Saturday, June 7, 2025
6/7/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Wirt County Health Services Association, dba Coplin Health Systems - H80CS00256 Elizabeth, West Virginia Coplin Health Systems (CHS) is an FQHC that serves Jackson, Wood, and Wirt Counties in WV and Meigs and Washington Counties in OH (the Mid-Ohio Valley). CHS offers primary medical, behavioral health (BH), dental, pharmaceutical, and enabling services to patients in an affordable and accessible manner. The Center maintains evidence-based practices with the provision of health services, including mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. There is a significant need for BH resources throughout the service area. West Virginia and Ohio are both poorly ranked in terms of MH outcomes; WV ranks 48th in the nation for depression, while OH ranks 40th. The five-county service area sees more frequent mental distress (20.4%) than the United States (15.0%). MH and SUD are often connected, so poor MH outcomes translate to devastating SUD impacts. For example, most of the service area sees a higher rate of drug-related fatalities than the United States, especially in Wirt County, WV (60 deaths per 100,000 residents) and Meigs County, OH (69). The leading cause of overdoses and drug-related deaths in the service area are opioids, which contribute to nearly 75% of all fatal overdoses. A high rate of overdoses, coupled with high prescription and dispensing rates, highlights the need for additional SUD providers and resources within this community. CHS proudly offers resources to combat ongoing MH and SUD issues throughout its community. As a safety net provider, the Center cares for medically vulnerable and low-income patients throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley. The service area is home to approximately 229,000 people, of which 82,235 are considered low-income, and 38,048 live in poverty. CHS strategically targets patients in these two economic categories. For this funding opportunity, the Center will target a cross-section of low-income patients with those diagnosed with an MH or SUD condition. Currently, there are an estimated 57,344 individuals with an MH diagnosis and 43,374 with an SUD diagnosis in the service area. Additionally, CHS will target populations that generally do not seek services in fixed clinical locations, including incarcerated persons, previously unhoused individuals, and families living in shelters. CHS will meet the community's needs and provide care to the target populations by supporting individuals who will provide MH/SUD/MOUD services in person, virtually, and via the Center's mobile unit. The Center will hire three licensed therapists and two BH interns to offer mental health and clinical therapy to SUD patients; the Center will use its contracted psychiatrist to support SUD patients. Therapies include cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, play therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Each is evidence-based, patient-centered, and appropriate for MH and SUD patients. This proposal will also support the expansion of the school-based health center's hours to cover the summer months with an additional 21 hours per week of MH/SUD counseling/therapy. For MOUD, the Center is training its current medical staff to screen for SUD in the primary care setting and initiate MOUD as appropriate, with assistance as necessary from the integrated BH therapist to develop comprehensive yet unique wellness plans. CHS is hiring two community health workers (CHW) for screening, peer support, and enabling services via the Center's mobile unit, which will provide access to care in hard-to-reach pockets of the community, such as correctional facilities, subsidized housing complexes, and soup kitchens. CHS intends to increase patient numbers by 406 individuals per year, 300 unduplicated. This consists of 272 MH, 104 SUD, and 30 MOUD patients. These projections are appropriate and realistic for the new FTE and are based on 2023 UDS data and the Center's historical information.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).