Virginia Includes Telehealth in New Pediatric Mental Health Program
Virginia has unveiled a program to help primary care providers improve care management for pediatric patients with mental health needs, and they'll be using telehealth to do so.
- Virginia has launched a statewide initiative to give children, teenagers and young adults better access to mental health services, including through telehealth channels.
The Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP), in development since 2018, aims to give the commonwealth’s primary care providers the resources to manage pediatric mental health. This includes access to online resources and education for the providers, virtual links to child psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers for consults, and connected health tools to help families get the help they need.
“Virginia ranks 41st in the nation for our mental health workforce, which is unacceptable,” Health and Human Resources Secretary Daniel Carey, MD, MHCM, said in a press release that accompanied a ceremony this past weekend. “The Virginia Mental Health Access Program – more than three years in the making with partners and resources in place throughout the commonwealth – is a significant step forward in helping Virginia’s families access the kind of mental health care they need for their children.”