Saturday, May 3, 2025
5/3/2025
FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - HealthFirst’s Lexington-Fayette County service area has a population 323,152, which is 7% of the total population of the state of Kentucky. Lexington-Fayette County is growing at a faster rate than the state and the nation and is the second fastest growing city in Kentucky. Lexington-Fayette County is racially and ethnically diverse and our patient population in even more diverse and includes persons experiencing homelessness. Mental health and physical health are inextricably linked. Residents of the service area have significant mental health needs and have 3.8 poor mental health days per month. An alarming 12% of the population is in frequent mental distress and reported more than 14 days per month of mental distress. Income disparities also affect mental health. People in households with incomes below $35,000 a year are more likely than those in households with incomes over $100,000 to report feeling sadness (6.4% compared to 1.2%), hopelessness (4.6% compared to 0.5%), and worthlessness (3.8% compared to 0.6%). The service area has a higher percentage of the Medicare population who has been diagnosed with depression at 20.6% compared to 20.2% in Kentucky and 16.7% across the United States. The service area has a high rate of binge drinking at 19% compared to 14% across the state of Kentucky. The Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy shows that 2,250 people died from a drug overdose in 2021, a nearly 15% increase from 2020. In the first year of the pandemic, the United States experienced the highest-ever combined rates of deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide. According to a report released by Trust for America's Health and Well Being Trust, Kentucky's rate was second in the nation. Nationwide, deaths associated with alcohol, drugs, and suicide, called "deaths of despair," took the lives of 186,763 Americans in 2020, a 20 percent increase from 2019. Kentucky's combined deaths of despair increased by 36% between 2019 and 2020, second only to West Virginia, which had a 37% increase. In 2020, the latest Pain in the Nation: The Epidemics of Alcohol, Drug, and Suicide Deaths report shows Kentucky had 3,680 combined deaths from alcohol, drug, and suicide, an age-adjusted rate of 82.8 deaths per 100,000 people. Of those, 738 were alcohol-induced (37%), 2,187 were drug-induced (47%), and 801 were by suicide (7%). HealthFirst will utilize behavioral health expansion funds to add needed staff to support increased access to mental health and substance use services for our existing patient population and for new patients. Mental health provider shortages in the service area and the high need of our patient population make this grant award critical to our ability to meet the behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment needs of our service area population. HFBG will utilize grant funds to hire 4.3 FTE new behavioral health / integrated care staff to meet the needs of CHC and HCH patients. Key activities include training for providers related to SUD/MOUD and infectious disease; internal referrals, external collaboration and CHW care coordination at three health center sites. We expect to serve an additional 380 mental health patients, 80 SUD patients and 50 MOUD patients by December 31, 2025.
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).