Program Description and Purpose
Tribal communities in Montana have heightened behavioral health (BH) and developmental disabilities (DD) needs compared to similar populations in Montana and require additional resources to address these disparities. Each of the 8 Tribal Governments in Montana, as well as the 5 Urban Indian Organizations (UIO), play a vital role in coordinating BH and DD supports to Tribal populations. To address this gap, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (the Department), pursuant to the approved Behavioral Health System for Future Generations (BHSFG) Near Term Initiative (NTI), has developed a Tribal and UIO grant program to provide funds to help address the BH and DD needs across the rich diversity of Tribal communities in Montana. Providers can use these funds to stabilize or improve their capacity to meet the BH and/or DD needs of the people they serve, including, but not limited to, improving, repairing, or expanding existing BH or DD facilities; starting, improving, or strengthening mobile crisis response teams; expanding transportation options to relevant facilities for people with BH or DD needs; and other potential one-time only costs to address urgent BH or DD needs.
Eligible applicant must clearly specify in the application whether they intend to use funds to:
- Improve, repair, and/or expand existing BH and/or DD facilities;
- Start, improve, or strengthen mobile crisis response teams;
- Expand transportation options to relevant facilities for people with BH and/or DD needs; and/or
- Fund other potential one-time only costs to address urgent BH and/or DD needs.
A total of $6,500,000 is available to all 8 Tribal Governments and 5 UIOs under this program. Each of the 8 Tribal Governments and 5 UIOs may apply for a maximum of $500,000 through this grant program. Only Tribal Governments and UIOs may apply. Funding for the program is provided via the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations (BHSFG) Commission, as authorized under House Bill 872 (HB 872). Funding will be reimbursement-based; receipts, invoices, and other supporting materials will be required for reimbursement.
Applicants to this grant may not receive awards that duplicate funding received through other sources for the same project or proposal. The Department reserves the right to review applications and award grants based on Department priorities and information received through prior experience or through other programs.
All applications must be submitted via Submittable. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by DPHHS.
Target outcomes for this grant program:
- Expanded capacity to meet BH and DD needs across Native American communities.
- Increased utilization of BH and DD services across organizations that serve Native American populations.
- Improved culturally responsive care programming.
Target outputs for this grant program:
- Reduced suicide, SUD, and BH crisis rates across Native American communities in Montana.
- Increased satisfaction of Native American populations with BH and DD service offerings.
Proposed Project Cost Guidance
As part of their applications, applicants will submit detailed budget proposals that outline accurate and verifiable costs. Applicants may submit proposals that do not cover the full cost of a project if they identify the sources of other funds that will be leveraged to cover the full cost.
Allowable Uses
All applicants will articulate their intended use of grant funds. Allowable uses of these funds include:
- Improving, repairing, or expanding existing behavioral health facilities;
- Starting, improving, or repairing mobile crisis response teams;
- Expanding transportation options to relevant facilities for people with behavioral health needs;
- Other potential one-time only funds to address urgent behavioral health needs.
Eligibility and Application Requirements
To be eligible to apply for this grant, the applicant must be a Tribe or UIO in Montana. Tribes and UIOs must commit to all requirements subsequently laid out by the department, including reporting requirements which are outlined in more detail later in this application.
Reporting Requirements
Providers selected for an award under this program must commit to regularly sharing the following data and information with the Department:
- Track activities and services throughout the two-year period;
- Narrative description of 1) progress made to date and 2) risks to successful project completion;
- Project budget, by month and line item;
- Project cost reports;
- Project timeline, by month and task, and status;
- Receipts and invoices (for reimbursement); and
- Project impact, including but not limited to:
- Report individual members served by services funded by the grant;
- Number of people anticipated to be served by new service(s);
- Outcomes achieved (measured through administering surveys to members served and other activities)
The cadence and format of this reporting will be determined by DPHHS and the provider after an awardee is selected under this program.
Description and Purpose
The Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) is soliciting proposals from eligible in state healthcare providers to fund costs associated with participation in Electronic Health Record data contribution to Big Sky Care Connect (BSCC), Montana’s Health Information Exchange (HIE).
Access to complete and up-to-date patient information enables providers to make informed decisions, coordinate care, improve care quality, and reduce service duplication. This program aims to reduce financial barriers to technical integration and enhance information exchange participation for behavioral health, children’s mental health, and developmental disability service providers across Montana.
