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Press Release-IMproving Perinatal Access, Coordination, and Treatment Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH) Program to Enhance Perinatal Behavioral Health Services in New Counties

By Alyssa (Aly) Boral, MSW, MPH

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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: Monday, May 21, 2025

Contact: Aly Boral, CPCQC Integrated Care Program Manager, aboral@cpcqc.org 

IMproving Perinatal Access, Coordination, and Treatment Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH) Program to Enhance Perinatal Behavioral Health Services in New Counties

The Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative (CPCQC) is proud to announce the launch of the IMPACT BH program in new counties beginning July 1, 2025. 

Behavioral health plays a central role in perinatal health. Unintentional overdose and suicide accounted for 39% of pregnancy-associated deaths in Colorado from 2016 to 2020, according to the Colorado Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC). In response, CPCQC launched the IMprove Perinatal Access, Coordination, and Treatment for Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH) program in partnership with the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration to serve the 1 in 5 people who are affected by perinatal mental health conditions (PMHCs). 

IMprove Perinatal Access, Coordination, and Treatment: Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH) helps communities strengthen and integrate their local perinatal behavioral health services. The program: enhances a diversity of local perinatal navigation and peer support services; provides perinatal mental health and substance use training to local healthcare providers; and helps integrate local perinatal behavioral health services through improved coordination, communication, and trust. Collectively, IMPACT BH counties work to ensure that no local mother, infant, or family falls through the cracks. 

“CPCQC is excited to introduce the IMPACT BH program to new counties” says Kylie Hibshman, Director of Integrated Behavioral Health at CPCQC. ”Together with our partners, we’re working to ensure that perinatal people access safe, effective, and respectful care from conception through one year postpartum.” 

The Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative (CPCQC) and the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) are seeking to fund community-based organizations in new counties for the upcoming grant period from July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026:

Interested community-based partners will be serving perinatal families in counties that meet the following county eligibility requirements: 1) are primarily rural or frontier, 2) have not previously participated in IMPACT BH, 3) at least one local birthing hospital participating in  one of CPCQC’s perinatal behavioral health quality improvement program, Turning the Tide or postpartum discharge quality improvement program, Supporting Postpartum Access, Recovery and Knowledge (SPARK) or 4) counties without a birthing hospital where majority of the perinatal population receive care in an adjacent county who meets the eligibility requirements above

Eligible community-based partners within eligible counties will be organizations serving uninsured, under-insured, and/or Medicaid-eligible birthing people, mothers, infants, and families in their local communities. 

Through IMPACT BH, participating community-based partners will enhance a diversity of perinatal navigation services during the grant period. Navigation may be offered by a diversity of services, including but not limited to: perinatal peer support providers (perinatal mental health and/or substance use), community health workers, home visitors, doulas, etc.

In addition, participating counties will partner with CPCQC to promote communication, coordination, and trust across the local perinatal mental health continuum of care through collective action, shared learning, and local perinatal continuum of care working groups.

  • Review the Perinatal Navigation RFP here and click here to apply to the RFP. 
  • Review the Community Lead RFP here and click here to apply to the RFP. 
  • Review the FAQ Document here

IMPACT BH offers perinatal mental health and substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) technical assistance to outpatient clinics in participating counties. In addition, IMPACT BH offers perinatal behavioral health hospital quality improvement programming to birthing hospitals through CPCQC’s Turning the Tide program and/or Supporting Postpartum Access, Recovery, and Knowledge (SPARK) program. Interested outpatient clinics and birthing hospitals do not need to respond to the RFPs. 

Interested community-based organizations are encouraged to respond to the above RFP. The RFPs are open until Monday, June 13, 2025. All applications must be submitted by COB  Monday, June 13 at 5:00 PM MT to be considered.

For more information about the IMPACT BH program and how to get involved, please contact Aly Boral, CPCQC Integrated Care Program Manager at aboral@cpcqc.org

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