BETHESDA, Md. , Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifty-six million children and youth spend more than a quarter of their day at school in the United States .
With today's youth facing a changing and growing number of health challenges, especially around mental health, the ability of schools to help positively shape the social, physical, and mental growth of their students is vital. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated many of these challenges, particularly the youth mental health crisis, which existed before COVID-19 but was worsened by the social isolation and other factors associated with the pandemic. To support youth health, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.
S. Department of Education (ED) to undertake a joint initiative to promote Medicaid School-Based Services (SBS) through a Medicaid SBS Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Econometrica, Inc.
, was selected as the prime contractor to support this TAC. Econometrica is supported by Mathematica Policy Research, Westat, and the National Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine . The TAC is charged with supporting the delivery of these services; improving and strengthening access to physical and behavioral health services for students; reducing the Federal administrative burden for States and localities; and reducing barriers to the provision of school-based physical and behavioral heal.