Bitterroot Health 2024

Maintenance and Expansion of Integrated Behavioral Health

Bitterroot Health is a critical access hospital in Hamilton with 24 acute care beds, more than 90 medical providers, and 14 associated primary and specialty clinics. Since 1931, its mission has been to provide quality, accessible, and personalized healthcare to Bitterroot Valley residents. This grant will enable Bitterroot Health to expand its integrated behavioral health project from two to five rural health clinics in Ravalli County. It will hire a behavioral health care manager in the first year of the grant and two more in the second year. It will also establish new partnerships for psychiatric consultation and clinical supervision to support its program objectives, community needs, and patient volumes. Grant funds will primarily support the behavioral health staff positions, with a portion used for developing and sustaining integrated care in Bitterroot Health's clinics.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

24 month

2024

Tamarack Management, Inc. 2024

Implementation of Integrated Behavioral Health in Pediatrics at Western Montana Clinic

Western Montana Clinic (WMC) is a multispecialty health care organization located in Missoula, providing primary and subspecialty care. WMC’s two pediatric primary care clinics serve 10,000 children from birth through 21 years of age. WMC will recruit and on-board a mental health professional to help implement additional primary care behavioral health screening, provide crisis intervention, community referrals, parenting support, brief intervention, counseling, and follow-up. Grant funds will primarily support the behavioral health staff position, with a portion used for developing and sustaining integrated care in WMC’s clinics. Project partners include Partnership Health Center, The Children’s Clinic of Billings, Community Medical Center, Providence St. Patrick Hospital, and the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. WMC is also building creative partnerships with Missoula County Public Schools as professionals unfold new plans to support students struggling with behavioral health challenges in schools.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

36 month

2024

Clark Fork Valley Hospital 2023

CFVH Medicine Network Behavioral Health Expansion for Long-Term Sustainability

Clark Fork Valley Hospital (CFVH) will improve and expand its integrated behavioral health program (now in its ninth year) by hiring and training new staff to replace a retiring therapist and by increasing addiction counseling and case management services. Over the next two years, CFVH will hire, train, and establish supervision and networking for new team members. Contracting with licensed professionals to supervise pre-licensure clinicians will create a workforce pipeline for its three family medicine clinics. Grant funding will support two full-time staff, including a licensed behavioral health provider or candidate with addiction counseling credentials and a social work care coordinator. Project partners include the Sanders County Commissioners, a local therapist to provide clinical supervision if needed, Western Montana Mental Health Center, AWARE, the Sanders County Council on Aging, and the Sanders County Local Advisory Council.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

36 month

2023

Northeast Montana Health Services 2023

Northeast Montana Health Services IBH Initiative

Northeast Montana Health Services (NEMHS) is a seven-facility health system, including two critical access hospitals, two primary care clinics, two retail pharmacies, and a long-term care facility, serving Roosevelt County and the Fort Peck Reservation in Northeast Montana. Through this project, NEMHS will implement integrated behavioral health in their two primary care clinics in Wolf Point and Poplar. NEMHS will utilize updated universal screening protocols and increase access to behavioral health care by hiring a care manager, a licensed behavioral health consultant, and a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Funding will support staffing and project oversight. NEHMS will receive technical assistance from the Montana Healthcare Foundation's technical assistance team and data collection and analysis assistance from JG Research and Evaluation. Partnerships for this project include Roosevelt County Health Department, Fort Peck Tribal Health Department, Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center, Indian Health Services, Spotted Bull Treatment Center, the Fort Peck Tribes Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program, and Red Bird Women's Shelter.