Funding
A qualifying provider would be eligible for the following:
- Integration costs: Up to $15,000 in provider EHR integration costs to be invoiced by the Provider to BSCC at the completion of the integration project. BSCC will submit costs to DPHHS for reimbursement and pay to the Provider, not to exceed $15,000 per provider. The $2,500 for integration fees and the up to $12,500 in integration costs will be reimbursed by DPHHS at successful completion of the project.
- Participation costs: Up to $15,000 for the cost of BSCC participation fees. Any annual participation fees in excess of $15,000 required of the provider by BSCC will be the sole responsibility of the provider.
- NOTE: Maximum total provider amount for all costs (either to Provider or BSCC) will be $30,000. Facility EHR integration costs will be reimbursement-based, not prospective funding.
Qualifications
Providers applying for funds under this program must:
- Be enrolled as a Montana Medicaid provider in good standing
- Provide services within adult behavioral health, children’s mental health, and/or developmental disability service areas
- Serve a minimum number of 500 patients annually
- Currently have a modern EMR/EHR solution with the ability to exchange clinical data electronically
- Be willing/able to contribute required clinical data to the BSCC HIE
- Be able to provide required clinical data to BSCC near real-time or at a minimum of one time daily
Provider Requirements
Providers must agree to the following:
- Complete outbound integration to BSCC with a minimum of a HL7 V2 ADT Feed and HL7 V3 CCD feed or equivalent as approved by Montana Medicaid.
- Maintain these feeds for a minimum of 2 years.
- Work with BSCC to meet USCDI data quality standards.
This application will remain open on a rolling basis from September 9th, 2024 (12:00 AM) until December 31st, 2024 (11:59 PM).
PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION IN YOUR APPLICATION
The Family Peer Support NTI Grant is funded through the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations (BHSFG) Fund.
Program Description and Purpose
Montana families with lived experience raising children with behavioral health challenges too often have unmet emotional support needs. The unmet emotional needs of families and caregivers of children with behavioral health challenges can both exacerbate the behavioral health needs of their children and can negatively impact the health and well-being of families, parents, and caregivers. This can increase the risk of abuse, neglect, and crisis episodes of children with behavioral health challenges. While many organizations and individuals across Montana provide peer support to other families and caregivers experiencing similar challenges, these efforts are often uncoordinated and exist in silos.
DPHHS aims to expand access to Family Peer Support programs by creating a pilot program to help improve health outcomes for youth with behavioral health challenges and their families or caregivers. In doing so, DPHHS can coordinate between families and caregivers of children with special healthcare needs—including behavioral needs—to ensure that these families have their emotional needs met so
that they can provide effective care.
DPHHS will award up to five one-time grants to organizations with a proven track record of providing Family Peer Support services in Montana. The peer support services will focus on families with youth with severe emotional disturbance (SED) in need of behavioral health services. In total, this grant program will fund up to five Family Peer Supporters for two years. Organizations may apply for funding to cover the full cost of one or more Family Peer Supporters for a two-year period. Throughout the award period, grant awardees will track activities and monitor outcomes as defined by DPHHS.
DPHHS Priorities
The target outcomes for this grant program are listed below.
- Increased number of connections between families with children with behavioral health needs.
- Improved mental health and well-being of both families of children with behavioral health needs as well as the children themselves.
- Improved uninterrupted care during transitions.
- Improved system navigation for families with youth with serious emotional disturbances.
The target outputs for this grant program are listed below.
- Increased capacity in behavioral health system for Family Peer Support services.
- Increased number of families with youth requiring behavioral health services receiving family peer support.
- Development of resources for families of youth receiving behavioral health services, including resource guides and system navigation tools.
Key Term Definitions
- A Family Peer Supporter is someone who has lived experience raising a child with behavioral health challenges and/or special healthcare needs.
- Family Peer Support is helping another family who is currently raising a child with behavioral health challenges and/or special healthcare needs. Family Peer Support includes active listening, emotional support, help navigating systems, and connection to resources.
Allowable Uses
Allowable uses of these funds include:
- Personnel expenses (includes wages and fringe benefits) up to $65,000 per peer supporter per year.
- Training, travel & related expenses up to $5,000 per peer supporter per year.
Eligibility and Application Requirements
To be eligible to apply for this grant, service providers must complete an application outlining their experience providing and monitoring Family Peer Support within Montana.
Organizations must commit to the following:
- Serving families who are raising children under the age of 21 who require behavioral health services.
- Hiring Family Peer Supporter(s) dedicated to this project.
- Adhering to evidence-based and/or evidence-informed Family Peer Support models.
