Children’s Community Pediatrics Behavioral Health Services Receives 2014 Silver Award from the American Psychiatric Association

PITTSBURGH, PA - November 7, 2014 - Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC's primary care network, Children's Community Pediatrics (CCP), recently received the 2014 Silver Achievement Award from the American Psychiatric Association.

CCP's Behavioral Health Services (CCPBHS) program received the award from the Institute on Psychiatric Services in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2014.

The awards recognize innovative programs offering services to people with mental illnesses or disabilities that can serve as models for other programs. CCPBHS was recognized for their program integrating primary and behavioral health care in the pediatric medical home.

"We are honored to receive this award from the American Psychiatric Association," said Abigail Schlesinger, M.D., clinical director, Community-Based Services, Behavioral Science Division, Children's Hospital. "The success of this program is directly attributed to the ongoing teamwork of all of our administrators, physicians, therapists, and staff."

Since 2008, the program has helped provide critical early intervention services for behavioral health problems often not provided by pediatricians. CCPBHS, which is operated by CCP's network of practices in western Pennsylvania, "embeds" licensed therapists, supervised by psychiatrists, in a growing network of pediatric practices.

The services are not meant to replace specialized behavioral health services in the community, but to expand those services by identifying the needs of youths and families in the medical home, providing treatment for youths who can respond to lower-level interventions, providing access to appropriate pharmacologic interventions, and ensuring successful hand-offs to higher levels of behavioral health care.

"We are most proud of the fact that we met our goal of getting children and adolescent early access to evidenced-based interventions," said Kathy Guatteri, president, CCP. "With over 15,000 visits annually, the evidence converges to suggest that we are helping more children and families succeed."

The winning programs were selected by the Psychiatric Services Achievement Awards Committee, chaired by Gerard Gallucci, M.D., M.H.S., and the award program is supported by the American Psychiatric Association.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders.

CCP is the largest pediatric and adolescent primary care network in western Pennsylvania. With more than 120 board-certified pediatricians in more than 35 pediatric locations across ten counties, CCP is committed to providing exceptional pediatric care. As a part of Children's Hospital, CCP patients also gain access to an array of specialty services, including Behavioral Health, Dermatology, Express Care, Weight Management, and more right within the convenience of our practices.

For more information on CCP, visit www.childrenspeds.com.

Andrea Kunicky, 412-692-6254, andrea.kunicky@chp.edu  

Marc Lukasiak, 412-692-7919, marc.lukasiak@chp.edu