FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - North County Health Project, Inc., d.b.a. TrueCare (grant #H80CS00228) was established in 1971 and incorporated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in 1973. Our mission is “to improve the health status of our diverse communities by providing quality healthcare that is comprehensive, affordable, and culturally sensitive.” Over the past 53 years, TrueCare has played a vital role in the community as a safety net for primarily traditionally underserved individuals and their families, catching them before they fall through the cracks of the traditional healthcare system. TrueCare serves the large northern region of San Diego County and Perris in Riverside County, California. TrueCare currently operates 15 health centers located in San Marcos, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Ramona, and Perris, and four mobile medical/dental clinics. TrueCare serves more than 60,000 patients annually. Our patients are predominately low income (94.1% below 200% federal poverty level (FPL) and 61.6% at or below 100% FPL), uninsured (20.5%), and underserved. We offer a full range of comprehensive services, including primary care, dental care, behavioral health, pediatric care, women's health, QuickCare (urgent care), older adult health, pharmacy, chiropractic, acupuncture, virtual health, and other specialty services. We offer programs and resources for our patients, including WIC, Uber Health transportation to appointments, interpreter services, health insurance assistance, CalFresh, and HIV/AIDS case management. Through this HRSA-24-078 Behavioral Health Service Expansion funding opportunity, TrueCare proposes to increase access to behavioral health services for our traditionally underserved patient population by expanding mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services. Specifically, we propose to strengthen our existing behavioral health program to incorporate additional MH and SUD services, including medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), group therapy, and comprehensive case management. This enhanced program will be offered across our network of 17 health centers through in-person and virtual modalities. These enhancements will increase both the number of patients receiving mental health services and the number of patients receiving SUD services, including those receiving treatment with MOUD. Additionally, TrueCare proposes minor A/R work at our new behavioral health satellite location to increase access to services for residents of San Marcos and the surrounding communities. Funding will primarily be used for personnel costs, training, educational materials, promotional materials, community outreach, and minor A/R.
