Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Impact - Ava Health LLC requests $3,000,000 over a four-year period to open and stabilize The Homestead, a 32-bed rural residential treatment, medically managed detoxification and sub-acute stabilization campus in Mesa County, Colorado, Ava Health's HRSA-designated target rural service area (Census Tract 18). Once licensed, The Homestead will be the only full-continuum substance use disorder treatment provider on Colorado's Western Slope that accepts Medicaid, closing a gap in a region of rural and frontier communities where the nearest comparable care otherwise requires a four-to-six-hour trip to the Front Range. Desired outcomes include an estimated 1,175 un-duplicated individuals served over the period of performance, improved step-down continuity of care, and the establishment of permanent, Medicaid-sustained treatment capacity that continues operating after federal funding ends. Mesa County (Census Tract 18) functions as the health care hub for a much larger, sparsely populated region west of the Continental Divide; while all RCORP-Impact funded services are delivered within Mesa County, the need this project addresses, and the population it draws from, extends across the surrounding Western Slope. The Homestead delivers all three required service types at a single site. Treatment includes ASAM 3.7-WM/3.7 withdrawal management and stabilization (8 beds) and ASAM 3.5 high-intensity residential treatment (24 beds), with on-site buprenorphine-based medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Recovery includes on-site peer recovery coaching, alumni programming, and structured recovery meetings. Prevention includes no-cost naloxone and fentanyl test strip distribution and community and provider education on SUD and overdose response. Supportive services include dedicated transportation, insurance and benefits navigation, and housing and employment coordination. Ava Health will hire clinical, nursing, residential, and care coordination staff to operate The Homestead, supported by a Colorado Mesa University clinical placement and internship partnership, professional recruiting services, and a staffing model with built-in coverage buffer to reduce turnover in a 24/7 residential setting. Ava Health's network includes HomewardBound of the Grand Valley and Peer 180 Recovery Community Organization, both located in Mesa County, and Jaywalker Lodge and Momenta Recovery, located in neighboring Garfield County, together representing the housing, peer recovery, and specialized clinical sectors relevant to this project. Prior to funding, Ava Health anticipates further network participation including support letters from the 21st Judicial District and several other organizations that were unable to provide letters of support in time for the submission of this application.
