FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - william f. Ryan community health center, INC

H80CS00061 ryan health - FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion according to the most recent substance abuse and mental health services administration (SA mhsa) national survey on drug use and health, published in november 2023, nearly one in four (23%) adult new yorkers experiences a mental health disorder in a given year. Overdose deaths and substance use-related harms continue to be a public health crisis - every three hours, someone dies of a drug overdose in new york city (NYC). In 2022, 3,026 new yorkers died from an unintentional drug overdose - the highest number since reporting began in 2000. Fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid has been increasingly found in unregulated NYC drugs and continues to drive overdose mortality. Ryan health proposes to implement a mobile engagement unit outreach model, operating in neighborhoods with a very high concentration of opioid overdose mortality. Through this application, ryan health is requesting funding for a mobile community outreach van that will be staffed with 1 FTE community health worker to provide street outreach, education and screening, brief intervention and referral (sbirt) for mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment - a single approach to address both the mental health crisis and the opioid overdose crisis afflicting NYC. To support the expansion of its behavioral health services, ryan health will hire one fulltime casac licensed clinical social worker (lcsw) to join its behavioral health integration (BHI) program. The casac lcsw will receive referrals from the community health worker and complete a comprehensive assessment to diagnose both substance use disorders as well as another possible mental health disorder, reducing the chance of a missed diagnosis and providing the right treatment. This will allow the behavioral health team to screen and assess more patients for substance abuse and mental health needs, and enroll more patients in ongoing care, including ryan health's medically assisted treatment (mat) program. Ryan health will hire 1 FTE RN - substance use disorder (SUD) nurse care manager (NCM), who will oversee all day-to-day aspects of the mat program. Additionally, 1 PTE addiction medicine physician - trained and certified to provide comprehensive care for addiction and substance related disorders will be hired, prescribing buprenorphine treatment and providing medical care within the BIO-psycho-social framework for persons with addiction. IT is anticipated that engagement in ryan health's expanded behavioral health treatment program will impact modifiable social determinants of health, including income, education, housing, criminal justice involvement and lead to improved outcomes in many areas. If selected for funding, ryan health expects to increase the provision of behavioral health services by at least 275 new patients.