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

OASAS is responsible for planning, developing and regulating the State's system of substance use disorder (SUD) and gambling treatment and prevention programs. The agency has a Central Office in Albany, and directly operates 12 Addiction Treatment Centers (ATCs). OASAS also certifies, funds and supervises over 1,700 local government and community-based programs. The overall workforce is projected to remain flat at 700.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2022 Executive Budget provides $919 million in All Funds appropriations, a net increase of $94 million from FY 2021, attributable to minimum wage increases, continued community-based service development, and additional appropriation authority for potential federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant funding.

The Executive Budget provides operating and capital support for OASAS to continue to enhance prevention, treatment, and recovery programs targeted toward addiction services, residential service opportunities, and primary prevention activities. Specifically, the Budget supports the following:

• Expand Telehealth Services. The Budget provides a comprehensive strategy to expand access to care across all disciplines, including addiction services. These strategies include increasing the numbers of practitioners authorized to deliver telehealth services to add Peers and unlicensed practitioners that often offer critical, unique services to those suffering with addiction.
• Continue Residential Treatment Beds Investment. The 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 160 new residential treatment beds are expected to open by the end of FY 2022.
• Restrict Predatory Practices. To protect New Yorkers from predatory practices used by out-of-State addiction treatment programs, the Budget funds an authorization process for individuals and businesses that assist New Yorkers in finding addiction treatment. This new process is supported by a registration fee and will include public listing of authorized individuals and businesses.
• Create the Office of Addiction and Mental Health Services. To better serve people with addiction and mental illness, the Executive Budget integrates OASAS and the Office of Mental Health (OMH) into a new Office of Addiction and Mental Health Services (OAMHS). This continues the collaborative work OASAS and OMH have undertaken over the past eight years to better coordinate and ensure access to care for individuals served, including establishing integrated outpatient programs; establishing Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) projects focused on integrating care; and including screening requirements in all settings to ensure addiction and mental health needs are identified and treated or referred for treatment.

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 a network of providers in a variety of settings, including schools and community-based organizations;
• 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 01/19/2021