Grant Amount

$300,000

Term

36 month

2023

Barrett Hospital and Healthcare 2022

Behavioral Health Consolidation Grant

Barrett Hospital & HealthCare is an 18-bed Critical Access Hospital located in Dillon, serving several rural communities in southwest Montana. This consolidation grant will build on Barrett’s previous successful integrated behavioral health implementation grant. It will allow Barrett to develop consistent screening protocols, pathways, and processes for anxiety and suicide risk; build psychiatric collaborative care management services; drive practice change through ongoing data analysis; optimize technology and electronic medical record tools to facilitate and deliver behavioral health care. Barrett will also implement social determinants of health (SDOH) screening to allow them to identify unmet needs like housing or transportation that impact health and well-being, and they will develop a referral system to connect patients to available community resources to address those needs. Barrett will also increase access to behavioral health services by adding another licensed clinical social worker or coordinated care staff member to its primary care team and pursuing a contract with existing partners for psychiatric consultation. Funding will support an additional full-time team member, consultation services for collaborative care, and direct expenses, including education, electronic medical record tools, and marketing. Barrett will complete the project in close collaboration with current partners, including social services and mental health agencies serving low-income community members and families struggling with food and housing insecurity, drug and alcohol use, suicidal ideation, and other needs.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

36 month

2022

Benefis Health System Foundation 2022

Advancing Integrated Behavioral Health in North Central Montana

Benefis Health System in Great Falls will integrate behavioral health and primary care. This project will improve behavioral health access, care delivery, patient outcomes, and patient and provider experience in Benefis' women's health, pediatrics, and family medicine clinics. The project will move forward in four phases: laying the foundation, planning for clinical practice change, building clinical skills, and fully implementing the integrated model. Funding will support project staff – including a coordinator, data manager, counselor, and case manager – and education for leadership, providers, and patients. Benefis will also partner with Benefis Teton Medical Center, a critical access hospital and rural health clinic in Choteau, to implement integrated care there.

Grant Amount

$300,000

Term

36 month

2022

Children's Clinic of Billings 2022

Expanding Behavioral Health Services for Children’s Clinic’s 12,000+ Pediatric Patients

The Children's Clinic of Billings will expand its primary care to include integrated behavioral health services. The Children’s Clinic is a physician-owned, independent outpatient pediatrics practice that serves more than 12,000 patients at two locations in Billings, Montana. Through this grant, the Children’s Clinic will hire a pediatric social worker and implement new care pathways and workflows to integrate that position into the clinic. The new pediatric social worker will enhance current mental health screening and provide brief interventions and a bridge to care for patients who need to be connected to counselors in the community. The project will also offer clinical supervision for the clinic’s recently hired psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Funding will support startup costs for the social worker and nurse practitioner positions while the clinic gains the expertise to bill for their services and sustain the project independently. Primary project partners include Shodair Children’s Hospital, the Behavioral Health Integration Collaborative, and Youth Dynamics.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

36 month

2022

Helena Indian Alliance 2022

Integrated Behavioral Health

The Leo Pocha Clinic of Helena Indian Alliance (HIA) will fully implement behavioral health in its primary care practice, building on the work accomplished through a prior MHCF grant. HIA is an urban Indian health center serving Native and non-Native patients in the Helena community. This project will support the clinic as it works towards providing fully integrated care by updating its policies, job descriptions, and daily operations; training new staff from an integrated care lens; and increasing capacity for team-based care. Funding will support the director of behavioral health, a newly hired behavioral health care coordinator, and staff training.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2022

Indian Family Health Clinic 2022

IFHC IBH: Hope, Healing & Health

The Indian Family Health Clinic (IFHC) will expand on its previous integrated behavioral health project to provide accessible, culturally informed behavioral and physical health services. IFHC is an urban Indian health clinic that serves over 9,000 patients in Great Falls and the surrounding area. This project will strengthen the successful communication and service delivery components of the initial launch of integrated care, with a growth focus on building comprehensive and streamlined screening and tracking systems. IFHC will implement systemic data collection to track screening, internal and external referrals to care, and follow-up. They will establish a policy and procedure to screen patients for needs related to the social determinants of health, standardize care coordination efforts, and track patient engagement, adherence, and progress. Funding will support increased access to patient-centered navigation provided by care coordinators and managers, data consultant, health and wellness education, and services to reduce barriers to access. Partnerships include the Alliance for Youth, Sober Life, Alluvion, the county health department, and the Little Shell Tribe.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2022

