Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Health Center Program grant number: H80CS33643 AltaPointe Health Systems of Mobile, Alabama will leverage its unique position of housing both psychiatry and family medicine residency programs to increase patient access in the near term and expand capacity in the long term through workforce development by training family medicine residents to initiate and maintain mental health and substance use disorder treatment including the utilization of MOUD therapies like Suboxone. Need data shows that drug overdose deaths are rising sharply in Mobile and Alabama, with the most recent data showing an increase of 22% in Mobile County for all drug overdose deaths and a 52% increase in opioid overdose deaths. Alabama’s depression rates rate is 36th highest of 50 states, with one in every five adults having a mental illness and one in every six having a substance use disorder. Unfortunately, 62% of people with a mental illness did not receive treatment, ranking Alabama 48th of 50 states. There is a massive gap in mental health and substance use provider capacity. AltaPointe Health Systems Inc. (AHS) is an extensive healthcare system providing integrated primary and behavioral healthcare as a designated public entity Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Community Mental Health Center (CMHC), and Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) beginning July 1, 2024. AHS provides more than 1 million services to 45,000 patients across Alabama annually. AHS was awarded FQHC Look-Alike status in 2019 for its integrated primary care and behavioral health sites and FQHC grant funding shortly thereafter. AHS now has six integrated FQHC sites in Mobile and Coosa counties. Out of the FQHC scope of project, AHS operates two psychiatric hospitals serving children and adults, one behavioral health crisis center, and 20 outpatient behavioral healthcare clinics. AHS collaboratively administers two University of South Alabama College of Medicine residency programs: 1) Psychiatry and 2) Family Practice. This proposal would leverage AHS’s psychiatry and addictions training experience by integrating psychiatry and addictions training into the Family Medicine residency program. A new psychiatrist will be added to the Family Medicine faculty and provide one-on-one training to eighteen family medicine residents during patient visits for both mental health and substance use disorder, including medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment. A new therapist, medical assistant, care coordinator, and office professional will round out the proposed care team, which also includes a clinic manager, referral specialists, community health navigator, and nurse team leader. They will work with the residents to address social determinants of health (SDoH) that cause barriers to improved health outcomes for the 5,600 patients at the family medicine residency clinic. Many patients will not go to see a psychiatrist or mental health counselor because of the associated stigma. Accessing comprehensive behavioral health at the primary care office increases a person’s sense of confidentiality and normalizes treatment. The short-term impact is that AHS’ patients will be able to access behavioral health services, including MOUD, in the primary care setting. As a result of BHSE funding, AHS will serve an additional 700 mental health patients, 200 SUD patients, and 50 MOUD patients, including a total of 500 new, unduplicated patients. In the long term, the impact of the grant funds will be increased exponentially as family medicine physicians will be well-equipped to treat both mental health and substance use disorders throughout their entire careers. This is a model that can be replicated in other parts of the country. Over a thirty-year career, the 18 residents trained will serve an estimated 250,000 patients with mental health and substance use disorders.
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).