We are pleased to announce that Fenway Health has received a new grant award from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This award will boost our 330 FQHC grant by $292,750 for the current fiscal year, and will add a sustained $127,750 to our award in future fiscal years. The grant money will help fund three major initiatives to improve behavioral health and substance use services at Fenway Health:
- Hiring a Utilization Review Coordinator to improve access to behavioral health services. Evidence from practices similar in size to Fenway has shown that Utilization Review can improve patient access to care by decreasing barriers to behavioral health services.
- Adding a Recovery Coach to our Behavioral Health team. More treatment programs locally and around the country are employing recovery coaches to provide peer support services for people with substance use disorder. We anticipate this position will improve retention in treatment and increase care coordination between our Medication Assisted Treatment program and our Addiction Recovery & Wellness Program.
- Moving more of our paper intake forms and screening surveys from paper to an electronic iPad format, streamlining the intake process and allowing patients to answer questions in a more private setting, and allowing clinicians to more quickly assess patients’ needs and begin treatment.
Work under the grant will begin this fall.