Sunday, April 27, 2025
4/27/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Kennedy Community Health proposes to utilize grant funds from the Behavioral Health Service Expansion Grant (BHSE) to increase access to behavioral health (BH) and grow our office-based addiction treatment (OBAT) programs at our Framingham and Milford, Massachusetts health care centers. Behavioral health services are provided at all of our health center sites for adults, adolescents, and children. These services are also integrated into our primary care practice to provide for a comprehensive and holistic approach to health care. In all of our medical sites, BH clinicians are located in close physical proximity to primary care providers and are available for “warm hand-offs” and short-term intervention. Kennedy Community Health also operates OBAT programs at three of our health center sites. We treat people with opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder and offer a choice of medications including oral buprenorphine (Suboxone), injectable buprenorphine (Sublocade), and long-acting injectable naltrexone (Vivitrol). Our overall patient population is considered 90% low-income with 57% self-identifying as Hispanic/Latino and 72.2% of our patient population best served in a language other than English, speaking a range of 81 languages. Our current OBAT population mirrors our overall patient demographics with 39% identifying as Hispanic or Latinx and about 52% identifying as non-Hispanic/Latinx; 7.6% of our patients identify as; Black or African American, 14% identify with more than one race, 2% identify as Asian and 65% identify as White with 2% declining to identify their race. Our Framingham health center site has limited MH and OBAT practices and needs to expand primary care services overall to maintain open access to health care. To address community needs, we are planning to build out the second floor of the facility to expand primary care and BH and OBAT services. In Milford, we have been offering limited MH and OBAT services because our former medical site had space constrictions. However, in January 2024, we opened a new, larger health center site across the street from the small medical practice, which has tripled our presence in this region, now accommodating the growth of behavioral health and OBAT. Funds from the grant in year one will be used to support the renovations of the second floor of our Framingham site which will provide the additional space to grow OBAT services. Other year one funds will be used to begin the expansion of these services in Milford including hiring a BH provider to increase access to mental health services as well as support the OBAT program, an OBAT Director, and an OBAT data coordinator. With a nursing-driven OBAT model, we plan to hire a Complex Care Nurse/NCM as well as an RN. A Community Health Worker (CHW) will also be brought on board to support individuals through their treatment by providing resources to mitigate the social risk factors and associated social determinants of health challenging their recovery. The CHW in Milford will also work with Milford Regional Medical Center to engage patients who are given the SBIRT in the emergency room with our OBAT program at our Milford health center. Already on staff are our Clinical Program Nurse Manager who oversees OBAT and other clinical projects and a member of our population health team, both of whom will support this grant project. For year two of the grant, we will continue the staffing in Milford and add similar staffing to Framingham, which will grow MH and OBAT services in the new, expanded space.
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).