Tuesday, April 29, 2025
4/29/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Community Action Committee of Pike County (Pike CAC) is a nonprofit headquartered in Piketon, Ohio, serving community members and patients across multiple counties in our region in what is largely rural, Appalachian Ohio. The population of focus are the patients and clients served by our Federally Qualified Health Center, Valley View Health Centers. In 2023, we provided healthcare to 14,421 unique patients, including nearly 2,400 ages 12-21. The counties in our catchment area are Pike, Scioto, Jackson, and Adams, and are considered by Appalachian Regional Commission designations as “At-Risk”, “distressed”, or “transitional. Scioto county has the highest rate of poverty in Ohio at 23.6% and of the other counties served, over 20%, nearly twice the overall rate in the United States, which is 11%. Almost 40% of households in the area are below 200% of poverty level and in the bottom third among all Ohio counties for median income according to the most recent U.S. Census data. This initiative will allow Pike CAC to expand our health center’s capacity in addressing the needs of community members and patients experiencing challenges due to unmet behavioral health needs and substance use disorders. The proposed project will (1) increase the number of patients receiving mental health and SUD services, including treatment with MOUD and (2) address barriers to accessing such services through closing service gaps, providing health related social needs, and integrating training to address stigma and discrimination. We propose reaching these goals through the following: • implementing a team-based/trauma-informed care approach; increasing patient screenings for behavioral health and substance use needs; Improving access to care by increasing the number of primary care providers comfortable prescribing FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and other treatments for unhealthy substance and alcohol use; providing integrated counseling and therapy services at the point-of-care (one-stop model); improving referral coordination to existing inpatient treatment, recovery, and support services partners in our community; deepening the collaboration within our agency’s wide ranges of human service programs through the team-based care approach to provide supportive services to patients and address social determinant of health barriers to care; integrating anti-stigma training across all agency departments and within our community. There are only 12 Community Action Committees in the country which also operate FQHCs, giving us a unique synergy in addressing both the health needs of our social service clients and the social determinants of health among our health center patients. This initiative will allow us to deepen and expand a coordinated approach to support people in achieving self-sufficiency through recovery in one of the areas of the United States hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, first by allowing us to implement coordinated and universal screening for substance use, unhealthy alcohol use, tobacco use, depression, anxiety and PTSD. By implementing these strategies with a trauma-informed approach, we will be able to increase screening sensitivity and will see more patients screening positive who are amenable to interventions, referral to treatment, and harm reduction recommendations. Our implementation plan includes developing a consistent, organization-wide workflow including warm hand-offs, trauma-informed interventions, referrals for treatment, and education about harm reduction and stigma reduction. Finally, we will improve our internal capacity for substance use treatment as well as deepening our relationship with other area services providers so that we can offer all necessary services in the most patient-centered and accessible manner. We believe our implementation plan will meet these needs through a patient-centered, team-based care approach.
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).