- Initial and ongoing training and oversight of the Family Peer Supporter(s).
- Maintaining and tracking services for a two-year period.
- Administering satisfaction surveys to all families served.
- Fulfilling all reporting requirements subsequently defined by DPHHS.
Criteria for families to receive Family Peer Support:
- Is under the age of 21.
- Has a Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) as defined in the Children’s Mental Health Bureau Medicaid Services Provider Manual
- Requires behavioral health treatment.
- Additionally, as a result of the youth’s behavioral health condition, the family must benefit from family peer support services through demonstrating need for emotional support, connection to community, or assistance in finding resources and navigating systems.
Reporting Requirements
Provider organizations selected for an award under this program will be required to:
- Track activities and services throughout the two-year period;
- Monitor outcomes through administering surveys to members served and other activities;
- Report individual members served; and
- Provide data (including reporting related to outcomes and outputs)
- Ensure that personnel costs do not exceed $130,000 for each Family Peer Supporter for the two-year period;
- Ensure that travel, training and additional costs do not exceed $10,000 for the two-year period.
The cadence and format of this reporting will be determined by DPHHS and the provider after a provider is selected under this program.
All applications must be submitted via Submittable. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by DPHHS. Approval notices will be sent out to applicants via Submittable. Accepted providers will be required to sign formal agreements that include additional terms and conditions.
Program Description and Purpose
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often need life-long supports and services to ensure health and safety while also accessing and participating in their local communities. These supports and services are often provided on a day-to-day basis by Direct Support Professionals (DSPs).
There is a significant need and in turn value to investing in DSP workforce stabilization and promoting stronger capacity across the continuum to support people with IDD. Specifically, this initiative calls for piloting a DSP credentialing structure to test best practice approaches to DSP stabilization through career ladders. The DSP Workforce Capacity Grants provide one-time grants to five (1 per DDP region) service providers for, on average, 25 DSPs to become credentialed through the National Alliance for Direct Support Professional platform eBadge Academy, a web-based credentialing platform. The Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP) will pre-purchase access to the credentialing platform on behalf of selected agencies, as well as some technical assistance support from NADSP. Grant funds will cover staff time for DSPs participating in the credentialing program as well as “backfilled” staff to cover the shift time of staff enrolled in the credentialing program; payroll processing, grant reporting and tracking and other administrative costs incurred by selected provider agencies; and one-time incentive bonuses to DSPs once they reach credentialing tiers, as modeled below:
DSP – I (Tier 1) –$1,000
DSP – II (Tier 2) – $1,500
DSP – III (Tier 3) – $2,000
DSPs enrolled in the NADSP eBadge Academy must complete the following under each tier to be eligible for the one-time bonuses; a DSP may achieve all three Tiers.
DSP-I
To earn a DSP – I certification, the DSP must earn 15 total E-Badges, including:
- The Code of Ethics Commitment E-Badge
- The 50 hours of Accredited Education E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Crisis Prevention and Intervention
- At least one E-Badge in Person-Centered Practices
- At least one E-Badge in Health and Wellness and
- At least one E-Badge in Safety
DSP-II
To earn DSP – II certification, the DSP must earn 30 total E-Badges, including:
- The DSP-I E-Badge
- The 100 hours of Accredited Education E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Evaluation and Observation
- At least E-Badge in Communication
- At least one E-Badge in Professionalism and Ethics and
- At least one E-Badge in Community Inclusion and Networking
DSP-III
To earn DSP – III certification, the DSP must earn 50 total E-Badges, including:
- The DSP-II E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Empowerment and Advocacy
- At least one E-Badge in Community Living Skills and Supports
- At least one E-Badge in Education, Training, and Self-Development
- At least one E-Badge in Cultural Competence
The Autism Facilities Grant (AFG) Program provides one-time funding, up to $400,000, for the construction or renovation of autism facilities designed and equipped to provide services to individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Funds will be awarded on a first come first serve basis until all funds are expended. Applicants may apply for any amount ranging between $0 to $400,000. The Department of Public Health and Human Services (the Department) reserves the right to award less than the requested amount.
Eligible applicants must agree to use awarded funds to create an autism facility that provides services to individuals with autism spectrum disorder, including but not limited to, housing, therapy, and other support services. Applicants must be able to:
- Match dollar per dollar the requested amount.
- Provide plans for the construction and development of autism facilities in the state.
Applicants should review The Autism Facilities Grant (AFG) Manual which contains more information about application requirements. The AFG manual may be accessed here.