Catholic Charities Diocese of Trenton (CCT) is one of seven New Jersey agencies to have partnered with the State on the original CCBHC program; our CCBHC was certified in 2017, expanded in 2018 and now provides and/or supports all of the core services required by CCBHCs in Mercer and Burlington Counties, New Jersey. This project will expand services in those two underserved areas as current services are still not addressing community needs, particularly among college students and veterans. The primary Goal for this 24-month initiative and accompanying objectives are: To expand access points to comprehensive rapid access, family-focused integrated health services (crisis intervention, outpatient mental health, substance use disorder, and primary care services for adults and children) in Mercer and Burlington Counties for high-risk populations stratified by subpopulation (including veterans and college students), lack of insurance, and geographic provider shortages.
Objective 1.1: Within the first 2 months of the grant period, CCT will establish multiple access points for primary care and chronic disease management services within Mercer County, including the Henry J Austin HIV clinic (onsite at main Catholic Charities campus), Emergency Department and primary care clinic at Capital Health Regional Hospital; CCT will be embedded and will accommodate up to 120 unduplicated, outpatient adults per year and at least 80 unduplicated children under the age of 18, including children newly identified in need of care, children with SED, and families of children with SED.
Objective 1.2: Within 3 months, CCT will establish an on-campus access point to care via community-based crisis services that will annually prevent up to 250 Burlington County residents (including college students at Rowan University) being admitted into a hospital, by having a clinician immediately available for persons in crisis and a Psychiatrist/APN available within 24-hours.
Objective 1.3: Within 12 months, CCT will remove transportation as a barrier by increasing capacity to transport consumers to and from behavioral health services (mental health and substance abuse) by a peer driver, including to DCO partners for higher levels of service, and to Supported Employment Services; up to 1500/rides will be completed annually for approximately 100 consumers (many use the service daily).
Objective 1.4: Over the 24-month grant period, CCT will continually expand access to PACT and related vocational services in both Mercer and Burlington counties including a track for Veterans and other underserved populations.
CCT is a licensed contracted provider with NJ Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, is licensed with the State Department of Children and Families, is accredited through the Council on Accreditation, is a licensed NJ Medicaid provider and maintains facility licenses with multiple managed care entities. Co-located primary care services (including services for individuals with HIV) are operational, organizational charts and workflows have been in place since our original CCBHC, staff are in place, and we are approved to bill for services through NJ Medicaid. We have DCO agreements with Screening Centers in both Mercer and Burlington Counties. The evaluation will utilize 32 validated, structured measures that are used in the existing CCBHC.