FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Teche Action Board, Inc., d/b/a Teche Action Clinic (TAC), a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation headquartered in Franklin, LA, has been providing primary and preventive health care services as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) since 1974. TAC provides high quality, community responsive, comprehensive primary and preventive health care services to low-income, medically underserved, uninsured and underinsured populations in St. Mary, Assumption, Lafourche,Terrebonne, St. John and St. James Parishes, regardless of patients’ ability to pay. TAC currently operates 16 FQHC sites (9 primary care locations and 6 school-based sites). TAC’s Service Area population is 314,269 and comprised of White (62%), African American (29%), Native American (3%) and Asian/Other/Unreported (1%). In terms of ethnicity, 5% are Hispanic and 95% Non-Hispanic. Within that service area population, 44% or 136,682 of the service area target population are categorized as low income, uninsured and underserved residents; a 16.99% poverty rate (below 100% FPL), 37.32% being low-income (below 200% FPL) and 6.8% are uninsured. 52% of the uninsured population are living below 200% of the federal poverty level. The health disparities within TAC’s patient population are pervasive. 19.58% of the population have a disability; 58% of adults are obese; 34% of target population were identified as smokers; 26% of population adults are binge drinkers; the age-adjusted mortality rate is 854.7/100,000; and 18% have less than high school education. Of the 314,269 total Service Area population, 25.54% are under the age of 18. SAMHSA’s 2021-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health identified that those 12 - 17 years of age in Louisiana yielded some of the nation’s highest percentages of substance use in their age group: 7.06 – 8.13% for illicit drug in the past month; 12.75-19.24% for marijuana use in the past year; .18 - .21% for cocaine use in the past year (nation’s highest); .13 - .16% for use of methamphetamine in the past year (nation’s highest); 1.86% - 3.48% for use of prescription pain reliver misuse in the past year (second highest); 1.85 – 1.98% of opioid misuse in the past year (second highest); 9-10.55% of binge alcohol use in the past month (second highest); 2.57 – 2.88% of tobacco use produce in the past month; 10.96 – 16.01% with substance use disorder in the past year (nation’s highest); and 3.45 – 3.73% of alcohol use disorder in the past year (second highest). According to the La. Department of Health, more than 53.4% of drug poisoning deaths in 2021 involved opioids, an increase from 32% in 2014. The incidence of drug poisoning deaths in the Service Area is approximately 24.35% of the population, which is higher than the state (11%); with the average drug overdose death rate of 33.25% for St. James Parish, St. John, St. Mary, and Terrebonne Parishes. However, according to SAMHSA, as of 2020, only 33 treatment facilities in Louisiana served adolescents, which makes up approximately 21.3% of all facilities in the state. TAC is submitting this current funding application seeking funding under the Fiscal Year 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion to increase the number of patients ages 12-17, who receive mental health services and those who receive substance use disorder services, including those receiving treatment with medications opioid use disorder, specifically in St. Mary Parish which account for 19.38% of the service area population. The intention is to utilize our mobile unit and our high school School-Based Health Centers, to expand upon our integrated primary and behavioral health care model. TAC seeks to hire additional behavioral health staff, expand tele-psychiatry services, expand its collaborative agreements to include Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics and opioid treatment programs in the Service Area to address more severe cases through the referral process.
