A Clinical Care Monitoring and Data Collection Tool (H3 Tracker) to Assess Uptake and Engagement in Mental Health Care Services in a Community-Based Pediatric Integrated Care Model: Longitudinal Cohort Study

Abstract

Background National recommendations for pediatric integrated care models include improved capacity for care coordination and communication across primary care and specialty mental health providers using technology, yet few practical, short-term solutions are available for low-resource, community-based pediatric integrated care clinics. Objective The goal of the paper is to describe the development and features of a Web-based tool designed for program evaluation and clinician monitoring of embedded pediatric mental health care using a community-partnered approach. In addition, a longitudinal study design was used to assess the implementation of the tool in program evaluation, including clinical monitoring and data collection. Methods Biweekly meetings of the partnered evaluation team (clinic, academic, and funding partners) were convened over the course of 12 months to specify tool features using a participatory framework, followed by usability testing and further refinement during implementation. Results A data collection tool was developed to collect clinic population characteristics as well as collect and display patient mental health outcomes and clinical care services from 277 eligible caregiver/child participants. Despite outreach, there was little uptake of the tool by either the behavioral health team or primary care provider. Conclusions Development of the H3 Tracker (Healthy Minds, Healthy Children, Healthy Chicago Tracker) in two community-based pediatric clinics with embedded mental health teams serving predominantly minority children is feasible and promising for on-site program evaluation data collection. Future research is needed to understand ways to improve clinic integration and examine whether promotion of primary care/mental health communication drives sustained use. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02699814; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02699814 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/772pV5rWW)

Digital and Mobile Health Technology in Collaborative Behavioral Health Care: Scoping Review

“…Technology has been recognized as important for the optimal functioning of the CoCM from an early stage. For example, clinicians and researchers recognized the necessity of using caseload registries to manage patient information, track outcomes, and have easy access to information from assessments and follow-up appointments [28][29][30][31][32]. In addition, telephoneand 2-way video-based remote care emerged in the 2000s as a viable method of providing CC [33][34][35][36].…”

Parent and Child Factors Associated with Household versus Community Adversity among Black and Hispanic Children

“…When children were identified as being in need of mental health services, either by a positive PSC score or by referral, they were introduced to the on-site study coordinator who confirmed eligibility, obtained informed consent, and completed study enrollment. The child and caregiver then completed the baseline survey using a web-based data capture system (McCreary et al, 2019). The University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Illinois at Chicago Institutional Review Boards approved this study.…”

Digital and Mobile Health Technology in Collaborative Behavioral Health Care: Scoping Review (Preprint)

“…Technology has been recognized as important for the optimal functioning of the CoCM from an early stage. For example, clinicians and researchers recognized the necessity of using caseload registries to manage patient information, track outcomes, and have easy access to information from assessments and follow-up appointments [28][29][30][31][32]. In addition, telephoneand 2-way video-based remote care emerged in the 2000s as a viable method of providing CC [33][34][35][36].…”