Table 3.

Emergent themes and exemplar quotes of the implementation of HUGS.

Themes and Subthemes	Exemplar Quotes
Appropriateness
HUGS appropriately reaches pregnant women and families with young children who have unmet social and behavioral health needs	Most of the folks have been impacted by the pandemic. There's been a lot of different losses, [ranging] from loss in families, loss of jobs, loss of financial income…[HUGS] has been helpful and useful. I feel like short-term works. They might be referred back later on, but as a quick intervention…it is beneficial.
HUGS provides the appropriate short-term supports, including patient navigation to connect patients to community resources, and behavioral health to provide time-sensitive relief
HUGS is an accessible and equitable program by offering phone and video visits, services in English and Spanish, and not billing health insurance, but these features are not without known drawbacks and barriers
Acceptability
The services provided and connections formed through HUGS have led to positive impacts on patients' lives	HUGS is able to tie this all in a bow, put everything together so that people can talk to each other and deliver the best care for the patients.
HUGS implements effective collaborations among providers (e.g., PCP, community health workers, social workers) and streamlines connections to care
HUGS provides immediate access to behavioral health supports thereby reducing the time for patients to receive care and the burden on the system
Fidelity and Adaptations
The core components of HUGS have remained the same and only minor modifications have been made	Overall, everything has stayed the same: …the gift cards, the books, the community health worker involvement.
Flexibility within the program is important because patients have differing needs
Penetration
HUGS has brought together multiple hospital departments to develop new resources to better serve the patient population	Another strength of [HUGS] is that, in medicine … we work in siloes a lot. This forced a deliberate communication with each other …That's one of the strengths of this interdisciplinary collaboration that was very deliberate and eye opening.
HUGS has joined existing coalitions and has formed relationships with community organizations and should continue forging these relationships
Referrals to HUGS are dependent on providers and their knowledge of the program, talking to families about the program, and other competing demands during the visit
Sustainability
HUGS was initially developed as a COVID-19 program to provide time-sensitive relief, but the program should be sustained as socioeconomic and health challenges will remain	I think it has potential to continue because a lot of families are benefitting from it.
Developing a plan to financially sustain HUGS is important to maintain the program