Services also expects to use the funding to help renovate the Mary Hill Center for Youth building in Nelsonville and fund family-friendly recovery housing.
Appalachian Children’s Coalition — Hopewell Health Centers: $3.55 million, to renovate space in local schools in southeast Ohio to house fully integrated health centers to help meet the primary care, behavioral health and therapeutic needs for the schools. In addition, funds will be used to renovate buildings for Hopewell Health Centers REACH Youth Partial Hospitalization Program.
Funding for behavioral health care education
On Friday, DeWine, along with Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Lori Criss and Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner, announced a plan to make education more attainable and affordable for students committed to behavioral health care careers.
The state is investing $85 million in federal funds to enhance paid internship and scholarship opportunities for students working to achieve behavioral health certifications and degrees at Ohio’s two- and four-year colleges and universities and other educational career development settings.
“The health and success of Ohio’s families and communities depends on our ability to recruit, train and retain the best talent to ensure Ohio has the most robust behavioral health workforce possible,” DeWine said in a news release.
The $85 million investment is part of the $212 million available in the Home and Community-Based Services Workforce Development Strategic Fund through the Ohio Department of Medicaid as part of the American Rescue Plan, the release states.
Additional details of the plan will be announced in the coming weeks, according to the release.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 12:00 AM.