Healthy

New Mexico holds a statewide safe sleep collaborative to improve education and awareness about safe sleep for infants. Participants, with representatives from several state agencies and community programs, work to reduce risks for sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) through messaging about safe sleep, including the use of cribs or bassinets with a firm mattress close to but not on the same surface as an adult.  The programs distribute safe sleep products, including wearable infant sleep sacks (wearable blankets), cribs, bassinets and pack-n-play units for families accessing services in public health offices and those participating in home visiting programs. See NMDOH’s Safe Sleep NM web page for more information.

The DOH Family Health Bureau serves families through public health offices, health programs and health status monitoring supported through the federal Title V Maternal Child Health Block Grant. The grant supports activities across maternal, perinatal and adolescent populations. These include Family Planning (Title X), the Office of School and Adolescent Health, Maternal Health, Oral Health, Children’s Medical Services, and the Office of Injury and Violence Prevention. Under Title V needs assessment and planning, programs work together to address the needs of the maternal and child populations, ages 0 to 24.

The Maternal Health Program (MHP) supports improved outcomes for birthing parents and newborns in multiple ways. Through oversight over midwifery practice, MHP works to integrate this evidence-based care model and the full spectrum of perinatal care providers into service delivery in NM communities. The Maternal Mortality Review Committee identifies contributing factors to deaths that occur during pregnancy or in the following year and makes actionable recommendations to prevent future deaths. As the maternal health domain lead for the Title V Program, MHP administers the High-Risk Fund to increase access to perinatal services before and after delivery for those lacking access to insurance coverage. MHP staff provide technical assistance to clinical sites across the state to implement perinatal quality improvement programming in support of improved outcomes.  

The Children’s Medical Services (CMS) program coordinates medical and social needs for families receiving Medicaid, private insurance and those without insurance to ensure access to specialty care, assistance navigating primary care and to connect families to early intervention services when needed. The CMS program screens every infant born in NM for genetic conditions and for hearing and follows children needing specialized care up to age 21. Working with health providers and parent advocacy organizations across the state, CMS is a safety net program integral to the health and well-being of New Mexico children.

DOH holds an inter-agency work group to address increasing needs for comprehensive, full-spectrum reproductive health services throughout the state. Academic and community-based partners meet weekly to problem solve and strategize access and messaging about these services.  

Evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs encompass service learning and positive youth development programs, parent training and adult-teen communication programs, comprehensive sex education programming, and community education and outreach activities. These include:

• Service learning and positive youth development programs (like the Teen Outreach Program [TOP] and Teen Connection Project [TCP]) promote positive outcomes for teens by providing meaningful service to develop and practice life skills, self-efficacy, and healthy behaviors.
• Adult-teen community programs (like From Playground to Prom) give adults information and skills to communicate effectively with young people about reducing risky sexual behavior.
• Comprehensive sex education programs (like TOP and TCP) provide youth with age-appropriate and medically accurate information to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.

The New Mexico Immunization Program holds the responsibility of providing all vaccinations for the states under 18-year-old pediatric population to protect children against vaccine preventable diseases.   New Mexico is a universal vaccine purchase state, providing all required Childcare/Pre-School/School Entry vaccines for children and highly recommended vaccine to include COVID, Flu, RSV and HPV through over 332 public and private Vaccines for Children providers statewide. The program shall purchase vaccines for all children in the state, including children eligible for the vaccines for children program and insured children. Immunizations have been shown to positively affect population health outcomes and reduce disease burden. By increasing access to immunizations, vaccine preventable diseases will decrease thus reducing the burden on the health care system. It is necessary for the Immunization Program to procure vaccines for children in the state, as not adequately immunizing children may result in breakthrough disease, morbidity, and mortality. By procuring these vaccines, the Immunization Program is jointly operating a common health care service and creating a network of health care providers that provides this service to all children.

Tooth decay is preventable yet remains the most common chronic disease among children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over 51 million school hours are lost due to tooth decay.  Untreated cavities can cause pain and infections that may lead to problems with eating, speaking, playing, and learning. Children with poor oral health often miss more school and receive lower grades than children who do not.

The Office of Oral Health’s (OOH) works very closely with various organizations to promote the importance of children’s oral and overall health. Some of the local organizations are: the New Mexico Oral Health Coalition (consisting of over 20 local oral health advocates), the New Mexico Primary Care Association, Health Action New Mexico, Santa Fe County Head Start, Water Utility offices of Santa Fe and Bernalillo County, City of Albuquerque Head Start, YDI Head Start, New Mexico Children Youth and Family Department, St. Joseph’s CHI home visiting program, Villa Therese Catholic Clinic, Native American Professional Parent Resources, the New Mexico Health Care Authority, and the Office of School and Adolescent Health at DOH.

OOH was mandated by House Memorial 96 to convene a task force to study ways to expand Medicaid coverage to provide additional dental care for children. This task force comprises several oral health advocates representing the various dental associations, the University of New Mexico, the New Mexico Oral Health Coalition, Health Action New Mexico, Federal Qualified Health Center Dental Directors, Indian Health Services, and others. After several meetings, the committee developed a list of actions to increase access to care, and its recommendations were submitted to and accepted by the Legislative Health and Human Services (LHHS) Committee.

