Wednesday, June 4, 2025
6/4/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - High Plains Community Health Center (HPCHC) was established in 1995 to provide medical and dental health care to communities in the frontier counties of Prowers, Bent, Baca and Kiowa, as well as the surrounding counties of southeastern Colorado and western Kansas. Our behavioral health services were launched in 2013. The region served by HPCHC has a population of approximately 23,000 with an average median household income of $42,560. Nineteen percent of the population in these counties lives in poverty; additionally, 19% of the population of the area served by High Plains identifies as Hispanic. Agriculture is a primary source of employment in our service area, and statistics consistently identify depression among the top five conditions for which rural and frontier residents need to travel two to three times farther than urban residents to access appropriate care. Since its inception, HPCHC has been the primary care provider for residents of our multi-county service area who are underserved, underinsured and uninsured. For many of our patients, their primary care provider is their first point of access for any health care need; therefore, a multidisciplinary care model that unites medical care, behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment within a fully integrated primary care setting is essential to minimize barriers and provide comprehensive, whole-person care. High Plains is the only organization in our service area with the personnel, resources and history of community care and engagement to implement and sustain this model of care. In our frontier community, most people are acquainted with one another and may be reluctant to be seen entering a mental health or substance use treatment facility. This stigma is reduced when these needs are provided in an integrated setting by a team of professionals committed to coordinated, collaborative, person-centered healthcare. According to a recent report from the National Institute of Health, “in the past two decades...suicide rates increased 46% in non-metro areas compared to 27.3% in metro areas." Socio-economic factors, health behaviors, and access to health care services all contribute to the greater risk of frontier and rural residents dying from drug overdose and suicide than their urban counterparts. Death rates, in fact, for unintentional injuries such as drug overdoses are 50% higher in rural areas than in urban areas. While HPCHC currently provides medical, dental, and limited behavioral health services, our most recent community health needs assessment indicated mental health and SUD treatment as the top priorities in our community. As such, our goal at High Plains is to increase SUD and mental health services in our primary care setting by training medical providers in MOUD via Provider Clinical Support System, recruiting and retaining behavioral health professionals credentialed in SUD, and hiring psychiatric providers. In 2023, HPCHC provided medical health care to over 7,500 patients (an average of 33% of our service area residents), of those 2,250 (30%) had a mental health and/or SUD diagnosis. Unfortunately, no MOUD or SUD services were available and only 422 (5.6%) patients accessed our behavioral health services. Following our successful recruitment of new medical and behavioral health department heads, we now have the experienced and visionary leadership to provide an integrated model of patient care – one with an unconditional commitment to mental health and SUD treatment. Funding from HRSA-24-078 to hire clinical staff, train medical staff, add support services, medication and supplies, is required for us to increase the number of patients receiving SUD and mental health services at our clinics in Lamar and Holly, CO. With these expanded services, we can develop the capacity to increase the number of patients receiving mental health services at High Plains by 35%, as well as offer SUD treatment to over 50 persons annually.
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).