Contact:
Holly Botsford
(414) 955-8761
hbotsford@mcw.edu
Milwaukee, May 25, 2017 – The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) applauds the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) for voting to expand Wisconsin’s Child Psychiatry Consultation Program (CPCP) by an additional $500,000 per year. The Committee’s vote approves Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to expand the program into new geographic regions of the state.
The program, born as a pilot funded by the generous Kubly family in memory of their son Charlie, has developed into a partnership that is state funded and currently provides primary care health care practitioners with free-of-charge pediatric mental health consultations for their patients in 15 northern Wisconsin counties and Milwaukee. In addition to mental health consultations, CPCP provides referral support and long-term mental health prevention and treatment education to providers. MCW, in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, currently operates Wisconsin’s CPCP through a $500,000 annual Department of Health Services grant.
“We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Members of the Joint Finance Committee for supporting Governor Walker’s expansion of the CPCP, and in particular, Co-Chair Alberta Darling for her longstanding commitment and support of this critical program,” said Jon Lehrmann, MD, Charles E. Kubly Professor and Chair in Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at MCW. “Expanding the CPCP will help ensure that thousands more children and adolescents in Wisconsin have greater access to mental health care.”
Wisconsin’s CPCP was initially signed into law by Governor Walker under 2013 Wisconsin Act 127. After the JFC finalizes its work on the state budget in the coming weeks, this additional funding for the CPCP will then move on to be considered by both houses of the State Legislature. If approved and signed into law, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services would open a new request for proposal application process for organizations interested in providing CPCP services in additional areas of the state.
