AltaMed is proposing to leverage its existing Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) capacity to further expand behavioral health services at its clinics and develop a deeper integration of MAT services within its primary care scope by:
(1) Expanding its mental health and substance abuse screening to include an assessment for substance misuse or abuse
(2) Provide on-site training for physicians and behavioral health members of the PCMH care team on using the evidence-based protocol, Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to identify and manage patients with alcohol and opioid misuse disorders, and refer them to with MAT services within AltaMed, and,
(3) Expand availability of MAT services to all of AltaMed's 22 clinics for patients identified as needing intervention or treatment for opioid misuse/abuse.
This model will support coordination and referrals to existing community behavioral health and substance abuse treatment resources. In addition, AltaMed providers will be trained to provide medication assisted treatment for patients with alcohol and substance misuse/abuse to better integrate these services into the primary care setting.
This program will leverage AltaMed’s existing infrastructure and community partnerships to provide close, fully integrated behavioral health services to safety net communities in Los Angeles and Orange County, improving care quality and reducing the wide disparity in health outcomes between low-income, Latino populations and other groups. This project will improve patient continuity of care for all behavioral health patients, improve access to care for alcohol or substance misuse/abuse, and improve the ability of primary care providers to provide seamless treatment for patients with behavioral health and substance abuse needs, specifically opioid use disorders.
In order to support the aims of this project, AltaMed will continue to coordinate with community providers and local health agencies serving Los Angeles and Orange Counties to facilitate referrals for treatment.
The target population will be low income, medically-vulnerable Latinos in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California. Over the 5 year project period, AltaMed will serve 200 particpants in Year 1 and 500 participants in Years 2-5, for a total of 2,200 participants.