Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - York County Community Action Corporation (YCCAC), supported by grant H80CS04191 through 330(e) Community Health Center (CHC), 330(h) Health Care for the Homeless (HCH), and 330(i) Public Housing Primary Care (PHPC) funding serves patients through Nasson Health Care, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) based in Springvale, ME within York County, with emphasis on these special populations and residents of the Medically Underserved Population (MUP: Low Income-Sanford, #07728). YCCAC seeks funding through Behavioral Health Service Expansion HRSA-24-078 to expand urgently needed services to increase the number of patients receiving Mental Health (MH) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) services, including treatment with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). Proposed project Through this funding, YCCAC proposes to: • Increase the number of patients receiving MH services (from 941 in 2023 to 1,130 in 2025) • Increase the number of patients receiving SUD services (from 80 in 2023 to 120 in 2025) • Increase the number of patients receiving treatment with MOUD (from 406 in 2023 to 487 in 2025) Needs to be addressed York County faces a significant challenge with limited access to comprehensive MH, SUD, and MOUD services. For 20 years, YCCAC has provided comprehensive primary care to York County, including behavioral health and enabling services. However, needs are outpacing available services related to SUD and MOUD due to workforce challenges and a housing crisis. In 2023, Nasson provided BH services to 941 patients with complex needs. Over half were conducted via telehealth, underscoring the importance of this option. In 2023, the Primary Care team treated 406 patients with MOUD. Nasson Behavioral Health currently operates at maximum staffing and physical capacity and maintains an ongoing 3-4 month waitlist for patients seeking BH services. York County is predominantly rural with scarce transportation resources and pervasive stigma surrounding SUD treatment. In 2023, 10.17% of Nasson’s patients identified as racial/ethnic minorities; 16.06% identified as unhoused; and 42.3% lived in public housing. The barriers to treatment for these patients are well known, so it is imperative for this program to expand physical space, staffing, relationships with community, and telehealth to reduce barriers and improve access and patient experience. Proposed Services The project will focus on MH and SUD treatment and recovery areas including increasing workforce, broadening services into a school setting, increasing access to group therapy, and training on treatment modalities (EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Virtual Reality, and bio feedback). The project will also dedicate existing space to BH, expand access to telehealth, and bolster the peer workforce to address social factors while expanding collaboration. This includes: Recruitment of 4 FTE Qualified Behavioral Health Professionals, 1 Community Health Workers (CHW), 1 BH Case Manager, and 2 Support Staff Expansion of physical locations including school site, home visits, and enlarging existing facilities by converting existing space to treatment rooms The MOUD activities include increasing capacity for MOUD with injectables; providing referral and transitions of care case management; developing partnerships with community stakeholders for treatment; and developing a peer support program CHW and Peer Support will remove isolation barriers to treatment and address social risk factors; increase and educate the community stakeholders about treatment access and provide connection; provide in home visits The Telehealth platform will be enhanced to provide virtual visits for patients experiencing transportation barriers or stigma Enhanced collaboration will include local police departments; EDs and treatment facilities to improve transitions of care; a recovery center for justice-involved patients; aftercare programs for transitions of care; and engagement with local schools.
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).