By OPEN MINDS Circle
The Maryland Department of Health (MDH), Behavioral Health Administration, is rebidding its contract for the Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care program that helps pediatric primary care provider organizations integrate behavioral health care. On March 19, 2025, MDH began accepting applications to select one contractor. Applications were due by April 11, 2025. The contract is slated to begin on July 1, 2025, and run through June 30, 2026, followed by two one-year options. For the first year, funding of $1.7 million is available. Expenditures will be paid using a cost reimbursement model.
The contractor will provide training, case consultation, and behavioral health workforce expansion to help pediatric primary care professionals assess, diagnose, and treat behavioral health conditions. The goal is to address the gap in child and adolescent mental health services that is particularly prevalent in rural and remote communities with limited access to behavioral health services. The contractor will provide specialized training; one-on-one consultation on, and information about, the use of psychopharmacological medicines and related issues; and information on alternative psychosocial interventions that are available and appropriate for each youth’s and family’s needs. A special focus on providing additional social work supports in rural and underserved primary care settings is also included as a strategy for addressing workforce shortages in the child psychiatry field.
The request for applications (RFA BPM049191/BHA25-004) noted that the project is limited to university-based Schools of Medicine/ Department of Psychiatry with affiliation to a teaching hospital or must otherwise demonstrate an ability to provide all the services listed in the scope of work by itself or through a partnership. Additionally, the applicant shall be structured as a non-profit social organization.
The program launched as a pilot in 2012 and expanded statewide in 2013. It is offered at no cost to pediatric primary care and emergency department professionals to expand their capacity to diagnose and treat youth with behavioral health conditions. Currently, the services are provided via a partnership between the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Salisbury University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. It is is supported by funding from the MDH Behavioral Health Administration and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
For more information about the Program, contact: Maryland Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care; 855-632-4477; Website: https://mdbhipp.org/about-us/what-we-do/; or Chase Cook, Acting Director of Communications, Maryland Department of Health, 201 West Preston Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201-2399; 410-767-8649; Email: Chase.Cook@maryland.gov; Website: https://health.maryland.gov/
For more information about the RFA, contact: Crystal Hack, Procurement, Behavioral Health Administration, Finance and Procurement Division, Maryland Department of Health, 55 Wade Avenue, Catonsville, Maryland 21228; 410-627-6814; Email: crystal.hack@maryland.gov; Website: https://health.maryland.gov/