Behavioral Health Screening and Follow-Up in Massachusetts
An important aim of the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) is to improve access to behavioral health screening and community-based services for youth enrolled in MassHealth. Promoting equitable access means ensuring that culturally diverse youth and families receive behavioral health screenings as part of well-child visits; are provided follow-up evaluation and service coordination as needed; and have access to care in their own homes and communities.
PHS undertook an independent project to demonstrate the value of digital cartography in communicating CBHI access trends. She conducted statistical analysis on the first three years of program data to explore trends. From there, she designed a series of static and animated ArcGIS maps to tell the story of how health care access changed over time. The maps were used to help identify opportunities to improve health equity. This work was completed while Dr. King was employed by Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (MBHP) / MassHealth.