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Advocacy > Be An Advocate
Mental Health Policy Priorities for 2008
The Mental Health Associations of Westchester, New York City, and Nassau believe that New York State
should continue its efforts toward the development of a comprehensive, community-based mental health
system that meets the mental health needs of all New Yorkers. Such a comprehensive system can only be
developed incrementally. For 2008, our priorities are:
- Funding For Comprehensive, Community Mental Health Services including maintenance of
adequate resources for all levels of care, a COLA, increases for new program development, and a
modified clinic reimbursement structure that does no harm during the process of change.
- Housing: Adequate funding to maintain current OMH housing programs and to expand housing for
people with serious mental illness by 2000 units per year for the next 10 years.
- Children and Families: Continued expansion and improvement of community-based mental health
services for children and adolescents via overcoming funding problems with Clinics Plus, expanding
home and community based waivers, enhancing services integration, and pressing for parity in Child
Health Plus and Family Health Plus.
- Older Adults: Improved geriatric mental health policy and practice via increased funding for innovative
demonstration programs, the development of a geriatric mental health center for excellence, a statewide
Medicare optimization program, and increased attention to mental health in long-term care services.
- Culturally Competent Services: Expansion of bi-lingual, culturally competent mental health services
that are accessible to minority populations.
- Co-Occurring Disorders: Expansion and new development of integrated services for people with:
Serious mental illness, who are at high risk of premature mortality due to poor health
Co-occurring chronic health and behavioral health conditions, which result in high disability,
mortality, and health costs
Co-occurring substance abuse and mental disorders
Co-occurring mental retardation and mental illness
- Access to Medications: Protect access to psychiatric medications via continued carve-outs of anti-
depressant and atypical anti-psychotic medications in the Medicaid preferred drug program and via open
access to psychiatric medications in the new EPIC formulary.
- Workplace Mental Health: Improved mental health benefits in the workplace. This includes state and
federal mandates of parity of mental health and health insurance coverage in both commercial and public
coverage plans. It also includes work with employers to provide parity plus easy access to quality care
as good business practice.
- Crisis, Referral, and Suicide Prevention Services: Funding for initiatives that combine hotline, I&R,
public mental health education, widespread screening for depression, and more accessible treatment—
especially for returning vets.
- Workforce Development: Building a strong and qualified workforce of direct services professionals is
critical for the growth and sustainability of the community mental health system. Passage of the Quality
Workforce Act or similar legislation will provide the much needed salary enhancements, education,
training, and benefit stimulus necessary to attract and retain an adequate and well-prepared work staff.
MHAs’ Policy Priorities 2008
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