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 New Yorkers by leading a comprehensive, system of addiction services for prevention, treatment, harm reduction, 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 Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 778 FTEs for OASAS, reflecting an increase of 10 FTEs from FY 2023.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2024 Executive Budget provides $1.2 billion in All Funds appropriations, a net decrease of $240.3 million from FY 2023, attributable to the removal of one-time appropriations for healthcare and mental hygiene worker bonuses and the Opioid Stewardship Fund, which was fully appropriated in FY 2023.

Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, OASAS is taking significant steps to address the opioid crisis by improving access to addiction treatment services, removing barriers to treatment, developing new and innovative treatment models, and incorporating life-saving harm reduction principles throughout New York State's network of community-based addiction treatment providers.

The Executive Budget continues the historic investments made in FY 2023, which included significant increases in operating and capital support for addiction prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery programs which serve people with addiction throughout the State, their families, and their communities.

The Executive Budget sustains New York State’s commitment to critical initiatives, including:

• Strengthen Supportive Housing Programs. The Executive Budget includes $6.5 million to maintain over 1,500 OASAS residential recovery units. This investment will fully fund current rental and supportive services costs for existing units.

• Address the Opioid Epidemic Using a Public Health Approach. OASAS will continue to oversee one of the nation’s largest substance use disorder systems of care with approximately 1,700 prevention, treatment, harm reduction and recovery programs serving over 731,000 individuals per year. As the State’s opioid treatment authority, OASAS will continue to coordinate State-federal relations in addiction services and implement a statewide harm reduction strategy, in collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH), which is designed to meet people where they are and prevent overdoses. At Governor Hochul's direction, OASAS established a new Division of Harm Reduction to coordinate the implementation of low-threshold, patient-centered approaches in communities around the State.

• Community Health Access to Addiction and Mental Healthcare Project (CHAMP) Ombudsman Program. CHAMP is the New York State independent health insurance ombudsman program for substance use disorder and mental health care that, through a joint program through OASAS and OMH, partners with community-based organizations to educate and assist New Yorkers in maximizing insurance coverage for substance use and mental health. The Executive Budget continues funding for CHAMP to be available statewide, and increases funding for OASAS and OMH parity enforcement activities by $3.5 million.

• Opioid Settlement Fund Investments. Since 2021, the State of New York has reached settlement agreements with several of the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid epidemic which are expected to provide more than $2 billion to the State and to municipal governments through 2040. Through the end of FY 2024, over $320 million in payments related to those settlement agreements will be deposited in the State's Opioid Settlement Fund, which will be used to support addiction services throughout the State. OASAS is working with other State agencies including DOH and OMH to implement a range of initiatives to address the opioid crisis guided by recommendations issued by the Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board, in a manner consistent with the terms of the opioid settlement agreements. Board members issued their first recommendations on November 1, 2022, identifying the expansion of harm reduction services, treatment, and investments across the service continuum as top priorities.

• Opioid Stewardship Investments. The FY 2023 Enacted Budget appropriated $200 million to invest monies owed to the State retroactive to 2017 and 2018, after the Opioid Stewardship Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Executive Budget reappropriates these funds to support a variety of initiatives overseen by both OASAS and DOH. During FY 2024, OASAS will utilize Opioid Stewardship Funds to pursue a number of harm reduction initiatives, including equipping street outreach teams with cutting-edge equipment which will allow individuals to test their drugs for fentanyl, a grant program to establish 15 community-based harm reduction programs throughout the State, and the development of a training program designed to help police departments, jails, and other elements of the criminal justice system implement harm reduction strategies designed to save lives.

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 four 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 engagement, 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;

• Harm Reduction: Harm reduction saves lives and decreases potential harms associated with substance use. Tools and strategies that reduce harms include: naloxone and naloxone training; syringe services programs; access to fentanyl test strips; overdose prevention centers; removal of stigma and barriers to treatment and to medications for treatment; medication disposal bags; increased public awareness and education; and grassroots work by peers, recovery supports, and prevention coalitions;

Recovery: Recovery programs assist individuals in recovery with emotional, informational, and social support services to help initiate and sustain recovery from SUDs, and 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 02/01/2023