AccessCare Services, Telehealth Subsidiary of Colorado Access, Receives Grant Funding to Support Behavioral Health Services for Pregnant and Postpartum Women
AURORA, Colo. – AccessCare Services, the telehealth subsidiary of Colorado Access, is pleased to announce the receipt of a grant from the Rose Community Foundation to support the delivery of behavioral health services such as depression screening, counseling, and medication management, for pregnant and postpartum women in the Colorado Access network. The grant will leverage and expand two successful programs with this funding, increasing the number of women who are offered behavioral health services while they are pregnant.
“The literature is clear about the importance of identifying mental health issues in pregnant and postpartum women,” said Dr. Jay Shore, chief medical officer for AccessCare Services. “In Colorado, nearly one in nine women who give birth will experience signs and symptoms of depression. This makes depression the most common complication of pregnancy. When left untreated, severe prenatal and postpartum depression is associated with delayed cognitive and language development in children, higher rates of behavioral problems, and lower grades in school.”
Colorado Access/AccessCare Services will focus on two initiatives with the Rose Community Foundation investment in perinatal telehealth work. The first is to expand our existing integrated care program, the Virtual Care Collaboration and Integration (VCCI) program, to deliver tele-behavioral health services within a primary care or OB/GYN setting. The VCCI program provides a virtual, integrated, team-based care program designed to address and manage behavioral health needs in the primary care setting by offering direct access to psychiatrists and counselors through collaborative consultations and telehealth and can be used for psychiatric evaluations, medication management, diagnostic assessments, and short-term counseling services.
AccessCare Services will collaborate with the Colorado Access Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby program, to provide direct-to-patient telehealth support, working with women to deliver services in their home or another convenient setting. Colorado Access membership indicates that there are approximately 24,000 women who become pregnant each year. The Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby program is a multi-faceted, wraparound program for women both during their pregnancy through two months postpartum. Women across the risk spectrum are enrolled in the program and receive varying levels of care management interventions that align with their needs, including an evidence-based screening to assess immediate needs – including behavioral health issues – increase knowledge and self-advocacy about their pregnancy, educating on family planning resources post-delivery, and new motherhood resources to help women transition into motherhood.
AccessCare Services anticipates several positive outcomes associated with this work, including increasing the number of perinatal women who receive behavioral health screening and services, with a goal of offering care through telehealth services or clinic-based integrated care to all women enrolled in the Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby program who are interested in receiving services.
About the Rose Community Foundation:
The Rose Community Foundation makes grants to organizations and institutions serving the seven-county Greater Denver community in the areas of aging, child and family development, education, health and Jewish life. To learn more about the Rose Community Foundation, visit rcfdenver.org.
About AccessCare Services and Colorado Access:
AccessCare Services is the telehealth expertise and virtual care delivery arm of Colorado Access. They advance the mission to ensure access to quality, affordable care for all.
Founded in 1994, Colorado Access is a local, nonprofit health plan that serves members throughout Colorado. The company’s members receive health care under Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) and Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid Program) behavioral and physical health, and long-term support programs, Colorado Access provides care coordination services and administers behavioral health and physical health benefits for two regions as part of the Accountable Care Collaborative Program through Health First Colorado. Colorado Access is the state’s largest single entry point agency, coordinating long-term service and supports for Health First Colorado recipients in five Denver metro area counties. To learn more about Colorado Access, visit coaccess.com.