Rural Telepsychiatry

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Awards $48,125 for TTUHSC El Paso’s Rural Telepsych for Youth Program

Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® grant helps children in rural counties access psychiatric care; extends program through June 2023

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas has awarded Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso’s Department of Psychiatry $48,125 to extend a program providing mental health care to youngsters in rural communities across West Texas.

The funds come from the health insurer’s 2022 Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® initiative and will be used for TTUHSC El Paso’s Rural Telepsych for Youth program. Rural Telepsych for Youth was launched in February 2022 with a $40,000 Healthy Kids, Health Families® grant. The new grant will extend the program through June 2023.

Rural Telepsych for Youth complements two existing programs, Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine, and the Child Psychiatry Access Network, that are helping families across West Texas access mental health care for their children. Those programs, abbreviated as TCHATT and CPAN, are part of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, established in 2019 by the Texas Legislature.

TTUHSC El Paso serves as the West Texas hub for TCHATT and CPAN. Both programs focus on providing rapid access to mental health services for West Texas families. TCHATT reaches 36 West Texas school districts in a vast geographic region that’s home to approximately 200,000 children, while CPAN is responsible for a 16-county network along the Texas-Mexico border from El Paso to Eagle Pass. You can learn more about the programs at elpaso.ttuhsc.edu/youthmentalhealth.

Rural Telepsych for Youth benefits residents of 15 rural West Texas counties by offering children in need of mental or behavioral health care up to 12 telepsychiatry sessions instead of five sessions normally offered through TCHATT and CPAN.

Rural Telepsych for Youth is already making an impact by providing care for 33 youngsters currently enrolled in the program. The youngsters, from 10 West Texas counties, have received a total of 136 visits to date.

“With greater access to care, children and adolescents can receive treatment sooner in the course of their illness and have a much better chance of recovering fully,” said Sarah Martin, M.D., medical director of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium at TTUHSC El Paso. “If psychiatric symptoms are treated early, young people are much more likely to graduate from high school and college or technical school and be able to have functional relationships, both at work and in their personal lives. This program serves patients in rural counties who do not have a psychiatrist.”

Accessing mental health care in rural communities is very challenging for young patients because resources are limited and can be located many hours away.

Texas ranks 50th in the nation for mental health workforce availability. Studies show that the mental health workforce shortage affects more people than primary care and dental workforce shortages combined. Additionally, only 27% of mental health need is being met in Health Professional Shortage Areas.

Rural Telepsych for Youth is an internal referral program for the patients TTUHSC El Paso serves through TCHATT and CPAN. It’s ideal for children who can benefit from additional mental health treatment.

“Young individuals have experienced a number of unique stressors in the past few years that have affected their sense of safety and access to social support,” said TTUHSC El Paso’s Nancy Ramirez, Psy.D., clinical director for the Rural Telepsych for Youth program and the providing licensed psychologist. “Additional therapy sessions provide increased support to these families by helping children make sense of their experiences and learn coping skills to manage difficulties – from normal experiences like worry, to more disruptive experiences like anxiety and depression. Children are taught coping skills to self-soothe as well as skills to seek support. It also allows for the inclusion of parents in treatment to help them identify and learn ways to support their children.”

The $48,125 grant is part of nearly $2.1 million in Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® grants Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas issued to 54 community-based organizations statewide in 2022-2023. The initiative focuses on health and wellness and targets socioeconomic and other health impacts.

“In partnership with, and through the funding provided by Healthy Kids, Healthy Families grants, we are able to continue our focus on our four key pillars, while also addressing equity in economic opportunity such as job training, scholarships, transportation and education,” said Sheena Payne, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas’s director of community affairs. “The 2022-2023 Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® grantees that were selected demonstrated inventiveness and focus in putting together impactful programs that target mental health, disease prevention and management and nutrition, among other health and socio-economic issues. We are confident their efforts will generate great results while helping vulnerable Texans.”

TTUHSC El Paso and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas have been proud partners in helping West Texas’ underserved communities increase access to health care. In 2019, the Caring Foundation of Texas, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas as lead sponsor, generously donated the full-time, exclusive use of a Care Van mobile health unit to TTUHSC El Paso.

The Care Van is being used to deliver preventative health care services and health education to rural residents by the Foster School of Medicine’s Mobile Medical Student Run Clinic, the Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic, Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso, and other departments within the university. The Caring Foundation of Texas pays all costs associated with the Care Van’s use, including insurance, maintenance, tolls and gas.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) – the only statewide, customer-owned health insurer in Texas – is the largest provider of health benefits in the state, working with nearly 80,000 physicians and health care practitioners, and 500 hospitals to serve more than 6 million members in all 254 counties. BCBSTX is a Division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) (which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma and New Mexico), the country's largest customer-owned health insurer. Health Care Service Corporation is a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

About TTUHSC El Paso

TTUHSC El Paso is the only health sciences center on the U.S.- Mexico border and serves 108 counties in West Texas that have been historically underserved. It is designated as a Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution, preparing the next generation of health care heroes, 48% of whom identify as Hispanic and are often first-generation college students.