Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing awarded grants to 147 Colorado locations, including $378,000 to Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center Inc. (Axis Health System), paving the way for more accessible mental health, substance use and primary care services.
According to a news release, the grant prioritizes Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+). It also provides funds for practices that serve all Coloradans.
The Colorado legislature prioritized funds for mental health services in primary care offices when the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the need for behavioral health services.
In response, HB 22-1302 implemented the grants when the Primary Care and Behavioral Health Statewide Integration Grant Program was created. It focuses on rural and frontier communities to increase access for behavioral health services.
While hundreds of applicants applied for the grant, 81 grants were awarded to 147 Colorado locations, totaling $29 million to add, improve or increase behavioral health services.
The grants also help fund behavioral health practitioners who want to provide primary care services, allowing patients to receive whole person care for mental health and substance use treatments.
They can be used for projects such as:
- Increasing workforce: hiring behavioral health providers and training existing providers on constructive mental health and substance use programs.
- New care models that help offices build special care teams and connect with social programs, psychiatrists and addiction medicine specialists.
- Training, education and licensing/credentialing primary care teams.
- Advancing billing systems, telehealth platforms and electronic health records systems.
- Creating provider space: redesigning rooms for counseling sessions.
Axis will use the funding to support Behavioral Health Support Staff full-time positions that will cover Cortez, Dove Creek, Pagosa Springs and Durango, according to Haley Leonard Saunders, Axis Health System’s Public Information Officer.
She said it will also support advanced training in evidence-based treatment approaches, care integration and trauma-informed practices in order to play a role in prevention and early intervention based on initial screening needs.
“Axis will partner with Pueblo Community College (PCC),” Saunders said in an email. “Axis will benefit from a highly trained workforce, PCC students will benefit from the opportunity to receive local, hands-on experience, and patients will benefit from future expanded access to care.”
The grant should allow patients to get support – integrated care, behavioral health counseling and medications – that are closer to home.
Grants are in effect from Aug. 1, 2023 to Dec. 30, 2026.
“Coloradans, especially those in rural and underserved areas, need more access to behavioral health care,” said Cristen Bates, director of HCPF’s Office of Medicaid and CHP Behavioral Health Initiatives and Coverage. “These grants will provide the fuel many organizations need to meaningfully increase the amount and quality of behavioral health care they can provide and in a setting where many patients feel more comfortable – in the office of their family doctor.”
