NYAPRS Note: This piece suggests that the focus of the NYS mental health budget debate has turned from whether or not hospital beds should close but how much there is to reinvest in and to expand community mental health recovery services. These themes were echoed by NYAPRS and a long list of mental health advocates in their budget testimony last Tuesday.
Debate Builds On Need For Local Mental Health Services
As Psychiatric Centers Close, Lawmakers Ask Reinvestment In Community-Based Services
By Rick Karlin Albany Times Union February 14, 2014
Much of the annual budget fight shaping up at the state Capitol this year is over taxes as well as school aid but there’s another battle looming — over how much money the state should put into local mental health services.
It comes as the state closes several large psychiatric centers, which should yield considerable savings.
Local lawmakers and the Cuomo administration disagree over how much savings will be realized. Just as important, they say they want significantly more money put into community-based services, to come from a combination of state run and non-profit-run organizations.
As part of a long-term plan to downsize and close large sites, this year’s executive budget proposal calls for the closure of 399 beds, at a predicted savings of $43 million per year.
Lawmakers note the administration proposes to spend $25 million on local services, which they say will have to fill the gaps created by institutional bed closures.
“It is critical that we take at least a portion of the savings and reinvest it into mental health services. This will allow us to reach people in the communities where they live, and take advantage of more effective — and less-costly — community-based mental health services,” said state Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk, D-Duanesburg, this week at budget hearings.
Administration officials, though, note the $25 million reinvestment is slated to grow to $44 million in the next fiscal year. They say state law requires the reinvestment of $70,000 of savings per bed but the state is putting $110,000 per bed into community services.
The services include supported housing, mental health urgent care walk-in centers and suicide prevention services. Closures are being carried out by the Office of Mental Health, which runs state psychiatric facilities.
Tkaczyk, along with Independent Democratic Conference Sen. David Carlucci and Republican Deputy Minority Leader Tom Libous, are promoting legislation to prompt the state to spend more of the savings on local mental health centers.
The bill seeks to ensure the money goes to programs and employment of mental health workers rather than capital construction.
Public sector unions, including the Public Employees Federation and Civil Service Employees Association, say they worry that services, as well as jobs, could be shortchanged with the bed closures, unless provisions are made to bolster local programs.
At the hearings, Tkaczyk also questioned how much the state is saving with bed closures, suggesting it’s more than claimed, based on psychiatric hospital bills.
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Debate-builds-on-need-for-local-mental-health-5237101.php