FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - GRANT #: H80CS24168 ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY / SERVICE AREA / TARGET POPULATION – Headquartered in Mount Sterling, KY, Sterling Health Solutions, Inc. (SHS) provides comprehensive health services to underserved, low-income and disadvantaged populations in rural Kentucky. SHS has been an FQHC since 2012. Since its inception, SHS has demonstrated a solid commitment to the community, quality, and sustainability. The service area includes Bath, Bourbon, Clark, Menifee, Nicholas, Powell, and Montgomery counties in the Gateway Area Development District of Kentucky, near the Appalachian Mountains. SHS currently operates 35 health center sites of which 27 are school-based health centers service. SHS also has an administrative site in Mount Sterling. The target population is defined as low-income, uninsured and underinsured (includes people covered by Medicaid and Medicare), and migrant and seasonal agricultural workers (MSAW) which represents more than half of the area residents. SERVICE AREA NEED: The target population suffers from a wide array of health needs and poor health outcomes, and many have substance abuse disorders including opioid disorders. The barriers to care include health disparities, poverty, and limited transportation. The migrant population have experienced difficulty in accessing care in the past due to language and cultural barriers. PROPOSAL: Funding from this grant will allow SHS to expand its mental health and substance use disorder services by funding 3.5 FTE Licensed Clinical Social Workers to provide mental health and substance use disorder clinical services and 4.0 FTE Peer Support staff to provide treatment and recovery support services, and implement clinic-wide training on integrating MH and SUD services. By the end of 2025, SHS will serve 3,085 mental health patients (894 new); 525 SUD patients (290 new); and 473 patients with medication to treat opioid disorder (208 new). In total, SHS will serve an additional 600 unduplicated patients as a result of this funding.