Mineral Community Hospital 2022

MCH Integrated Behavioral Health

Mineral Community Hospital (MCH) will integrate behavioral health services into its primary care clinic to improve access to behavioral health for community members with complex social needs and patients experiencing crises. MCH is a 25-bed critical access hospital serving rural western Montana in Superior. The hospital plans to recruit a new behavioral health staff position for the primary care clinic, contract or recruit a psychiatrist to provide program oversight, and update its electronic medical records system to facilitate new screening workflows and data monitoring. Funding will support the new staff position, psychiatric consultation, and direct expenses like training, travel, and marketing. MCH works closely with the Mineral County Health Department and will collaborate on identifying community needs and expanding services.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

36 months

2022

Native American Development Corporation 2022

Integrated Behavioral Health 2.0

The Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center (BUIHWC) will implement a cohesive, collaborative, and culturally appropriate approach to patient care by integrating behavioral health into its primary care clinic. As one of the five urban Indian health centers in Montana, BUIHWC serves Native American people living in Billings and Yellowstone County. This project will hire a project manager to help the organization implement the integrated behavioral health program and collaborate with community health partners. Anticipated results of this program include improved patient outcomes, lower operations costs, and reduced stigma surrounding mental health. Funding will support the project manager position and additional technical assistance. Project partners include community health programs associated with the Native American Development Corporation.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

36 month

2022

Northern Montana Health Care 2022

Integrated Behavioral Health Initiative Implementation at Northern Montana Hospital

Northern Montana Hospital (Northern), based in Havre, will implement integrated behavioral health throughout its health system to universally screen primary care patients for behavioral health conditions and improve health outcomes. Northern will hire a care coordinator and two therapists who will work with the primary care teams to implement integrated behavioral health throughout the Northern health system. Funding will support staffing, project oversight, and updates to the electronic health record to support population health and data analytics. Northern will receive technical assistance from the Montana Healthcare Foundation's technical assistance team and data collection and analysis assistance from JG Research and Evaluation. Throughout the project, Northern will work with the local federally qualified health center, mental health center, Rocky Boy Reservation, and Northern Montana College.

Grant Amount

$300,000

Term

36 month

2022

Ruby Valley Medical Center 2022

RVMC Integrated Behavioral Health

Ruby Valley Medical Center (RVMC) will integrate behavioral health services into its primary care practice. RVMC is a critical access hospital in Sheridan serving seven rural communities in western Madison County and southern Jefferson County. This project will help RVMC identify a champion to lead the project and provide team training for its providers to enhance the organization’s standard way of delivering care. Funding will support staff training on the integrated behavioral health model, developing organizational workflows to support the model, and integrating a counselor into the primary care office.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

36 month

2022

St. Peter's Health Foundation 2022

Integrated Behavioral Health Support Program Expansion

St. Peter's Health (SPH) will expand and strengthen its established integrated behavioral health program. This project will increase the evidence-based screening cadence and enhance team-based care by expanding specialized support services. SPH will hire a licensed addiction counselor and behavioral health navigator and embed these positions into the ambulatory clinics to provide outpatient substance abuse services. The addition of the licensed addiction counselor position will allow SPH's addiction medicine and behavioral health providers to work to the top of their licensure, and the behavioral health navigator will assist in identifying social needs, connecting patients to the appropriate level of care, facilitating referrals, and ensuring continuity of care. Grant funds will support the licensed addiction counselor's salary and a stipend for a Carroll College Master of Social Work Program intern. Over the past several years, SPH has formed strong relationships with community partners, including other health care providers, mental health providers, DPHHS Child and Family Services, Lewis & Clark County Home Visiting Program, and many community-based organizations which will help support the effectiveness of this project.

