Health News Illinois: Report finds Illinois schools made progress with mental health screenings

Illinois schools have made progress with phasing in universal mental health screenings for students, according to a report released Friday by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Seventy-one percent of school districts currently administer screenings that evaluate a student’s mental, behavioral or social-emotional health.

“In the midst of a nationwide youth mental health crisis, I am proud to see so many Illinois school districts leading the way toward implementing life-saving universal mental health screening of students,” State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in a statement. “With additional guidance and a thoughtful, intentional plan, we can help all districts close gaps in access to universal mental health screening.”

However, the report found some districts are at different levels of implementing screening activities. Specifically, smaller school districts are less likely to have screenings. The variety of screenings also differs between districts, with some not screening all students in all grades.

The most common barrier identified by districts that are not screening was unavailability of qualified personnel, followed by a lack of access to mental health services and interventions as well as insufficient funding.

The report laid out four recommendations to address barriers. Along with a phased approach to universal mental health screening of all K-12 students enrolled in public school districts, the state board should work with stakeholders to compile resources to support school districts and establish guidance, available tools and training for school personnel.

Additionally, the report recommends the agency and stakeholders oversee a model of policy development that supports school districts in implementing universal mental health screening of students.

The board compiled the report in conjunction with the Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation team, Chapin Hall and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“We are creating new pathways for youth to receive services that can address needs identified through screening,” said Dana Weiner, chief officer for Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation.

Data on Illinois’ Medicaid renewals are now available on a recently launched dashboardfrom the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.

The agency said they will update the data regularly to give the public a breakdown of redetermination status by renewal month, customer demographic, language and geographic data.

Friday’s announcement comes as nearly 75,000 Illinoisans have been disenrolled from Medicaid rolls since the start of the redetermination process, according to data from KFF. Nearly 696,000 individuals have had their coverage renewed.

The analysis shows Illinois continues to have the lowest Medicaid disenrollment rate among states at the midway mark of the redetermination process. Only Maine matches Illinois’ 10 percent rate. Texas has the highest disenrollment rate, at 62 percent.

“As pandemic-era continuous Medicaid coverage comes to an end, Illinois is once again leading the nation in every metric — from transparency to equity to renewal rates,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

Before redeterminations returned earlier this year, Medicaid recipients did not have to renew their coverage due to a policy enacted in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Six Illinois groups will receive just over $3 million in federal funds to, in part, help offer telehealth services to patients.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing:

• $890,000 to Illinois Valley Community College District 513 to buy distance learning equipment, which will allow mental health and substance abuse professionals to deliver preventive education and counseling.
• $719,000 to Illinois Eastern Community College District 529 to buy equipment for distance learning, including substance abuse prevention education.
• $600,000 to Fulton Hancock McDonough/Schuyler Regional Office of Education to purchase equipment that will allow instructors to deliver mental health and substance abuse prevention education and counseling to seven locations.
• $585,000 to Centralia High School District to purchase distance learning equipment so they can provide mental health and substance abuse prevention programs and counseling.
• $171,000 to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to provide students with videoconferencing equipment and interactive software to teach emergency medical services education courses.
• $73,000 to Vermilion Association for Special Education to purchase interactive video conferencing equipment, with instructors to focus on mental health and speech therapy services.

See the full list here.