Mental Health, Office of

Agency Web Site: http://www.omh.ny.gov/

Mission

The Office of Mental Health’s (OMH) mission is to promote the mental health of all New Yorkers, with a particular focus on facilitating hope and recovery for adults and children with serious mental illness or emotional disturbances.

Budget Highlights

The Executive Budget recommends $3.6 billion in All Funds appropriations for the Office of Mental Health (OMH), which represents a net increase of $45 million from the 2013-14 Enacted Budget. The Executive Budget also recommends a total workforce of 14,616 FTE.

OMH is committed to providing critical mental health services to individuals who need treatment. OMH continues to provide both community and inpatient services, and supports both voluntary and court-ordered treatment through Kendra’s Law, for individuals who may have difficulty living safely in the community without close monitoring and mandatory participation in treatment. OMH continues to improve the quality and level of services through the restructuring of State-operated inpatient facilities, while using savings to invest in community-based programs to support individuals in the most integrated setting possible.

The Executive Budget expands community services to reduce unnecessary inpatient stays and local government costs. These enhancements include additional crisis and respite beds, home and community-based services waiver slots, supported housing, mental health urgent care walk-in centers, mobile engagement teams, first episode psychosis teams, peer-operated recovery centers, family resource centers, evidence-based family support services, suicide prevention services, community forensic and diversion services, tele-psychiatry, transportation services, family concierge services and adjustments to managed care premiums. On an ongoing basis, these enhancements will be supported by an investment, on average, of $110,000 for every inpatient bed that is closed as a result of these investments.

OMH will begin the process to create regional centers of excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of complex behavioral health illnesses. This effort will ensure there will be ample capacity for treating individuals with mental illness who require inpatient services. Savings related to the State Psychiatric Center restructuring will support the significantly expanded community-based services noted above. This restructuring will help facilitate earlier and better access to care, serve 3,000 more individuals with mental illness, reduce the burden on local government finances, and reduce unnecessary inpatient beds.

Funding from restructuring inpatient services will also support a rental stipend increase of $550 annually in the Downstate region and the development of 200 new supported housing units for residents of nursing homes (a total of 600 by the end of 2015), 500 new supported housing beds for individuals in adult homes (a total of 1,750 by the end of 2015), and 300 new beds for the homeless housing program in New York City (a total of 3,200 by the end of 2015). Additionally, the continued recovery of Medicaid exempt income from providers operating community residential programs is proposed.

The Executive Budget defers the planned 2.0 percent annual human services COLA.

The Executive Budget also places stricter controls on NPS spending and reduces spending growth for the sex offender program through more efficient operations.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Mental Hygiene (PDF)

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/20/2014

Click for additional detailed appropriation tables