Tuesday, June 3, 2025
6/3/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Project Title: FY 24 Behavioral Health Services Expansion (HRSA-24-078) Applicant Organization Name: Friends of Family Health Center Grant Number: H80CS24196 Project Director Name: Bahram Bahremand, MBA Brief Description of Proposed Project: Friends of Family Health Center (FOFHC) FY-BHSE project proposes to expand its access to mental health, substance use disorder, and MOUD treatment services. FOFHC will utilize the Department of Health and Human Services Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration, as a guide to our program expansion, ensuring FOFHC providers and workforce have the resources and tools necessary to respond to patient health needs. The FOFHC-BHSE program will target and address stigmas and discriminations, which create barriers to care, normalizing, in effort to increase access to services. These behavioral health services will be provided in a comprehensive model care to address both physical, mental, and social risk factors; as we increase the provider role in medications for treatment of opioid use disorder. Population & Needs: FOFHC service area is inclusive of Orange County; Los Angeles County; and San Bernardino County; operating six permanent, service delivery sites. The target population is defined as the underserved, who may also be defined as “most at-risk”. The following demographics define this target population. The service area identifies 2,149,948 residents, of which, more than one-fourth or 28.0%, live below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline (FPG); additionally, 17.0% or 366,515 individuals live below 138% of the FPG, and 10.8% or 231,815 residents live below 100% FPG; which is the threshold to be deemed “living in poverty” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The service area also identifies 4,263 persons experiencing homelessness, based on most recent Point in Time Counts. As well, 43.9% of low-income residents are medically uninsured, while 30.2% are insured through Medicaid or other means-tested coverage. Of the low-income residents, 28.1% rely on community clinics for health care while 21.2% have no usual source of care and/or rely on the emergency department. Substance use among low-income service area adults remains higher than comparison counties and California averages. Approximately 11,500 (or 2.7%) low-income adults have misused a prescription pain killer (primarily opioids) in the past year. More than 1,800 low-income individuals have used heroin in the past year, and more than 7,000 have used methamphetamines. Increasing the Number of Patients Receiving Behavioral Health Services: FOFHC will utilize grant funding to increase its Behavioral Health Workforce by 3.0 FTE Behavioral Health Specialists, in order to expand access to its comprehensive behavioral health services inclusive of mental health, substance use disorder, and MOUD treatment services, throughout out network of service delivery sites. Outreach and education materials will focus on the recognition of cultural and environment stigmas; focusing on promotion of treatment, presentation, and recovery. The inclusion of supportive social needs will target gaps in care i.e., identifying and addressing the environmental and social factors which impact patient access to and continuation of health care services. FOFHC health care providers will further expand their role in providing medications for treatment of opioid use disorder. In addition, FOFHC will provide access to all service area residents, regardless of insurance status and/or ability to pay.
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).