Saturday, April 19, 2025
4/19/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - The Philadelphia Department of Public Health/Ambulatory Health Services (PDPH/AHS) has operated eight health centers (designated as FQHC Look-Alikes in the 1990s) in the City’s poorest and most medically underserved communities for over 50 years. By the end of FY23, over 62,000 patients were seen, generating close to 300,000 visits. This proposal seeks to expand Behavioral Health Services (BHS) in our 5 Health Center Program (HCP) sites: HC#5, HC#6, HC#9, HC#10 and Strawberry Mansion HC (SMHC). We seek to add staff resources and renovate the clinic space relevant to our Behavioral Health Service so we effectively meet the needs of our patients needing treatment for MOUD and presenting with SUD-MH issues. Needs to be Addressed: The AHS HCP sites have a high need for SUD-MH services, particularly in our communities where opiate use/death rates are at alarming levels. In Philadelphia there are long waits for SUD-MH care and treatment, as resources are insufficient to meet the growing need, and extremely inaccessible, particularly for uninsured, non-English speaking patients. Supplementing our BHS program with additional resources focuses Behavioral Health Consultant activities on patients' clinical needs. The clinical psychiatrist will provide direct clinical care/support to our patients and assist AHS providers in improving their comfort levels with prescribing psychotropics. A clinical pharmacist will address prescribing questions that arise and also play a crucial role in increasing provider knowledge of prescribing psychotropics. These extra clinical resources will help increase the number of our patients treated with MOUD. In addition, hiring additional navigator staff ensures key at-risk populations are screened on annual basis and are referred to BHS as indicated by screening results. Navigators closely track our most at-risk patients: positive on PHQ9 for suicide and/or have score 9+; positive for opioid/other drugs; and score 8+ on audit C. Navigators will schedule patients, do warm hand-offs, remind patients of appointments; follow-up patients who missed appointments and patients lost to care; facilitate access to resources; and track outcome of patients referred to external services. Proposed Services: Delivery Sites and Locations This project will fund resources to serve patients at our 5 HCP sites: HC#10 in Northeast Philadelphia; HC#6 about 10 miles southeast of HC#10 in the Olde Kensington community; and HC#5, HC#9 and SMHC located in the Northwest area of the City. The key resources to be expanded to serve the 5 sites include: adding 0.4 FTE Senior Health Services Navigator, 2 FTE Health Service Navigator, and 1.5 FTE Interpreter. Assuming the resource becomes available a psychiatric fellow/consult and a clinical pharmacist will be engaged. These resources made possible by these new funds are key for increasing services needed by the patients who present with health problems relevant to SUD-MH, allowing us to maximize the integration of primary care with behavioral health services, and facilitate AHS’ focus on ‘whole person” orientation, with patients gaining easy access to integrated medical, social, and mental health services. Population Group to be Served: At the 5 HCP sites, the patient population to be served is generally an adult population, with 65% between the age of 18-64. The sites vary in terms of race/ethnicity, reflecting their immediate community. HC#6 is nearly 73% Hispanic. HC#10 serves a racially diverse patient base—33% are Hispanic; in terms of race, 21% are Asian; 22% are Black/African American; 50% are Other Race; and 7% are White. The three other sites serve a predominantly Black/African American patient population, at 80-85%, with next largest group being Hispanic/Latino at 10-15% of the patients.
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).