'I Want to Live Like a Human Being': Where NY Fails its Mentally Ill

The stench from Abraham Clemente's apartment in Flatbush, Brooklyn, this summer was overwhelming. Maggot-infested scrambled eggs were strewn across the floor; a cantaloupe was so spoiled, it seemed to be melting. Feces were ground into the carpet.

Mr. Clemente, who is 69 and has schizophrenia, kept the shower and sink running for the "oxygen." He blamed a kitchen fire on a doll nailed to a cabinet. He believed he could crush and smoke his antipsychotic medication to achieve its intended effect.

Yet the state of New York determined Mr. Clemente was capable of living on his own.
He is one of hundreds of severely mentally ill New York City residents who have been moved out of institutions into private apartments over the past four years under a landmark 2014 settlement. The approach is meant to be a national model for the rights of the mentally ill to live independently. Read more here.

Governor Cuomo Announces More Than $9 Million in Federal Funding Secured to Expand Opioid Addiction Treatment Services in New York State

As Raise the Age Starts, Juvenile Cases Have Dropped

Insurance Coverage for Adults With Behavioral Health Conditions Still a Work In Progress

Good health insurance coverage is a fundamental prerequisite of good healthcare, including behavioral health. Yet, prior to the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, many adults with mental health or substance use conditions either had no health insurance or health insurance with very limited behavioral healthcare benefits. Even when behavioral healthcare benefits actually were available in insurance plans, people with these conditions often were "redlined" and denied insurance coverage.

Several types of health insurance were available for adults and families prior to the ACA. Private insurance included large and small group plans offered through employers, and individual plans purchased separately. Public plans included Medicaid for disabled persons in poverty and for children, and Medicare for workers who are disabled, their beneficiaries, and retirees. Among all of these plans, only large employer-based plans were required by MHPAEA to offer mental health and substance use benefits at parity with medical and surgical benefits, and only if such optional benefits were included in these plans. Read more here.

Child ER Utilization Rising. Why & What's To Be Done?

The field of addiction treatment has traditionally relied on the experience of a clinician during treatment, but a new emphasis on outcomes measures by both insurers and accrediting bodies is placing an increased focused on measurable, quantitative outcomes for patients while they are in treatment and during follow-up.

As of Jan. 1 of this year, the Joint Commission also now requires behavioral healthcare centers seeking accreditation to conduct outcomes assessments through the "use of a standardized tool or instrument." 

Hayes says treatment centers that don't hire appropriate staff or devote the necessary resources today to incorporate effective measurement practices will be "left behind" as the field continues to push toward more effective and standardized methods of outcomes tracking. Read more here.