FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Catherine’s Health Center [Catherine’s] seeks to expand its mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) services in Kent County, Michigan. Specifically, Catherine’s aims to expand MH and SUD services to the homeless and to people experiencing housing instability. Catherine’s began providing limited behavioral health services in 2017 and SUD services in 2023. Catherine’s became a look-alike in 2017 and a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in 2020. In three years, Catherine’s grew from one primary care clinic exclusively serving adults to four integrated primary care and dental clinics serving all ages and 3 school-based sites. In addition to adding clinics, Catherine’s has also expanded services to the homeless by embedding clinics in partner facilities. Catherine’s provides weekly primary care services at a homeless shelter and a church. Further, Catherine’s provides street medicine services and outreach services at another local shelter. In 2023, Catherine’s served 5171 unique patients through 18092 visits. 2919 of those visits were MH and 0 were SUD. 31% of patients were homeless or housing unstable in 2023. Of the 1589 homeless patients, 144 received MH services and 0 received SUD treatment. By December 31, 2025, 50 new unique patients will receive SUD services, 50 new unique patients will receive MOUD services, and 500 new unique patients will receive MH services. BHSE funding will increase access to MH services, SUD treatment, and MOUD for all patients but Catherine's is applying a special focus on the homeless population. According to Kent County’s most recent Point in Time Count, conducted in January 2023, there were 1239 homeless individuals. According to the Health Department, Kent County has experienced 159 drug overdose deaths from January 2022 to October 2023. While Catherine’s has exponentially expanded medical services for the homeless, it is imperative that Catherine’s expands integrated MH and SUD services to this population. Funding will enable Catherine’s to meet the growing need of our community. This project has two objectives: 1)Increase the number of patients who receive SUD services, including treatment with MOUD, and 2) Increase the number of patients who receive MH services. To accomplish these two objectives by December 31, 2025, Catherine’s will implement organization-wide behavioral health practices and expand SUD treatment with a focus on individuals who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Activities related to Objective 1 include: 1)Increase SUD treatment at all current sites 2)Implement harm reduction training across all sites 3)Expand intentional partnerships to increase SUD treatment to new populations 4)Implement SUD screenings across all sites 5)Hire and train .5 FTE case manager, 1 FTE peer recovery coach, 1 FTE LCSW with SUD specialty, 1 FTE Advanced Practice Provider, and 1 FTE Medical Assistant to provide services with a focus on the homeless, SUD treatment, and MOUD treatment 6)Purchase a mobile van to deliver medical and behavioral health services to the homeless 7)Conduct evaluation of SUD service implementation for homeless Activities related to Objective 2 include: 1)Formalize process with local Community Health agency to conduct referrals for patients with SPMI 2)Conduct organization-wide trauma-informed training for staff 3)Adopt a primary care behavioral model to increase access at primary care sites 4)Hire, onboard, and train .5 FTE case manager to coordinate MH services for the homeless 5)Train existing psychiatric nurse practitioner to provide care in long-acting injectable treatment to the homeless 6)Increase completed MH appointments for patients with a positive MH screening 7)Conduct evaluation of MH service implementation for the homeless