Grant Amount

$175,000

Term

36 month

2022

Billings Clinic 2021

Regional Integrated Behavioral Health Integration Project

Billings Clinic is a health care system that serves the state of Montana through a network of regional affiliate hospitals. For this project, nine critical access hospitals (which began implementing integrated care through a prior grant) will continue the process of transforming their primary care practices to a high-quality integrated behavioral health model, and up to five additional sites will join the network and begin implementing integrated care. The project aims to promote a deep understanding of integrated care practice and benefits, support long-term, sustainable engagement at rural sites, and promote integrated care conformity across the Billings Clinic affiliate network's Montana sites. Billings Clinic will continue network development activities and data sharing, with close collaboration and support of the Billings Clinic Regional Services team and the Montana Healthcare Foundation's technical assistance providers. Funding will support startup costs for additional care managers for the region (located in a rural affiliate site) and remotely support the rest of the facilities.

Grant Amount

$300,000

Term

36 months

2021

Community Medical Center 2021

Community Medical Center’s Consolidation Grant

Community Medical Center (CMC) is a large hospital in Missoula that serves the surrounding region. This project will expand CMC's capacity to provide the entire continuum of care for patients with mental illness and substance use disorders by fully integrating behavioral health into its primary care clinics, expanding services through telehealth to specialty and walk-in clinics, and thoroughly training and integrating its clinical teams. Funding will support a social worker to serve as a centralized behavioral health care manager for the project. This person will provide the personnel, psychiatric consultation, and clinical supervision needed to implement the project. Partners include the University of Montana's Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program, Walla Walla University's Masters in Social Work Program, Andy Laue, LCSW, who provides group clinical supervision for the behavioral health providers, and other community behavioral health providers who offer individual clinical supervision and psychiatric consultation to the team.

Grant Amount

$175,000

Term

36 months

2021

Madison Valley Hospital Association 2021

Integrated Behavioral Health

Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis used this grant to integrate behavioral health into its primary care services. Building upon a successful integrated behavioral health (IBH) planning grant that was driven by the local advisory council on mental health, this project aimed to provide early identification and more effective treatment of depression and substance use disorders, increase revenue from integrated care, and reduce emergency room visits related to behavioral health conditions. The Madison Valley team received technical assistance from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and the Montana Healthcare Foundation. The team was able to recruit a therapist, educate staff about IBH, establish consistent screening protocols, and track behavioral screenings and referrals. Having to input, track, and report data manually posed a challenge, but the team is working to build a new electronic medical record system with more data capabilities. The Madison Valley team will continue its IBH journey through a consolidation grant and will work with the Montana Healthcare Foundation’s IBH technical assistance team.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

24 month

2021

Montana Health Network Health Inc. 2021

Eastern Montana Integrated Behavioral Health Project

The Eastern Montana Integrated Behavioral Health Project will support integrating behavioral health (IBH) into primary care for five rural healthcare facilities in eastern Montana (Baker, Ekalaka, Broadus, Malta, and Jordan). The grant will also allow three current IBH sites (Forsyth, Culbertson, and Terry) to refine and improve their initial IBH implementation efforts supported under MHCF's previous IBH network grant to the Montana Health Network (MHN). The goals for the project are to 1) implement routinescreening and early intervention for behavioral health and substance use issues in primary care; 2) improve care coordination between treating facilities; and 3) develop a sustainable integrated behavioral health model for existing and new facilities. Through implementing IBH in these facilities and consolidating the practice in previous grant sites in MHN’s network, the project seeks to improve health outcomes, contribute to a more effective crisis system in eastern Montana, and reduce the use of emergency services. MHN will use grant funds to provide project management, technical support and training, psychiatric consultation, and care coordination services. MHN will partner with Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center (EMCMHC) and Frontier Psychiatry to provide clinical services to patients at individual sites.

