Tuesday, June 17, 2025
6/17/2025
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Overdose Response - Project Title: RCORP-OD Requested Amount: $300,000 Applicant: Boundary Regional Community Health Center dba Kaniksu Community Health Address: 301 Cedar St., Ste. 206, Sandpoint, ID, 83864 Project Director: Kevin Knepper, CEO Contact Information – Phone: (208) 946-7480 Email: kevin@kchni.org Previous RCROP Recipient: no Boundary Regional Community Health Center dba Kaniksu Community Health (KCH) serves the two most northern counties (Boundary and Bonner) in Idaho’s Panhandle. KCH operates three health centers located in Bonners Ferry, Priest River, and Sandpoint, and a mobile clinic that serves the entire service area. The administrative office is also located in Sandpoint. KCH provides primary medical, pediatrics, dental, behavioral health counseling, substance use disorder treatment including medically assisted treatment, pharmacy services, and enabling services for all stages of life in a patient-centered medical home. In 2022, KCH served 14,420 unduplicated patients. The majority of the patients are low-income (living at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)). In 2021, only a fourth of the patients had incomes above 200 percent FPL. Ten percent of the patients were uninsured, 35 percent were covered by Medicaid, and 17 percent are covered by Medicare. KCH proposes hiring staff and purchasing prevention supplies to respond to the overdose crisis in the Idaho Panhandle, improving access to, capacity for, and sustainability of prevention, treatment, and recovery services for substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD). The four RCORP strategies that can be implemented immediately include: 1. Purchasing and distributing naloxone, fentanyl test strips or other relevant supplies within the target rural service area. 4. Assisting uninsured individuals with SUD/OUD in the target rural service area with obtaining health insurance and accessing treatment and other behavioral health and social services. 6. Enhancing capacity to provide mobile crisis intervention services for individuals with SUD/OUD in the target rural service area. 13. Providing community-based screenings for SUD/OUD and related infectious diseases. KCH started a mobile clinic in 2021 with COVID relief funding and used it extensively for COVID testing and vaccination clinics, but is underutilized at this time. RCORP funds will support staffing the mobile clinic to provide critical outreach and prevention services to the rural area which will include distribution of fentanyl test strips, Narcan, and naloxone, and SUD/OUD treatment services. The new staff builds capacity within the Behavioral Health (BH) program, increasing access to care aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality of SUD and OUD. The staffing plan includes a certified Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) primary care provider and a chemical dependency counselor. The mobile clinic will operate at least 2 days per week in the field with the possibility to expand hours as needed. When not in the mobile unit, staff will work at one of the three KCH health center sites. The project will serve 300 individuals per year.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).