HRSA Health Center Program Grant Number: H80CS00040 Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), a Federally Qualified Health Center, proposes expansion of Behavioral Health Services for people experiencing homelessness including those now stabilizing in CCH-owned and operated housing. Studies show individuals and families who are unhoused have much higher rates of physical health issues and mental health challenges and/or substance use than people who are stably housed. People living outside or in emergency shelter face barriers to care that negatively impact both their initial and ongoing treatment. Barriers include lack of health insurance, transportation, childcare, personal identification/documentation, competing priorities for daily food, shelter and safety. As the leading Health Care for the Homeless provider in Colorado, CCH’s project will expand Behavioral Health Services in CCH’s service area which includes the 7-county Metro Denver region and 6-counties in rural Southeastern Colorado. In Metro Denver, the proposed project will add a 1.0 FTE psychiatrist to provide mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services to include prescribing and managing Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). This licensed independent provider will focus their efforts on providing services outside of traditional outpatient health center sites including via street medicine, a mobile medical vehicle, and in CCH-operated affordable and permanent supportive housing sites. Currently, CCH provides mental health and SUD services on a limited basis or not at all in these locations. Meeting patients where they are in non-traditional settings will expand mental health and SUD service access and increase the number of CCH patients receiving the behavioral health care they need and deserve. Also, the psychiatrist will provide coverage at CCH’s traditional outpatient health center sites as needed to meet demand. In rural southeastern Colorado, the project w
ill expand mental health and SUD services to patients receiving care at CCH’s Fort Lyon Health Center with a 1.0 FTE licensed Behavioral Health Clinician. Patient demand for integrated behavioral health services exceeds the capacity of the existing onsite 1.0 FTE Behavioral Clinician. A second 1.0 FTE licensed provider will give CCH the staffing necessary to meet the upturn in patient requests for mental health and SUD services and increase in the number of patients receiving these services. CCH will also contract with the Regis University School of Pharmacy to place 0.2 FTE Clinical Pharmacist with psychiatric pharmacy expertise within the health center to support prescribing of medications for mental health conditions. To enhance patient privacy and the overall experience of receiving services at the Fort Lyon Health Center, CCH will utilize Year 1 funds to enhance soundproofing for patient privacy in the space utilized for telepsychiatry and integrated behavioral health services.