NYAPRS Note: Versions of this commentary were published in this weekend’s Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin and Ithaca Journal.
Please continue to let Albany know of your opposition to proposals to expand Kendra’s Law by making 3 phone calls this week!
GOVERNOR CUOMO AT 518-474-8390
ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SILVER AT 518-455-3791
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER DEAN SKELOS AT 518-455-3171
and leave the following message
“I’m a registered voter calling from (your locality) urging you to oppose proposals to expand Kendra’s Law or make it permanent
and to instead support true service improvements”
Guest Viewpoint: Kendra’s Law Expansion is Wrong Answer for New York
By Harvey Rosenthal Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin May 25, 2012
All across the nation, state and local systems of mental health care have been wrestling with how to best get timely help to people with challenging conditions and lives who are prone to relapse, crisis and avoidable hospital admissions and contacts with the criminal justice system.
Here in New York, several recent initiatives proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team and approved by legislative stalwarts are showing impressive results in helping to fill the cracks in these systems.
One program has brought in regional behavioral health organizations to make sure that hospitals come up with better discharge plans, while Medicaid health homes are being developed across New York to ensure that accountable teams of providers stay closely involved to help avoid relapse-related crises.
These approaches will reach up to a million vulnerable New Yorkers and are a more proven and affordable approach than a current proposal to expand Kendra’s Law, which relies on court orders whose effectiveness have yet to be proven and that is used primarily in New York City and Long Island (81 percent). In fact, 28 upstate counties have had great results voluntarily engaging at-risk individuals with effective enhanced service packages, using a scant five or fewer court orders last year.
The Kendra’s Law expansion bill is opposed by more than 15 leading statewide patient, provider and disability advocacy groups, who see no need to make midstream modifications before the law’s scheduled legislative review in 2015. We feel that the proposed Kendra’s Law expansion will needlessly increase the role of courts and police instead of raising the accountability and incentives for community mental health providers to actively engage and serve our most vulnerable.
Most troubling, the expansion proposal is silent on how to pay for the proposed expansion. The state Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors conservatively estimates more than $22 million in increased costs to counties for the staff and services necessary to comply with the bill. No county is in a position to absorb another unfunded state mandate, and the result likely would be cuts in services for other people and families in need.
Finally, it is also important to make clear that people with psychiatric disabilities are not a threat to public safety. In fact, research is clear that we are 11 times more likely to be victims of violence. We deserve more and better directed treatment, not more involvement with judges and police who are already overburdened with their primary duties.
We hope that lawmakers will withhold support for Kendra’s Law expansion and instead continue to focus on smarter, stronger solutions.
Rosenthal is a member of the Medicaid Redesign Team and executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.
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Guest Viewpoint: Kendra’s Law expansion is wrong answer for New York
By Harvey Rosenthal Ithaca Journal May 25, 2012
All across the nation, state and local systems of mental health care have been wrestling with how to best get timely help to people with challenging conditions and lives who are prone to relapse, crisis and avoidable hospital admissions and contacts with the criminal justice system.
Here in New York, several recent initiatives proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team and approved by legislative stalwarts such as Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton are showing impressive results in helping to fill the cracks in these systems.
One program has brought in regional behavioral health organizations to make sure that hospitals come up with better discharge plans, while Medicaid health homes are being developed across New York to ensure that teams of providers stay closely involved to help avoid relapse-related crises.
These approaches will reach up to a million vulnerable New Yorkers and are a more proven and affordable approach than a current proposal to expand Kendra’s Law, which relies on court orders whose effectiveness have yet to be proven and that are used primarily in New York City and Long Island (81 percent). In fact, 28 upstate counties have had great results voluntarily engaging at risk individuals with effective enhanced service packages, using a scant five or less court orders last year.
Referenced in the May 21 Guest Viewpoint by D.J. Jaffe, the Kendra’s Law expansion bill is actually opposed by over 15 leading statewide patient, provider and disability advocacy groups, who see no need to make midstream modifications before the law’s scheduled legislative review in 2015. We feel that the proposed Kendra’s Law expansion will needlessly increase the role of courts and police instead of raising the accountability and incentives for community mental health providers to actively engage and serve our most vulnerable.
Most troubling, the expansion proposal is silent on how to pay for the proposed expansion. The state Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors conservatively estimates more than $22 million in increased costs to counties for the staff and services necessary to comply with the bill. No county is in a position to absorb another unfunded state mandate and the result would likely be cuts in services for other people in need.
Finally, it is also important to make clear that people with psychiatric disabilities are not a threat to public safety. In fact, research is clear that we are 11 times more likely to be victims of violence. We deserve more and better directed treatment, not more involvement with judges and police who are already overburdened with their primary duties.
Assemblywoman Lifton has long been a highly respected champion for the health and rights of New Yorkers with psychiatric disabilities, as well as a careful steward of public funds. We hope that she will once again withhold support for Kendra’s Law expansion and instead continue to focus on smarter, stronger solutions.
Rosenthal is a member of the Medicaid Redesign Team and executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.
http://m.ithacajournal.com/viewpoints/article?a=2012205280305&f=1004