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Community Behavioral Healthcare

 
 
 
 

Latest News & Information

EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES AGREE IT’S TIME TO ADDRESS BARRIERS TO MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS CARE

Over ten years ago New York State regulators found it necessary to set a mandated minimum reimbursement rate that must be paid for community-based mental health and substance use disorder services under Medicaid. However, this did not apply to services provided to New Yorkers with
commercial insurance benefits. This has led to a serious inequity for New Yorkers with commercial insurance who are often unable to find a provider due to insurance rates that are (on average) just 50% of those paid by the Medicaid Program for the same services.

Governor Hochul included a ground-breaking proposal in her executive budget that seeks to level the access to care playing field regardless of the insurance card in the pocket of the individual seeking services. The Governor included a requirement for commercial insurers to pay community-based mental health and substance use disorder agencies (at least) the same reimbursement rate as that which is paid to providers for services to Medicaid members.

We are grateful to the Governor for her leadership on this important issue and we are so gratified to see that both the Assembly and the Senate have heard our concerns and included a similar proposal in each of their one-house budget bills to ensure equitable access to essential mental health and addiction care for New Yorkers with commercial insurance.

The New York State Council has been advocating for this reform for close to a decade. We want to express our thanks to each and every New Yorker who helped us call attention to this serious problem and advocated with us for this important reform.

ASSEMBLY AND SENATE ONE-HOUSE BUDGET PROPOSALS INCREASE HUMAN SERVICES COLA BUT WITH A PROBLEMATIC RESTRICTION

In 2006, New York State enacted a statute that authorized an annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for most Human Services Organizations. Despite the law, eligible providers often did not receive the COLA due to the former Administration’s practice of ‘notwithstanding’ the statute. As a result, community-based agencies fell into a fiscal hole and at the present time we are unable to pay competitive salaries AND cover expenses associated with the operation of our programs such as gasoline, maintenance, health insurance, food, supplies, etc.

This year, the Governor proposed a 1.5% COLA for the Human Services field, to include mental health and addiction prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction programs and services. The Senate and Assembly support a 3.2% in total, and we are grateful for this support. However, the Senate and Assembly bills both include a restriction that would tie provider’s hands when it comes to using some of these funds to pay for their operations, bills and to keep the lights on. Restricting the COLA in such a way that eligible agencies cannot use it for several purposes defeats the point of ensuring sustainability of services for New Yorkers in need of mental health and addictions care.

The final enacted budget should include a 3.2% COLA that permits providers to do two things at the same time: increase salaries and wages for our valued staff AND pay our bills.

NYS COUNCIL OMIG AUDIT REFORM BILL:
ACTION REQUESTED

The NYS Council has been leading an ongoing statewide effort to compel lawmakers to bring fairness and balance to the OMIG audit process.  Assembly Health Chair Amy Paulin has agreed to continue to sponsor our OMIG Audit Reform bill.  The bill has undergone several changes that were made in order to address concerns from certain lawmakers as well as the Administration.  The Assembly version has been introduced and is linked here. Senator Harckham has introduced a “same as” bill S5329B.

The Assembly and Senate bill sponsors are collecting “sign on” support from their legislative colleagues.  

ACTION REQUESTED

Please use this link https://nyscouncil.org/advocacy-action-center/  to create a letter you can send to your Senate and Assembly representatives in support of the OMIG Audit Reform bill.

 

 

NYS COUNCIL SUBMITS TESTIMONY REGARDING MENTAL HYGIENE AND HEALTH/MEDICAID PROPOSALS IN THE GOVERNOR’S EXECUTIVE BUDGET

The NYS Council has submitted written testimony regarding the Mental Hygiene proposals and the Health and Medicaid proposals in the Governor’s executive budget proposal to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

Both testimonies highlight numerous topics including, but not limited to:

  • Workforce
  • Commercial Insurance Rate Mandate
  • OMIG Audit Targets
  • Competitive Procurement Proposal/NYS Council Request for Carve Out of Behavioral Health Services
  • Extension of Telehealth Rate Parity
  • Opioid Settlement Funds
  • Overdose Prevention Programs for Schools
  • Enforcement of Parity Laws

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