The Village for Families & Children, an important member of the Hartford, Conn., community for over 200 years, and United Health Foundation (UHF) have announced a new partnership as part of UHF's city-based approach to provide resources for programs that connect communities to care, support whole-person health and build healthier communities. The Village serves children and their families in the Greater Hartford region with a full range of behavioral health treatment, foster care and adoption, and community support services.
A UHF partnership grant of $1.5 million to The Village for Families & Children will support strong, healthy families by integrating behavioral health and primary care services at two pediatric practices in East Hartford and West Hartford. With a goal of addressing the health-related social needs of families, The Village will offer screenings, interventions and positive parenting education, resources and prevention.
Pediatricians and nurses will use validated screeners to identify a broad range of needs or potential problems for further assessment or follow-up by team members. Additionally, in-house integration will allow for the inclusion of behavioral health services into the clinical workflow, improved brief interventions by clinical staff members, regular consultations between team members, and collaborative care for children with behavioral health conditions.
"The future of health care is in integrating primary care and behavioral health services," said Galo A. Rodriguez, MPH, president and CEO of The Village. "This funding by United Health Foundation will help us demonstrate how this type of integrated system will result in improved health outcomes for children, better quality of care, and short- and long-term cost savings."
In addition, a white paper will be released that can serve as a roadmap for replicating this initiative in other communities.
Learn More
Share This Story