HealthCity – Boston Medical Center Health System’s newsletter that regularly reports on health equity and health justice news – recently focused on the health system’s Transforming and Expanding Access to Mental Health Care Universally in Pediatrics (TEAM UP) initiative.

TEAM UP, which integrates behavioral health into routine pediatric primary care, is entering a new phase of research to determine whether this model leads to better outcomes for children than following evidence-based clinical guidelines alone. After nearly a decade of work, TEAM UP has shown that embedding behavioral health clinicians and community health workers in pediatric practices can expand access to mental health services, especially for children from lower-income and marginalized communities.

Prior studies found that TEAM UP sites achieved high rates of behavioral health screening, increased children’s use of mental health-related primary care services without raising costs, and supported care teams without increasing burnout. Research also showed improvements among school-age children in mental health symptoms, quality of life, and school functioning over 12 months.

With anticipated funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the next study will involve 12 pediatric practices serving tens of thousands of children. Each practice will begin with guideline-based care and then, by random assignment, transition at different intervals to the fully integrated TEAM UP model, with researchers measuring children’s mental and behavioral health symptoms over time and examining which services drive improvement.

The study aims to clarify not only whether integrated pediatric behavioral health care works, but also how to make it sustainable for practices serving families who face the greatest barriers to mental healthcare.