FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - overview of applicant: metropolitan community health services, INC (mchs) provides primary medical, dental, pharmacy, and behavioral health services to…

FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - overview of applicant: metropolitan community health services, INC (mchs) provides primary medical, dental, pharmacy, and behavioral health services to vulnerable populations within the rural counties of beaufort, hyde, martin, tyrrell, and washington in north carolina. Mchs is a 501(c)(3) non-profit federally qualified health center (fqhc) and provides services on a sliding fee scale. Objectives: mchs will increase the number of patients receiving mental health services. Mchs will increase the number of patients receiving SUD services, including treatment with medications for opioid disorder (moud). Summary of project: the purpose of this funding that is made available by the health resources and services administration (hrsa) is to support H80 recipient health centers in their efforts to increase behavioral health services through the expansion of mental health and substance use disorder services (SUD). Mchs is proposing to expand the existing behavioral health services in an effort to reach more individuals living within the five-county service area. The service area that mchs operates within has been designated as a medically underserved area (MUA) by hrsa. There are an estimated 292,000 individuals within mchs' service area of which approximately 43% are low-income, 21% live in poverty, and there are approximately 32,000 individuals uninsured. To further exacerbate these ongoing issues, this part of eastern north carolina is all too familiar with the current mental health crisis and opioid epidemic faced within the united states. According to the north carolina department of health and human services (ncdhhs) the rate of medication/drug overdose deaths per 100,000 individuals was 27.6 for north carolina. However, four of the five counties rated much higher with beaufort county rating 34.0, hyde county rating 43.6, martin county rating 32.1, and tyrrell county rating 35.4. Additionally, the suicide rates in both beaufort and washington CO unties are higher than the suicide rate for the state of north carolina. The need for expanded mental heareth and SUD services are only intensified as all five counties are designated by hrsa as health professional shortage areas (hpsas) for mental health.