NYSHealth Leads Effort to Transform System of Care For 1.4 Million New Yorkers With Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
Effort Seen as Key to Stemming Skyrocketing Health Care Costs Associated with Co-Occurring Conditions
(ALBANY, NY) – The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) today announced the award of a milestone grant to fund the first statewide Center of Excellence for the Integration of Care (CEIC) to transform the system of care for 1.4 million New Yorkers suffering from both mental health and substance use conditions. The $3.2 million grant, awarded to National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI), will directly benefit patients and work to address the enormous costs in lost productivity, re-hospitalization, and related health care costs that are burdening the State’s health care system.
At a press conference in the Legislative Office Building, top officials from the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) joined NYSHealth to announce the grant and to introduce the new Center and its director, Dr. Stanley Sacks of NDRI. The Foundation, in keeping with its mission to improve the health of New York State residents, has identified co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions as a major health problem at a time when OMH and OASAS are striving to eliminate the barriers to mental health and substance use treatment services. NYSHealth’s initiative aims to achieve the integration of mental health and substance use services throughout all phases of the recovery process for patients at all of New York’s 1,223 licensed mental health and substance abuse outpatient treatment centers.
“The poor outcomes associated with substance use and mental health conditions are unnecessary, especially with the existing advances in research and practice,” said NYSHealth President and CEO James R. Knickman. “Access to an integrated system at all levels of care, across all agencies, and throughout all phases of the recovery process should be the expectation of all New Yorkers, not the exception. This initiative and the reduced number of in-patient care dollars that will result from it will make significant strides toward improving patient care, while simultaneously helping the State’s bottom line during these challenging fiscal times.”
Today, more than 50% of New Yorkers suffering from either a mental health or substance use condition do not receive treatment. Less than 10% of the population with co-occurring conditions receives evidence-based treatment for both conditions. Mental health inpatients with substance use disorders are five times more likely to be re-hospitalized compared to those without substance use disorders.
The Center of Excellence also will help save precious Medicaid dollars. According to a recent report, “Medicaid in 2007: Recent Research and Implications for Reform,” “high-need” patients, (i.e., those with physical, mental, and substance use conditions) account for roughly 70–80% of all Medicaid expenditures. The Center for Excellence will make significant strides toward addressing patient needs while simultaneously helping to abate Medicaid costs in New York.
“Many people with mental health conditions have substance use problems, and vice versa. Effective treatment requires us to deal with the whole person, and to address both challenges. However, less than 10% of persons with co-occurring conditions receive treatment for both conditions. The New York State Offices of Mental Health and Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services are determined to make integrated treatment the norm and not the exception wherever people need integrated care,” said OMH Commissioner Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D. “The statewide Center of Excellence will be a great asset to New York's mental health and substance abuse treatment providers as we work toward that goal. We appreciate the leadership of the New York State Health Foundation in working with us to increase dual recovery.”
“The facts here are plain: co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions are a major cause of long-term disability and homelessness, cost the State more than $100 billion every year in lost productivity, and lead to an increased cost of care due to high inpatient use,” said OASAS Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo. “We must integrate mental health and substance use services in order to provide the gold standard of care to New Yorkers, and the creation of this Center of Excellence to adapt standard screening, assessment, and treatment services represents an important step in that direction.”
“We are extremely pleased that New York State is taking steps to provide integrated care for people suffering from mental health and substance use conditions, as have 38 other states that we have worked with, and we are proud to be a part of it,” said Dr. Stanley Sacks of NDRI, who will direct the NYSHealth Center of Excellence for the Integration of Care. “Working with NYSHealth, and building on the commitment of OMH and OASAS, the Center has a unique opportunity to transform the care patients receive in a cost-efficient manner. We look forward to helping provider agencies and their counselors optimize the lives of their clients with co-occurring conditions through the delivery of improved and integrated services.”
See below for photos from the event.
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OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan, OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo,and NYSHealth President and CEO James R. Knickman
NDRI Executive Director JoAnn Sacks and James R. Knickman
Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo and New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services Deputy Director Matthew Mathai
Commissioner Hogan, Matthew Mathai, and JoAnn Sacks
