FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - health center program grant number: H80CS00124 providing exceptional access to medical, dental, and behavioral health services, accelhealth (formerly…

FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - health center program grant number: H80CS00124 providing exceptional access to medical, dental, and behavioral health services, accelhealth (formerly cross timbers health clinics) has been serving brown, coleman, comanche, eastland, and erath counties in north-central texas since 1967. Encompassing a service area of over 4,900 square miles and serving over 124,250 residents, accelhealth espouses a holistic and coordinated system of care, including treatment for mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD). In 2022, texas ranked 44TH in the nation in the prevalence of mental illness, falling sharply over the last few years. All counties in the service area experience frequent mental distress at rates higher than state and national rates, and several counties indicate troubling numbers of deaths caused by suicide. The statistics for youth are no less troubling, as texas ranked 46TH in the nation for youth mental health in 2023. While the death rate due to non-drug and non-alcohol causes is already higher in the service area than in the state and the nation, factors such as binge and/or heavy drinking, as well as the over-prescription of opioids compound the problem. In 2022, the rate of alcohol-induced causes of death was 34.4% higher than that of texas and nearly 20% higher than the U.S. Rate. Likewise, opioid dispensing rates in three of the six counties within the service area exceed the state and national rates. However, the single largest problem in the service area is access to care. Texas ranks 50TH for uninsured adults with a mental illness, next to last for adults reporting frequent mental distress, 48TH for availability of consistent treatment for major depressive episodes, and last for youth who lack insurance to cover mental health issues. Additional challenges include high rates of uninsurance or underinsurance and a scarcity of providers. Accelhealth intends to meet the needs of the communities IT serves by hiring a psychologist, a licensed professional counselor (LPC), a psychiatric nurse practitioner (PMHNP), a social worker/care coordinator, and a community health worker (CHW)/front office worker to provide comprehensive, patient-centered services. The psychologist, LPC, and PMHNP will provide patients and prescribers with access to psychological testing to support correct diagnoses and treatment plans and offer assessment, therapeutic interventions, consultation, program evaluation, and follow-up services. The additional prescriber will provide increased access to moud. The social worker/care coordinator and CHW/front office worker will support patients' ability to acquire resources to meet their basic needs, overseeing intakes for counseling and substance abuse placement, and addressing social determinants of health (SDOHS). Accelhealth will acquire neurofeedback equipment and training for its three locations (brownwood, stephenville and deleon) to provide MH treatment and will secure certification from the local courts to provide individuals with SUD-related charges with training and court-ordered therapy, including classes and treatments for SUD-related charges. This will provide integrated care for those patients with CO-occurring MH and SUD disorders. Accelhealth expects to increase the number of patients by 760 per year, including 560 MH patients and 200 SUD patients. This would include 40 patients for moud. These projections are based on historical data and 2023 UDS numbers. Accelhealth believes that expanding behavioral health care and substance use disorder treatment services in this way will positively impact the service area and further strengthen the integrated environment in which they provide comprehensive care for all.