Breaking: OMH Announces Priorities for Federal Block Grant $
NYAPRS Summary July 1, 2021
NYAPRS Note: The NYS Office of Mental Health is in the” initial stages of planning and programming” of the $46.3 million supplemental CMHS Block Grant award. Toward those ends, they have announced today their intentions to immediately spend about $14 million of those dollars, along with articulated priorities for spending of the rest of the $46.3 million initial Block Grant allocation and, hopefully, the $80 million to follow. We also look to Medicaid and commercial insurance $ to make the programs sustainable
We’re especially very pleased to see a number of out top requests included below: startup funding for 9-8-8, crisis stabilization and residence programs, living room, crisis respites and support lines, peer recovery centers, and peer-bridger programs, and for “expansion for peer workforce across ambulatory programming” and residential programs; a broad complement of peer models and peer specialist expansions, workforce and telehealth investments. We’ve also been advocating for initial investments in the emerging Community Oriented Recovery and Empowerment (CORE) service initiative.
Look for more details about these and the federal Medicaid Enhancement (FMAP) dollars in the coming days, with hopefully some a strong focus on workforce support.
See our summary below and the attached official announcement.
Over all Priority Categories
• Statewide Crisis Services
• Child, Youth, and Family services
• Adult Ambulatory Services
Initial Investments $14 million
Crisis Services: Jail Diversion Program Expansion $2,000,000
Crisis Services: Crisis Intervention Team Program Expansion $500,000
Crisis Services: Law Enforcement Mobile Access Program Expansion $100,000
Child, Youth, and Family Services: Youth Assertive Community Treatment Program Expansion $5,950,000 look for details later this month
OnTrackNY First Episode Psychosis Program Expansion $4,633,929 look for this model to potentially go statewide
Priority Areas of Investment for Block Grants I ($46 million) and II (upwards of $80 million)
“OMH will continue to take a flexible approach to the development and refinement of applicable priorities and allocations as the process to program these funds moves forward and the secondary $80 million supplemental CMHS Block Grant award becomes available” to cover the following overall priorities:
• Crisis Services: 988 Call Center Preparation Support, Regional Mobile Crisis Teams, Crisis Residential and Stabilization start up and Law Enforcement and Diversion
• Criminal Justice: Crisis Intervention Teams, Law Enforcement Mobile Access Program, Diversion Services (assessed, provided with any needed prescriptions, and released from custody to a care coordinator; jail diversion drop-of center for individuals with mental illness at the pre-booking, post-booking, and pre-sentencing intercept points, a parole diversion program A pretrial services screening and supervision release pilot program; Law Enforcement Mobile Access Program
• Children, Youth and Families: coordinated system of care for children and families, youth-specific mental health training across systems, additional crisis residential services, Screening and early identification of children and youth who could benefit from evidence-based assessment and mental health treatment; Youth Assertive Community Treatment programs and home- based/mobile outreach and treatment services; Expanding and enhancing clinical services Expanding school-based and college-based mental health capacity
• Adult Ambulatory Services Priorities; Telehealth services expansion and support; Programmatic and financial support to encourage expansion of mobile clinic services; additional peer-delivered and rehabilitative services including crisis programs (living room, crisis respites, support lines), recovery centers, and peer-bridger programs and for “expansion for peer workforce across ambulatory programming”; Assertive Community Treatment enhancements, Support for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; Fostering closer linkages among ambulatory, housing, and inpatient care providers with the comprehensive crisis system currently in development and by implementing Critical Time Intervention models and First Episode Psychosis Team expansion to supplement existing OnTrackNY first episode psychosis capacity, targeted to young adults experiencing their symptoms of psychosis, further expanding programmatic reach across New York State.
• Workforce Investment/System Capacity Building Priorities: investing in recruitment and retention of culturally competent mental health service system employees; Expanding and supporting certified peer capacity across OMH programming; Addressing training and implementation support for evidence-based assessment and treatment; Collaborate with institutions of higher education to foster development of potential mental health workforce
Regarding the CMHS Block Grant funding awarded under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, OMH has requested the following waivers:
• Waiver from the exclusion of capital expenditures as an allowable expense of MHBG funds, consistent with the SAMHSA recommendation that supplemental funds can be used on crisis phone line infrastructure.
• Waiver of the prohibition of funding a for-profit entity in order to facilitate the purchase of hardware and software and/or training needed to develop and implement a fully functional crisis line and/or crisis services consistent with the NYS comprehensive crisis system plan.
• Waiver of the target population in order to fund preventative, intervention, treatment and recovery services to at-risk children, youth and families prior to a diagnosis of serious emotional disturbance. Such services are necessary to address the emotional and behavioral needs of children who have had adverse childhood experiences as a result of the pandemic which could lead to future behavioral health care needs.