Grant Amount

$279,722

Term

36 month

2021

Providence Montana Health Foundation 2021

Providence Montana IBH Continuation and Specialty Clinic Expansion

Providence Montana Medical Group (Providence) is a network of 46 clinics in Missoula, offering the entire spectrum of primary and specialty medical and behavioral health care. This project will allow Providence to expand its capacity to provide the full continuum of behavioral health care and care coordination across its outpatient platform. This project builds on two successful prior grants that supported behavioral health integration into Providence's primary care clinics. With this consolidation project, Providence will begin screening patients for substance use disorders and social determinants of health needs, expand integrated care into its specialty clinics, and enhance its ability to provide care coordination. Funding will support the addition of licensed clinical social workers who will work with health care teams to manage patients' mental health and chronic medical conditions. Project partners include Providence's primary care and specialty clinic practice managers, physicians, providers, and Providence Medical Group leadership.

Grant Amount

$175,000

Term

36 month

2021

Providence Montana Health Foundation 2021

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center IBH Consolidation Grant

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center (SJMC) is a critical access hospital serving over 30,000 residents on the Flathead Indian Reservation. This project will increase patient access to evidence-based, culturally relevant behavioral health services by building upon and improving SJMC's existing integrated care program across its primary care clinics. The project will provide behavioral health staff with training in cultural competence and evidence-based interventions to build resiliency when working with a patient population that has experienced substantial historical and interpersonal trauma. Funding will support additional behavioral health personnel in primary care and provide education, training, and supervision for existing staff. Project partners include the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, tribal health leaders, and other local health and community organizations.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

36 month

2021

St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation 2021

Clinical Supervision for Integrated Behavioral Health Quality and Sustainability

SCL Health Montana Medical Group (SCL Health) provides primary and specialty care through 14 clinics across Montana. This project will create and staff a clinical supervisor position at SCL Health to provide coaching, quality improvement, and safety support for integrated behavioral health services across the organization's primary care clinics. The clinical supervisor will improve clinical the quality of care and fidelity to the integrated care model in primary care clinics while also increasing engagement and retention for behavioral health specialists working in the clinics. Funding will support the clinical supervisor position and provide report writing capacity for the clinics to develop data monitoring reports and dashboards to improve outcomes. This project will utilize the internal partnerships it has established with each of its participating sites. Each integrated care clinic will utilize its partnerships for care coordination and referral for specialty care to meet each patient's needs.

Grant Amount

$150,000

Term

24 month

2021

Logan Health 2020

Integrated Behavioral Health Outreach

Kalispell Regional Medical Center (KRMC) will serve as a hub to support the implementation of integrated behavioral health (IBH) across its growing network of affiliate hospitals. Two affiliate hospitals that have already implemented IBH – Cabinet Peaks Medical Center and North Valley Hospital – will receive ongoing technical assistance to improve their IBH practice. Northern Rockies Medical Center and Pondera Medical Center are just beginning the IBH implementation and will use the funding to hire a full-time behavioral health provider at each location. Marias Medical Center will participate in a planning capacity, with a goal of beginning to implement IBH at the same time as they begin offering primary care services. KRMC will provide leadership and oversee all IBH implementation activities, including universal screening for depression and substance use disorders, care coordination, psychiatric consultation, and rural site training. The National Council for Behavioral Health will provide technical assistance. Expected outcomes include universal screening for behavioral health conditions in the primary care setting, improvement in depression and substance use disorder outcomes, decreased emergency room visits related to mental illness and substance use disorders, and improved coordination of care between participating facilities.

Grant Amount

$200,000

Term

24 month

2020

Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital 2020

Implemention of Integrated Behavioral Health

Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital will integrate behavioral health services into its five primary care clinics located throughout the Bitterroot Valley in Ravalli County. The hospital will establish a new partnership with Sapphire Community Health, the local federally qualified health center. With the new partnership, Marcus Daly will expand behavioral health screening, provide immediate access to either a behavioral health provider or telehealth appointment (depending on the location), and ultimately seek to improve health outcomes and reduce emergency department use related to behavioral health crisis. Grant funds will help Sapphire Community Health hire a care coordinator and behavioral health clinician to support patients’ needs. The National Council for Behavioral Health will provide technical assistance.

Grant Amount

$125,000

Term

24 month

2020