Peninsula Behavioral Health - Expansion of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Model to Rural Clallam County Washington - Peninsula Behavioral Health is the primary healthcare provider equipped to serve consumers with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) in rural, geographically isolated Clallam County, Washington. Our goal in requesting a CCBHC Expansion Grant is to immediately enhance our current services and incorporate additional requisites to transform and expand our practice to the CCBCH model, in order to better serve our existing consumer base of 3,400 and projected capacity increase of 5% to 10%. PBH’s catchment area encompasses 85% of the 74,000 residents and spans 2,671 square miles. Our hospital district’s 2019 Community Needs Assessment cites that 17.1% of adults and 29.1% of children in Clallam County are living in poverty, in contrast to 11.8% of the general population in the nation reported by the US Census. The assessment also reported that the Age-Adjusted Mortality by Suicide of 21.9 per 100,000 far exceeded the state average of 14.8 and the national average of 13.0. The 2017 Clallam County Health Status Assessment found that rates of opioid, alcohol, and drug-related hospitalizations and deaths exceeded state and national averages. Our County has a higher proportion of Native Americans and veterans than the national average; both subpopulations experience a higher rate of Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder than the general population. About 43% of our consumers struggle with mood disorders, 21% with psychotic disorders, and 46% with anxiety disorders, including PTSD; the NIH reports that this population is at grave risk of premature death. The NIH further notes that 85% of these premature deaths can be attributed to preventable chronic health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. The intersection of poor mental health, high substance use, lack of integrated primary care with long wait times, poverty, isolation, and fragmented coordinated care indicates the urgent need for a more diverse range of intensive evidence-based practices for our current consumers and easier access to healthcare for those not yet enrolled. PBH's proposal builds on its existing strengths and networks of services that meet our triple aim of improving healthcare, containing costs, and improving health outcomes with the following three goals: implement primary care services, expand evidence-based practices for clinicians, and bolster our ability to provide true care coordination. As community leaders with a proven track record of collaboration, we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to formalize a care coordination network within our county and permanently changing the quality of care our consumers can expect. Peninsula Behavioral Health is committed to becoming a CCBHC and demonstrating the value of this investment to our community, state, and nation. We are limited only by our budget; receiving this grant would allow us to make the necessary investments in staff, infrastructure, training and technology to provide the standard of care of a CCBHC.
