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OMH Releases 2012-3 Budget Summary

by troyweb

Promoting Legally and Fiscally Speaking
A Review of 2012-2013 Legislative and Budget Proposals

http://www.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/resources/newsltr/2012/feb/legal.html

by Office of Mental Health (OMH) Counsel’s Office

 

The Governor’s 2012-13 Executive Budget includes several important legislative proposals that have implications for OMH.  Over the next several weeks, it is expected that the Legislature will review and discuss these proposals as they move toward adoption of a 2012-13 Budget. The Governor’s proposals include:

  • Repealing the Human Services Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2012 and directs agencies to develop future annual adjustments based on actual costs and various performance metrics. In addition, the legislation would require State agencies to place limits on the State’s reimbursement of the providers’ costs of administration and executive compensation.
  • Granting the Department of Health (DOH), OMH, the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) broad authority and flexibility in order to more fully integrate health and behavioral health services.  This proposal would provide the Behavioral Health agencies and DOH the authority to jointly establish operating, reporting and construction requirements for service providers that can demonstrate experience and competence in the delivery of health, mental health and alcohol and substance abuse services to persons with developmental disabilities. In addition, the legislation authorizes these State agencies to waive regulatory requirements or determine that compliance with another agency’s requirements is sufficient in order to avoid duplication.
  • Establishing a pilot program to restructure educational services for children and youth residing in OMH hospitals.  This proposal would improve the educational offerings for children who reside in OMH hospitals by authorizing an agreement between OMH and the State Education Department (SED) to establish pilot programs requiring local educational systems to provide educational programming for such children.  This legislation would establish a pilot program to provide students residing in OMH hospitals a more appropriate education that comports more closely with the curriculum and related therapy services they would receive in their home school districts.
  • Making efficiencies in the planning and delivery of mental hygiene services by: (1) creating a Behavioral Health Services Advisory Council(Council) to replace and assume the responsibilities of existing bodies that advise the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) and the OMH; (2) consolidating the OASAS and OMH roles in the statewide comprehensive planning process required under Mental Hygiene Law (MHL), (3) including area agencies on aging in the local community planning process required under MHL, and 4) eliminating two commissioner positions in the Commission on Quality Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQCAPD).
  • Setting criteria that the commissioner of OMH must consider in deciding whether to close or convert wards or facilities and requires that OMH provide either 60 (closure of a hospital) or 30 days (ward/unit or Transitional Placement Program) notice before taking such actions. This legislation proposes to reconfigure inpatient services at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center consistent with the recommendation in the November 2011 report of the Brooklyn Work Group of the Medicaid Redesign Team and restructure the New York City Children’s Psychiatric Centers(Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens) to create a single appointing authority named the New York City Children’s Center.  The bill also eliminates reference to the Hudson River Psychiatric Center which was recently consolidated with Rockland Psychiatric Center.  This legislation would waive the requirement in the Mental Hygiene Law (MHL) that one year notice be given before the Commissioner of Mental Health may close, reduce or transform wards or facilities that it operates, and the requirement that all resources resulting from such transformations be part of community reinvestment.
  • Amending the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act (SOMTA) and the Penal Law to improve the care and treatment of sex offenders who are civilly confined, This bill would:
    • Redefine “Secure Treatment Facility” (STF) to provide the Commissioner the authority to enter into agreements for care and treatment in STFs to be provided by non-State agency personnel.
    • Authorize respondents who otherwise would be transferred to an OMH STF to remain in Department of Correction and Community Services (DOCCS) pending the outcome of SOMTA commitment proceedings as defined under Article 10 MHL.
    • Provide that failure of an offender committed to an STF to meaningfully participate in treatment constitutes a violation of the order of confinement.
    • Authorize Video-Teleconferencing (VTC) for certain legal proceedings.
    • Change the process of annual examinations and petitions to discharge from annual to biennial.
    • Provide that if a respondent violates while in Strict and Intensive Supervision is a Class E Felony.
    • Provide that the intent to cause injury while confined in an STF would be Assault in the 2nd Degree (Class D Felony).
  • Amending the Criminal Procedure Law to provide for restoration of capacity of felony defendants, deemed incompetent to stand trial, at appropriate institutions to include local correctional facilities that operate mental health units.  Under current law, if a court determines that a defendant is an incapacitated person, it must issue an order committing the defendant to the custody of the commissioner of OMH or OPWDD for care and treatment to restore his or her capacity. The defendant is then held in a hospital operated by the OMH or a developmental center operated by the OPWDD or a general hospital licensed by the DOH that contains an OMH-licensed psychiatric unit.    
  • Extending the fiscal periods for which the OMH is authorized to recover Medicaid exempt income as authorized pursuant to legislation enacted in 2010-11. Exempt income is Medicaid income received in excess of budgeted amounts set forth in the fiscal plans of OMH providers operating residential programs. This bill would allow for the continuation of recoveries from 1/1/11 through 12/31/13 for programs located outside of New York City (NYC) and from 7/1/11 through 6/30/13 for programs located in NYC.
  • Extending the authorization for the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) for four years until July 1, 2016. These programs provide and coordinate a full range of psychiatric emergency services in a defined geographic area, including on-site emergency room services, extended observation beds, and triage referral services.
  • Extending Disproportionate Share (DSH) authorization through 3/31/2014, and provides clarification of the calculation of DSH payments to ensure conformance with Federal standards.