FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - goshen medical center, INC. (GMC) (H80CS00181) is a private, non-profit 501(C)(3) federally qualified health center (FQHC), the largest community health…

FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - goshen medical center, INC. (GMC) (H80CS00181) is a private, non-profit 501(C)(3) federally qualified health center (FQHC), the largest community health center system in the state of north carolina. Serving eastern north carolina since 1979, GMC's mission is to provide access to affordable health care for all people in eastern north carolina. GMC originated in faison, north carolina and now operates 37 fixed sites and 11 mobile health units throughout the 17 north carolina counties of bladen, brunswick, carteret, columbus, craven, cumberland, duplin, harnett, hoke, LEE, montgomery, onslow, richmond, sampson, stanly, wake, and wayne. GMC serves areas designated by hrsa as medically underserved areas (MUAS), and these areas have multiple designations of health professional shortage area (HPSAS) for primary care, dental health, and mental health. According to a report from hrsa's geocare navigator of the ZIP codes in GMC's service area, the total population in the service area is 1,474,462, and 32% of the population, 475,501 residents, are low-income residents with incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level that comprise goshen's target population. GMC has been playing a crucial role in the community by serving all patients regardless of their ability to pay with a focus on vulnerable uninsured, unemployed, homeless, and medicaid patients. According to a 2023 report from the north carolina department of health and human services (DHHS), "more than two million north carolinians have a mental illness, and more than one million have a substance use disorder (SUD)." in 2023, GMC served 56,436 patients, and according to hrsa's estimates, 33% of health center patients could use mental health services and 17% of health center patients could use SUD services. Applying these estimates to GMC's patient numbers shows that 18,623 of GMC's patients could use mental health services, and 5,653 of GMC's patients could use SUD services. However, these estimates are conservative as they do not include the number of people without access to mental health and SUD services who were not health center patients in 2023. As a result, there is a critical unmet need for both mental health and SUD services in GMC's vast service area as GMC and other safety net providers in the service area do not currently provide these services. Through this grant funding, GMC is proposing to increase access to behavioral health services by implementing the provision of mental health services and SUD services to vulnerable, low-income populations that do not currently have access to these services. Specifically, GMC plans to hire 3.0 FTE licensed clinical social workers (LCSWS) and 3.0 FTE peer support specialists (PSPS) who will begin providing mental health and SUD services. GMC also plans to train its providers to enable them to provide treatment with moud services. All these newly available services will be provided: 1) onsite at three of GMC's centers; 2) on mobile medical units that will travel regularly to serve patients at homeless shelters, migrant camps, and schools; and 3) virtually via telehealth at all of GMC's other centers and at patients' homes. GMC will provide these services on a sliding fee scale where no patients are turned away due to the inability to pay. GMC will also provide travel vouchers to enable patients to travel to GMC centers for SUD and mental health services. Additionally, funding will be used for a marketing campaign to promote the availability of mental health services and SUD services on a sliding fee scale and to encourage patients to seek care as appropriate. Furthermore, GMC will use screening tools to identify patients that need mental health and/or SUD services. GMC's well-designed plans to initiate behavioral health services will increase the number of patients receiving both mental health and SUD services, including patients receiving treatment with moud.