The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $677,945 Project Grant under CFDA 93.865 - the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program - to the RAND Corporation to conduct a mixed-methods study on the impacts of telehealth policy changes on inequities in access and outcomes for perinatal behavioral healthcare.
The key objectives of the study are to: 1) develop a detailed dataset on the evolution of state-level telehealth policies relevant to Medicaid coverage of perinatal behavioral health services; 2) use event-time modeling to estimate the relationship between these telehealth policies and key outcomes like emergency department visits, overdoses, suicide, maternal morbidity, and preterm delivery, with a focus on identifying inequities by race/ethnicity, rural residence, and disability status; and 3) apply implementation research frameworks in interviews with patients and providers to explain the quantitative findings and examine factors influencing telehealth policy implementation and associated health outcomes.
The project will also include a $175,000 sub-award to the Medical University of South Carolina to contribute specialized expertise and support the research activities. This multi-year study aims to provide critical insights on how telehealth policies can be leveraged to address disparities in access to perinatal behavioral healthcare and improve maternal and infant health outcomes.