Addiction Services and Supports, Office of

Agency Web Site: https://www.oasas.ny.gov/

Mission

The mission of the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) is to improve the lives of all New Yorkers by leading a comprehensive, premier system of addiction services for prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Organization and Staffing

The Executive Budget recommends a total workforce of 737 FTEs, unchanged from FY 2020. OASAS is responsible for planning, developing and regulating the State's system of substance use disorder (SUD) and gambling treatment and prevention programs. As part of this mission, OASAS certifies, funds and supervises over 1,600 local government and community-based programs and operates 12 State Addiction Treatment Centers (ATCs).

Budget Highlights

The FY 2021 Executive Budget recommends $821 million in All Funds appropriations, including $591 million for Aid to Localities, $140 million for State Operations and $90 million for Capital Projects. This represents an increase of nearly $13 million from FY 2020, mostly attributable to the targeted salary increases in FY 2020 and FY 2021 for direct care and clinical staff, and continued community-based service development.

The Executive Budget provides over $200 million for OASAS to address the heroin and opioid crisis to continue to enhance prevention, treatment, and recovery programs targeted toward chemical dependency, residential service opportunities, and public awareness and education activities. The Budget supports the following:

• Residential Treatment Beds. The FY 2021 Executive Budget continues Governor Cuomo's commitment to expanding access to residential addiction treatment services through a combination of capital investments and operating support to community organizations. These investments are critical to ensuring New Yorkers struggling with substance use disorder have residential treatment options available if they need it. Through this effort, more than 200 new residential treatment beds are expected to open by the end of FY 2022.
• Behavioral Health Parity. The Executive Budget establishes the Behavioral Health Parity Compliance Fund for the collection of penalties imposed on insurance carriers who violate New York’s Behavioral Health Parity laws, which will be used to support the Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Ombudsman program. Additionally, the State will strengthen compliance with the Behavioral Health Parity provisions set forth in the FY 2020 Enacted Budget through the release of State regulations by October 2020.

Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Ombudsman Program. The Budget continues $1.5 million in funding to support the behavioral health ombudsman program, which helps individuals and their families navigate the behavioral health care system to ensure people have access to necessary care and services, and helps resolve issues when care has been delayed or denied. The Executive Budget also provides authority to utilize up to $1.5 million in funds received in the newly established Behavioral Health Parity Compliance Fund.

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)

Program Highlights

New York State has one of the nation's largest addiction services systems. OASAS offers a wide range of services, which fall into the following three main categories:

• Prevention: Prevention services seek to prevent substance use and abuse and compulsive gambling in individuals, families and communities. Prevention services include education, environmental strategies, community capacity building, positive alternatives, and information dissemination. These services are delivered by approximately 160 providers in a variety of settings, including schools and community-based organizations, reaching approximately 454,000 youth annually;
• Treatment: Treatment programs consist of various clinically appropriate services, including crisis, residential, outpatient and opioid treatment programs (OTPs), for individuals with problem gambling or SUDs. Treatment includes individual and group counseling, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), educational services, case management, vocational assessment, and training for job skills, employment readiness, parenting, personal, and social and community living skills; and

Recovery: Recovery programs assist individuals in recovery with emotional, informational, and social support services to help initiate and sustain recovery from SUDs, as well as provide support to family members. Services are provided through Recovery Community and Outreach Centers, Youth Clubhouses, and Permanent Supportive Housing.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/29/2020