Improving mental well-being is a significant health priority at Intermountain Health. Our Community Health and Children’s Health teams are taking on initiatives to support this focus. In the Las Vegas area, we are participating in an action coalition to align and improve our collective impact to drive positive changes in Nevada for children’s mental health.
As identified in Intermountain Health’s southern Nevada 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment, children in Nevada are a particularly vulnerable population. There are only 59.5 available pediatricians for every 100,000 children, which limits access to care and hurts health outcomes. According to The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 34th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, Nevada’s overall national health ranking for children’s health is 34th, but Nevada falls behind in other areas as well. For example, the latest numbers show Nevada is 44th in family and community, 46th in education, and 41st in economic factors. All these factors represent areas that impact a child’s ability to be healthy now and in the future.
As a step toward change, the Children's Mental Health Action Coalition was formed at the end of 2023. The action coalition is a grass roots effort of individuals and organizations working together to identify gaps, recommend state level policies, and consolidate strategies. It’s led by the Children's Advocacy Alliance and Las Vegas City Councilman Brian Knudsen.
Caregivers from Intermountain’s Community Health, Children’s Health, and other departments are participating in workgroups to collaborate toward community-based solutions.
“This collaborative approach is around the idea of consensus building, messaging, and putting resources together to create action,” says Will Rucker, Intermountain Health’s Community Health Director in Nevada, who has been participating in a workgroup focused on state level leadership and policy.
Other workgroups in the coalition are addressing behavioral health provider shortages in both training and retention across the state. Examining data from a children’s health lens and consolidating strategies, as well as insurance reimbursement and accessibility are other avenues being explored.
“We’re committed to improving the mental health of our children and getting upstream to provide more prevention and early intervention resources and better access to quality proactive care,” says Doug Thomas, Intermountain Health’s Community Health Children’s Health Director. “It’s critical to strengthen the whole continuum of care that exists to support children and families when mental health concerns do come up.”
Tara Raines, Deputy Director, Children's Advocacy Alliance, says the coalition has the intentional goal of breaking silos.
“This effort is different because the central goal is to find a collective voice and create an action plan based on solutions we agree will be effective,” Tara says. “Rarely do we have psychologists, social workers, insurance companies, community members, and parents linking arms and marching toward a common solution. As faculty trainers, practitioners, and policy advocates, many of us know the problems but rarely come together with a united voice to recommend a list of research-based solutions.”
Tara shares that the action steps include involving state-level leadership, targeted investments in training along the continuum, raising reimbursement rates for child behavioral health services, and easing provider burden in Medicaid applications and claims.
“We are seeing an appetite from legislators and state offices for our recommendations, and we are excited to actively advocate at an upcoming interim committee hearing,” Tara says. “We hope that this is the beginning of positive change for Nevada's children and families.”
The action coalition is continuing to meet to prioritize policy recommendations that can be implemented to improve the system of care for children and families for mental health services. The group will be looking at how to bring their ideas to the Nevada legislature by making policy recommendations for consideration during the 2025 session.