Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities, Commission on

Note: Most recent estimates as of 12/16/08.

Mission

The mission of the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQCAPD) is to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities in New York State and to protect their rights and advocate for needed change by:

• Promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of community life and ensuring that persons with disabilities are afforded the opportunity to exercise the full range of rights and responsibilities accorded to all New Yorkers;

• Ensuring programmatic and fiscal accountability, and monitoring care and treatment of people with disabilities within the State’s mental hygiene system, and making recommendations for improvements, when warranted;

• Providing individual and systemic investigative and advocacy services;

• Advancing the availability and use of assistive technology for persons with disabilities; and

• Offering impartial and informed advice, training, and recommendations on a broad range of disability issues.

A Commission priority has been to enhance advocacy services for all populations. The Commission’s focus has been to increase its outreach efforts, provide a single point of access for disability information, and expand disability rights and awareness training. The Commission’s Advocacy Council has expanded its membership to include individuals with a broader range of disabilities to better fulfill its mission in advising the Governor and Legislature regarding all New Yorkers with disabilities.

Budget Highlights

The Executive Budget recommends $17.6 million All Funds ($5.9 million General Fund; $7.3 million Federal Funds; $4.4 million Other Funds; $45,000 Enterprise Funds) for the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQCAPD). This is an increase of $32,000 All Funds ($135,000 General Fund; $160,000 Federal Funds; $57,000 Other Funds) from 2008-09. The Budget recommends:

• Enhancing Residential Child Abuse Investigations: The Commission has been charged with performing investigations of all child abuse allegations arising in OMH, OMRDD and, effective January 2009, OASAS operated and certified residential programs. Assuring on-site investigations in all cases and dealing with the anticipated increase in workload as a result of new responsibilities for OASAS facilities will require the agency to hire 2 additional staff ($140,000).

• Efficient Implementation of Special Housing Unit (SHU) Responsibilities: The SHU Bill (Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2008) requires diversion alternatives to solitary confinement for inmates who are mentally ill and expands residential capacity to improve the quality and availability of prison-based mental health services. The Commission is specifically charged with general oversight of the quality of mental health services and monitoring the SHU diversion process. The Commission will utilize 6 staff (instead of the 14 initially authorized in 2008-09) to implement its responsibilities at a cost of $0.5 million versus $1.0 million previously planned, and will issue their findings in their annual agency report.

• Improving Operational Efficiencies: The Commission will increase cost controls on Personal Service and Non-Personal Service spending for a savings of $34,000.

The Executive Budget recommends a staffing level of 118 FTEs for the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, an increase of 2 from the 2008-09 budget, reflecting the 2 additional staff to enhance residential child abuse investigations.

2009-10 Executive Budget — Agency Presentation
Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities, Commission on (PDF)