Kittitas_County_CDBG-CV2_-AppID351505

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CDBG PS - Housing Counseling $ 0.00 CDBG PS - Food Banks/Distribution $ 0.00 CDBG PS - Homeless Program Operations $ 0.00 CDBG PS - Subsistence Payments $ 0.00 CDBG MEA - Microenterprise Assistance $ 0.00 CDBG Public Facilities (PF) - Public Health $ 0.00 CDBG PF - Temporary Housing $ 0.00 CDBG PF - Emergency Response $ 0.00 CDBG Planning-Only $ 0.00 Other CDBG Activity: Identify and List Below $ 0.00 $ 0.00 Total $ 0.00 $ 154,766.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 154,766.00 $ 0.00 Project Budget Narrative Budget Narrative: The Coordinated Crisis Response Project will include hiring and training two FTE Crisis Case Managers to work on site at the county public hospital, Kittitas Valley Healthcare Emergency Department (KVH ED), to provide daily crisis response to behavioral health patients during peak volume times. The coverage will fluctuate based on daily volume averages ranging from 8 – 16 hours a day. The project will target 80-90% of the ED LMI patient population, estimated at 425 patients per month. The focus will be on crisis stabilization, coordination of care, referrals to behavioral health providers and resources to address social determinants of health deficits. Additionally, services will include follow-up and coordination with patients’ primary care. The Crisis Case Managers will be bachelor's degree prepared mental health professionals. Demonstration of Need: There is a demonstrated great need for behavioral health services at KVH Emergency Department. In 2020, the KVH ED patient volume data shows an average of 1008 patients a month, of which 65 were diagnosed with mental health or substance abuse issues. Approximately 70% of mental health service recipients at the KVH ED are Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI). The current service delivery model is restricted to only mental health patients identified as in need of evaluation under the Washington State Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) law. These patients are evaluated by Comprehensive Healthcare (CHC) Designated Crisis Responders (DCRs) at the KVH emergency department. Response to the need is an on-call service only. Alarmingly, KVH ED has seen a recent increase in behavioral health crisis evaluations with a 28.57% increase within the first twenty-six days of April 2021 compared to March 2021. Anecdotally, we believe the increase is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however we do not have data to show this connection. Critical to this project is understanding how dramatically undercounted mental health services are within KVH ED data set. The data only shows patients with mental health as part of their diagnosis. Many of the mental health patients are diagnosed with a presenting health concern, not capturing the mental health secondary diagnosis issues. CHC reports providing services to an average of 108 patients per month at KVH (all departments within the hospital). CHC only sees crisis referrals with patients that are a danger to themselves, a danger to others or are gravely disabled. Also, a disproportionate number (60%) of these patients have no contact with behavioral health or crisis services prior to their admission to the hospital. Finally, CHD currently does not have resources to fund onsite staff at KVH ED to serve all the patient need. This project will target 80-90% of the ED LMI patient population during peak times at the ED. We estimate the total number of patients served at 425 per month. Kittitas County Data for LMI population includes 10,485 Apple Health recipients and/or 21.87% of residents in our county. 8% of residents have no health insurance and 14% live in poverty. The average family income is $29,161. Project Budget: The wages and benefits for the project are budgeted at $147,199.00 for two FTE Crisis Case Managers, to provide 8 - 16 hours of daily crisis response to behavioral health patients during peak volume times at KVH ED.