Manet Community Health Center Awarded $355K to Expand Substance Use and Behavioral Health Access
“With the start of the new federal fiscal year just days away, we are extremely pleased to receive this award now to immediately enable us to better respond to the pressing need in our community for integrated behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment,” says Cynthia Sierra, Manet’s chief executive officer. “This award will help us provide more robust care and services for our existing patients and extend access to this care to new patients across our service area. As we approach our 40
th
year of service to the community, we are grateful for this support in helping us build an even stronger and more responsive community health center.”
Nationwide, the HRSA awards will provide $352 million in funding to expand access to substance use disorder and mental health services at 1,232 community health centers; with over $12.1 million to support 38 health centers in Massachusetts. The investments will enable HRSA-funded community health centers, academic institutions, and rural organizations to expand access to integrated substance use disorder and mental health services. The awards support HHS's Five-Point Opioid Strategy, which launched last year to empower local communities on the frontlines of the national epidemic. The SUD-MH awards support health centers in implementing and advancing evidence-based strategies that best meet the substance use disorder and mental health needs of the populations they serve.
At Manet, the award will help to fund and enhance the health center’s growing behavioral health (BH) capacity with the addition of a BH practitioner/LICSW, recovery coach, BH care coordination and psychiatric nurse; as well as improvements to and creation of BH and medication assisted treatment (MAT) spaces within the health center’s five sites, specialized staff training and telemedicine start-up and consultation.
In early 2018, Manet developed, and has since expanded, the capacity for integrated behavioral health services (mental health, substance use disorders) within primary care across Manet’s five locations, for patients of all ages, including children, at Manet’s Quincy, Hull and Taunton sites. This program stands proximal to Manet’s Medication Assisted Treatment (MMAT) Program for substance use disorders, which offers new and existing patients treatment for substance use disorders in the primary care setting. Importantly, the majority of Manet’s primary care providers participate in this program along with dedicated Nurse Case Managers, Prevention Specialists and Behavioral Health team members. The Expanding Access to Quality Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services (SUD-MH) award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will expand with immediacy the health center’s capacity to sensitively and substantially respond to patients’ behavioral health and substance use disorder needs.
Manet is accepting new patients for primary care, behavioral health services and medication assisted treatment at all of Manet’s practice locations. For questions please visit our website at
www.manetchc.org
or reach us at 617-376-3000.
About Manet Community Health Center:
Founded in 1979, Manet Community Health Center, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) dedicated to providing preventive, primary and non-emergent urgent care to all, regardless of financial circumstance or health insurance coverage status. With three locations in Quincy, one in Hull and one in Taunton, Manet serves patients from across the South Shore and Southeastern Mass. Manet is accredited by The Joint Commission and its practice sites are recognized as Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Homes by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NQCA), and are PCMH PRIME certified by the MA Health Policy Commission. Manet provides services reflective of the languages and cultures of the communities it serves and for all ages -- infants, children, adolescents, adults and seniors. Manet has a primary hospital affiliation with Boston Medical Center. For more information, visit
http://www.manetchc.org
or
www.facebook.com/ManetCommunityHealthCenter
.
