FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - ritter center is a non-profit, federally qualified health center based in downtown SAN rafael, california established more than 40 years ago to serve…

FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - ritter center is a non-profit, federally qualified health center based in downtown SAN rafael, california established more than 40 years ago to serve marin county's most vulnerable and homeless residents. Ritter center was formally established in 1980 to respond to the needs of marin county's low-income residents, primarily individuals experiencing homelessness. Ritter center is a hrsa health care for the homeless-only (HCH) grantee that provides integrated primary medical, mental health and SUD services to approximately 2,281 low-income, UN/underinsured and homeless individuals that reside throughout marin county, which includes a rapidly growing hispanic/latino, spanish-speaking population that is largely unserved by the existing safety-net network of providers. Ritter center's target population includes individuals who are experiencing homelessness, formerly experienced homelessness and at-risk-for-homelessness who experience health disparities related to living in an extremely high cost of living region with little access to affordable and culturally appropriate health care services outside of ritter center's safety-net clinic. Ritter center has designed its bhse initiative to address the largest gaps in behavioral health services in marin county for the unsheltered and precariously housed target population that includes hispanic/latino, spanish-speaking individuals and the hardest-to-reach homeless individuals that are least likely to access care on their own in the clinic. To address the highest priority needs among marin county's homeless population, ritter center is proposing to significantly expand access to mat services and mental health services in the clinic as well as launch the first-ever moud treatment in the field by taking the new SUD and mental health services into the community through ritter center's street medicine program. Ritter center will hire a 1.0 FTE bilingual psychiatric nurse practitioner that will prescribe moud medications (buprenorphine, injectable naltrexone) primarily targeting the low-income, spanish-speaking homeless population. In addition, ritter center will hire a 1.0 FTE bilingual lead SUD counselor to expand individual and group counseling to homeless individuals that have a SUD/OUD and are receiving expanded moud treatment through this bhse initiative. These new providers will spend approximately half of their time in the clinic serving clients as they present on the ritter center campus. In addition, ritter center is proposing to hire 2.0 FTE patient navigators that will provide expanded care coordination, case management, enrollment assistance, pre-authorization for enhanced case management (ECM) through medi-CAL, sbirt and other screenings, as well as linkages to an array of social support services provided by ritter center as well as countless homeless-serving partners throughout marin county.