FPHSA CCBHC Planning, Development, and Implementation Project - FPHSA operates five clinics across southeast Louisiana, serving our catchment area of Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes. This grant will allow us to improve services for our population of focus: adults, youth, and children with SMI, SED, SUD, or COD, as well as to address disparities experienced by individuals who identify as Hispanic or Latino or LGBTQ+ and rural residents of our service area. Communities in our service area are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated existing needs and demand for behavioral health services across a largely rural region. Three recent community health needs assessments identified mental health, substance use and addiction, and trauma as priority issues within the service area. The reports noted that significant barriers—including a severe lack of substance use services (particularly for youth), long wait times, lack of care coordination, racism, and stigma—make accessing the limited services available even more difficult. This project will allow us to address significant behavioral health disparities and gaps in access to services, care coordination, and substance use treatment services in the communities we serve. All five of our clinics, located centrally in the service area, will support these expanded services, bringing high-quality, needed services to historically underserved areas of our region. The goals of our project include (1) conducting a behavioral health-focused needs assessment to identify priorities and opportunities for improvement; (2) develop our health information technology to support care coordination and continuous quality improvement through improved data capture, reporting, and analyses; (3) improve behavioral and physical health outcomes for persons served through improved case management and care coordination to address individuals’ medical needs and their social determinants of health; (4) improve access to care by expanding clinic hours; (5) increasing access to services for children, youth, and their families by hiring additional providers and expanding substance use services for youth; (6) increase access to and engagement in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) by training additional prescribers and reducing stigma among community healthcare providers; and (7) reduce disparities in behavioral health service access, utilization, perceptions of care, and outcomes through outreach to priority populations and offering culturally competent care. We will serve 5,000 individuals in Year 1, 5,250 in Year 2, 5,500 in Year 3, and 5,750 in Year 4. Assuming that some individuals will engage in services over multiple grant years, we anticipate serving 9,000 unduplicatedindividuals over the full grant period.
