Improving Access to Mental Health Care for Youth in Rhode Island: The Pediatric Psychiatry Resource Network.

Child Psychiatry Access Programs (CPAPs) were developed to address the increasing prevalence of pediatric mental and behavioral health issues and the growing workforce shortage of pediatric mental health specialists. This article will discuss the origin of CPAPs, data to support their importance and impact, and the development of Rhode Island's CPAP, The Pediatric Psychiatry Resource Network, or PediPRN. Data is collected for the purposes of evaluation and quality improvement. Seventy-four percent of the pediatric-serving primary care practices in Rhode Island have utilized PediPRN. PediPRN has provided 3,173 consultations to 465 professionals and has trained over 80 PPCPs with overall high satisfaction. Program sustainability and expansion are important future considerations.