Untreated mental illness costs Hoosiers around $4.2 billion annually.  

The Indiana Behavioral Health Access Program for Youth ("Be Happy") and Adults Indiana Consultations for Healthcare Providers in Addiction, Mental Health and Perinatal Psychiatry (CHAMP) within Indiana University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry is a psychiatry access program for pediatric and other primary care physicians. The program aims to improve Hoosier families’ access to best-practice pediatric and adult behavioral health care across the state by supporting health care providers in their local communities with guidance from psychiatric specialists. 

The program offers screening tools, medication guides and CME opportunities in helping to bridge the gap between primary care physicians and mental health. 
 
“I am involved as a psychiatrist available to discuss and review cases with primary care providers for adult-only patients,” David Diaz, MD, said.  “I also am the psychiatrist who, upon request, will do one-time virtual evaluations for adult patients.  My impression is that CHAMP is a vastly underutilized and valuable resource for primary care providers based in Indiana. Also, CHAMP offers continuing education lectures and discussions about topics that are pertinent, given by members of our ECHO resource team for continuing education credit.” 

CHAMP launched its provider education webinar series in 2025. They offered 13 webinars to 658 participants. Dr. Diaz is an Indianapolis psychiatrist and a past ISMA president and will be retiring at the end of this month after 38 years. He has been involved in the program for three years. Diaz noted that most physicians enjoyed being able to consult rather quickly and with someone with a lot of experience in the field.  

One of the bigger issues facing patients is the amount of time they have to wait to see a psychiatrist. According to the group’s impact report, Be Happy has had 3,630 consultation calls with 1,096 registered physicians. The findings report noted that nearly half of these patients are Medicaid recipients. For CHAMP, 578 consultation calls were made with 521 providers, one in three being on Medicaid. 

“This is fast, free, direct one-on-one consultation with a mental health provider that can help you take care of a patient while they are still in your office,” Mary Abernathy, MD, said.  

Cami Arnaudo, MD, and Dr. Abernathy both serve on the Indiana Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC). The MMRC legislation was created in 2018 and signed into law by Gov Eric Holcomb with the help and advocacy of the ISMA.  The MMRC has consistently found that overdose is the leading cause of pregnancy-associated maternal deaths in Indiana.   

“We also have found that mental illness, besides substance use disorder, was a contributing factor in the majority of those deaths,” Dr. Abernathy said. “We realized after reviewing the cases that many times women with a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) had nowhere to get therapy and/or treatment and would frequently use illicit substances to numb the pain. Young women in rural areas and lower-resource communities were unable to see a mental health provider.”  

According to Dr. Abernathy, the MMRC continued to make recommendations annually to increase access to mental health providers to help prevent maternal mortality. The CHAMP program was formed to increase access to behavioral and mental health services while patients are still in the office instead of waiting to eventually see a behavioral health provider if they had the resources even available.  

“We are hoping to get the information out to all providers and hospitals so that mental health services can be readily available for all Hoosiers,” Dr. Abernathy said. “It is a wonderful, fast service where I can phone a friend to get advice quickly regarding an area that I do not consider that I have expertise in.  All it requires is a simple, short phone call, or you can even do it online. I find it easier to place a call, talk to a human, and know if someone understands my question.  The mental health provider usually calls you back within 20-30 minutes and offers advice and recommendations.” 

Primary care providers who treat children and adolescents in Indiana can enroll by registering and completing the participation agreement.