Friday, June 13, 2025
6/13/2025
Cornerstone Montgomery Integrated Care Expansion - Cornerstone Montgomery serves people with mental health and/or substance abuse disorders in Montgomery County, Maryland with a population of just over 1 million residents. In Montgomery County, approximately 17% of people over the age of 18 have experienced some form of mental illness. Among population subgroups, NH-Black had the highest rates of ER visits, followed by NH-White, Hispanic, and Asian/PI; females had higher rates than males. People aged 18-34 had the highest ER visit rate, followed by ages 5-17, and 5-64 respectively. Illicit drug use for people aged 12 or older was over 8%, with 12% of high schools students admitting to misusing prescription drugs. Drug induced mortality rates in the County are on an upward trend consistent with the rest of the US; reaching over 12 deaths/100,000 residents (over 60 deaths/year on average). NH-White had the highest rate of death, with males dying than females, followed by NH-Black, Hispanic, and Asian/PI. Ages 18 – 34 have the highest mortality rate, followed by ages 35 – 64. Over 3% of adults over 18 and 15% of high school students have reported having suicidal thoughts. Suicide rates have fluctuated over time averaging 70 deaths each year. Those over 65 have the highest mortality rate (11%) followed by 35 – 64, 18 – 34, and 5 – 17 (1%) year olds. Research shows that people with a mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than the population at large . Chronic health conditions , Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, or Heart Disease, that impact They are dying from the same conditions as the general population, without accessing the care they need and/or the support to follow treatment guidelines from their PCP. Seventy percent of the people that we serve at Cornerstone Montgomery have at least one co-occurring medical condition including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or heart disease. There is a critical need for intervention to support the health of our population. Even with the resources available in Montgomery County, only 41% of adults and 50% of children with mental illness access needed treatment ; less than 25% of people with substance use disorders access treatment. There is a clear need to educate the community about the availability of treatment resources and a need to expand resources to meet the current need in Montgomery County. To provide and attain the best possible outcomes for clients, there is a need for increased care coordination between behavioral health and primary care services; this is goal of CCBHC’s. Cornerstone Montgomery has a behavioral health home and partners with FQHC’s and PCP’s to provide integration of care. Our goal is to expand in this area. Other providers in Montgomery County serve the same population on a smaller scale. They include: Family Services, Inc. (they also serve children); Affiliated Sante (they also serve the DDA population); PEP (ACT services only); and Vesta (adults only). Cornerstone Montgomery is the largest provider of public Behavioral Health services in Montgomery County. We offer the widest continuum of services including an ACT program serving 100 clients and a Residential Crisis Services program with 24 beds. Cornerstone Montgomery has the only DBT residential program in Maryland and we are the only provider of ITCOD services in Montgomery County. Cornerstone Montgomery (a 2012 merger between Threshold Services and St. Luke’s House) has been providing behavioral health services in Montgomery County since 1971 as a 501c3. We currently provide the majority of the required activities and plan to contract with a DCO to deliver Child and Adolescent services. We are CARF accredited through August 2021. We have the applicable Maryland State Licensure. All pertinent staff is already in place, except for the Program Evaluator/Data Analyst which we will hire within 4 months after grant approval. Cornerstone Montgomery will use the grant funds to support and expand our direct services.
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).