Opened in 2016, the Health 360 campus (H360) integrates primary care and behavioral health services in Lincoln, Nebraska, as a partnership between Lutheran Family Services (LFS, the applicant) and Bluestem Health. Accredited by COA, LFS is 127 years old with 18 locations across the state. LFS has served Lincoln-Lancaster County for more than 40 years. Bluestem Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) is the key partner for this project. As an integrated center, H360 also houses a pharmacy and Head Start program.
For this project, LFS has secured commitments from the University of Nebraska and six other qualified DCOs to form a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) at H360 and focus our expansion of services on the following populations: low-income urban communities, Limited English Proficiency (LEP) families, and military and veterans and their families. The two-year implementation of this project is a natural outgrowth of recent and ongoing program expansions at H360 to increase access to and improve the quality of mental health and substance use disorder treatment services.
The population of focus for this expansion project will include adults, children, youth and families in Lincoln-Lancaster County, Nebraska, in need of mental health services to help them improve their well-being while focusing on the social determinants of health. LFS proposes to serve 4,600 unduplicated individuals during the project period and achieve seven key objectives, beginning with satisfying of all criteria for a CCBHC within four months of award date. Other objectives will see increases in living stability, improved mental health functioning, increases in social connectedness, decreased abuse of substances, and reduction in disparities regarding access to and outcomes of behavioral health services at H360.
Crisis mental health services and case management will be built out, and H360 will provide care coordination, psychiatric rehab, social support opportunities, and comprehensive community recovery supports. The Care Coordinator will be responsible for insuring that LFS coordinates care with hospitals, schools, criminal justice agencies and other providers to improve health outcomes and reduce use of emergency room and inpatient facilities. Care coordination will be facilitated through a new agencywide practice management platform, connection to NHIE, and comprehensive treatment planning with our DCOs, including a longstanding partnership to provide Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). The CCBHC project will allow ACT services to become more integrated across all program components thus increasing accessibility for individuals and families.
Implementation of the two-year project plan will be supported and assisted by its DCOs, and it will be evaluated by University of Nebraska’s Public Policy Center, an academic research office experienced in evaluating and assessing SAMHSA-funded programs as well as mental health-focused projects.