FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Project Title: FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion (BHSE) Applicant Organization Name: Community Health Care Systems, Inc. Address: 2251 W Elm St., Wrightsville GA 31096-2017 Project Director Name: Carla Belcher Contact Phone Numbers (Voice): 478-552-7384 (Fax): 478-552-0704 E-Mail Address: cbelcher@chcsga.org Web Site Address: www.chcsga.org Program Funds Requested in the Application: This application requests a total of $1,100,000 in BHSE Funding, with $600,000 for Year 1 and $500,000 for Year 2. Community Health Care Systems, Inc. (CHCS), a federally qualified health center (FQHC) established in 1993, provides high-quality health care services to the low-income, underserved population of rural, east central Georgia, including Baldwin, Bibb, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Laurens, Taliaferro, Telfair, Twiggs, Warren, Washington, and Wilkinson counties in Georgia. In 2023, CHCSGA served 19,980 total patients, including 554 patients with mental health services, 91 patients with substance use disorder (SUD) services, and 53 patients with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) (UDS). NEED: Baldwin, Bibb, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Johnson, Laurens, Telfair, Washington, and Wilkinson counties are designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) for mental health care (Find Shortage Areas, HRSA, 2024), as are Jones, Taliaferro, Twiggs, and Warren counties for the low-income population. The ratio of residents to mental health providers in the service area is 37,294:1, compared to the ratio of 600:1 in GA and 340:1 in the US (HPSA Data, HRSA Data Explorer, 2024; County Health Rankings, RWJF, 2024). More than two in five (43.2%) of service area residents live on incomes at or below 200% FPG, while 23.0% live on incomes at or below 100% FPG (ACS, Census Bureau, 2018-2022). Lack of insurance poses a significant barrier to behavioral health care for many residents. Of all service area residents, 15.9% are uninsured, while among those with incomes under 200% FPG in the service area 20.4% are uninsured (Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Census Bureau, 2021). More than a quarter of service area residents (26.0%) are enrolled in Medicaid, while 21.7% are enrolled in Medicare (ACS, 2018-2022, Census Bureau). SERVICES: CHCSGA is requesting funding to support expanded behavioral services, increasing access to mental health, SUD, and MOUD services for the target population. In support of these services, CHCSGA is proposing to hire 1.0 FTE Community Health Worker (Social Worker/Navigator/Community Health Worker), 1.0 FTE Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (allocating 0.60 FTE to mental health and 0.40 FTE to medical SUD), 0.45 FTE Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (allocating 0.45 FTE to mental health), 1.0 Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) (allocating 0.60 FTE to mental health and 0.40 FTE to SUD), 0.50 FTE Other Mental Health Personnel (Certified Peer Specialist), and 0.45 FTE Other Licensed Mental Health Provider (Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist). The project will also include the purchase of a mobile behavioral health unit to expand reach of services, implementation of an individual outpatient program (IOP) with a virtual component, and training and technical assistance for the project, including training to increase the number of providers delivering treatment with MOUD. POPULATION GROUP: CHCSGA anticipates that the proposed BHSE expansion will increase the number of patients provided with behavioral health services by the end of the project period (2025), including a total of 750 mental health services patients, 150 SUD services patients, and 100 patients receiving MOUD services. Overall, the center estimates an increase of 100 unduplicated new health center patients. This will support the BHSE program purpose of increasing the number of patients who access mental health services and SUD services, including patients receiving treatment with MOUD.
