As part of the Illinois Children Healthcare Foundation’s (ILCHF) mission to address the overall health needs of children in the state, the Foundation announced an RFP seeking collaborations between primary care and mental health providers. Grants for $2 million are expected to be awarded.
The RFP process is open to any non-profit organization that serves children in the state and wishes to form a collaboration between primary care and mental health, or build upon existing partnerships, or develop a plan for integrating mental health services in a primary care setting.
All proposals will need to demonstrate expertise in using formal mental health assessment tools, using a patient registry to track patients, and using psychiatric consultations to support primary care providers.
Eligible organizations can include federally-qualified health centers (FQHC), FQHC look-alikes, school-based health centers, free clinics, public health department clinics, hospital clinics, and other community health centers.
Organizations that would like to develop a plan for a collaborative program may be awarded up to $50,000 to underwrite the planning phase. Applicants that wish to establish completely new services may be awarded up to half a million dollars over the course of two years. Finally organizations wishing to expand existing mental or behavioral health service may be awarded up to $220,000 over 15 months.
The RFP will close August 15, 2008 and all interested applicants should visit www.ilchf.org to see the complete RFP.