To date, the Health Care Authority (HCA) has approved a provider reimbursement increase of 2% and has approved a reimbursement code for fluoride varnish applications. The Authority is currently developing a code for reimbursing the application silver diamide fluoride varnish, which will reduce the number of fillings as well as the pain associated with fillings. OOH and HCA continue to work together to address the recommendations of the task force in order to improve the oral health status of Medicaid children. 

NM Medicaid has received federal approval to extend continuous health insurance coverage to children from birth to age six, benefiting 92,842 children. Starting January 1, 2024, this expansion eliminates the need for annual Medicaid renewals for this age group, ensuring uninterrupted access to essential health care services.

Home visiting has been one of New Mexico’s leading research-based strategies for improving the well-being of the state’s youngest children for more than a decade. The New Mexico Home Visiting System is designed to support important long-term goals for the state’s children and families. Home visiting in New Mexico offers a broad spectrum of program options so expectant parents and families with young children can receive support tailored to their needs and goals. In FY24, 7,773 children in 6,966 families received New Mexico home visiting services. 

CYFD BHS’s IMH Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) program oversees the therapeutic services offered by contracted agencies to parents or caregivers and their infants or young children, ages 0 through 5 across NM. The IMH CPP program requires contracted agencies use CPP as the treatment modality. CPP has been selected as the clinical intervention model for services as it is the only Evidence Based Practice (EBP) approved for infants and young children who have experienced trauma and/or are experiencing mental health, attachment, and/or behavioral problems. The goal of IMH CPP is to promote and improve the infant and caregivers’ relationship’s adaptive functioning through clinical treatment, in order to promote permanency for the infant.

CYFD Infant Mental Health (IMH) Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) has had an ongoing partnership with the CARA Navigator/Program Supervisor in order to support the efforts of both programs to improve the lives of infants in New Mexico. IMH facilitated the development of educational slides regarding the effects of substance exposure on child development which are now a part of the CARA Educational Modules used to train hospital staff who will oversee the development of the CARA Plans of Care. Additionally, IMH created a pamphlet with a brief description of the three IMH programs as well as a list of all IMH child parent psychotherapy providers by county, to facilitate the referral process. IMH is also providing IMH CPP providers’ contact information for the CARA representatives at their local hospitals. IMH’s intent is to encourage the establishment of partnerships between providers to ease the referral process for families. 

CYFD’s Behavioral Health Services (BHS) division is the lead on children’s behavioral health policy in collaboration with other State Agencies to include the Health Care Authority (HCA), Department of Health (DOH), Public Education Department (PED), Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD), and the Behavioral Health Collaborative (BHC).  BHS staff provide technical assistance and consultation with providers and other CYFD colleagues serving children and youth who are:

• At-risk of CYFD custody
• Involved with CYFD
• Post-CYFD involvement
• Never involved with CYFD

Statewide, BHS works to improve the quality of life for children, youth, and families through development of the NM children’s behavioral health system of care.  BHS support the development of a high-quality, trauma-responsive children’s behavioral health workforce statewide.

The BHS Program Bureau oversees children’s behavioral health policy and manages contracts for services not currently billed through any other funding stream, such as Medicaid.  This includes management of the shelter continuum, to include facility-based shelters, community-based shelters, multi-service homes, and new and innovative programs.  For children’s behavioral health services that are Medicaid funded, BHS efforts include training and technical assistance efforts for services such as Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS), High-Fidelity Wraparound (HFW), Family Peer Support Services (FPSS), and Youth Peer Support Services (FPSS).  CYFD has prioritized the expansion of behavioral health services and supports that are evidence-based, by providing training at no cost to the provider for expansion of Multisystemic Therapy (MST), Functional Family Therapy (FFT), Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Reprocessing and Desensitization (EMDR).  The BHS division continues to lead and oversee the implementation of the Child and Adolescent Needs & Strengths (CANS) tool, a multi-purpose information integration tool and the Crisis Assessment Tool (CAT), to include an algorithm for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE).

CYFD BHS Community Behavioral Health Clinicians (CBHCs) consult, coordinate, team and advocate internally and externally for the target population children and youth in PS & JJS. They provide clinical consultation to team members of CYFD involved children experiencing high behavioral health needs.  They also support improved access to trauma responsive community behavioral health services and supports. CBHCs are bridge builders between community partners, such as Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), provider agencies, and CYFD employees.

The State of New Mexico Indian Affairs Department (IAD) is focused on building tribal capacity to implement culturally appropriate tobacco cessation and prevention initiatives that recognize the unique ceremonial uses of tobacco while reducing the use of commercial tobacco use and its harmful effects. In FY24 IAD received a $249,300 appropriation from the New Mexico Legislature for TCPP. This is funded out of the Tobacco Settlement Fund and is used for direct tobacco cessation and prevention campaigns in Native American communities. The three components are health, education, and community involvement.    

The following organizations partnered with IAD to provide youth tobacco cessation activities: 

• Pueblo of Tesuque: Tesuque Pueblo Tobacco Cessation Program encourages community youth to live healthier lifestyles. Youth presentations focused on the dangers of commercial tobacco, vaping, and second-hand smoke. The sacredness of tobacco was touched on to illustrate the differences in use. 
• Albuquerque Indian Center: Promote cessation and prevention of commercial tobacco abuse in Urban Native Communities with special emphasis on Native youth. The Center treated the youth to pizza while informing them about the harms of commercial tobacco and vaping. The Center provided resources to parents on health care and cessation programs.