New York City Health + Hospitals is implementing a three-year game plan to boost its behavioral health services.
The 11-hospital, municipally run system provides around 60% of behavioral health services delivered in New York City. The behavioral health overhaul is funded in part by $41 million in funding from the state's Behavioral Health Centers of Excellence, according to a June 6 news release from the system.
Other funding for the project comes from opioid settlements and other city, state, federal and philanthropic sources.
New York state and the city have made considerable investments in behavioral health in recent years. In 2023, the state put more than $1 billion toward establishing new inpatient treatment units, supportive housing and outpatient services.
The system plans to implement six strategies between 2024 and 2026 to improve its behavioral health offerings. The system's targets include:
- Maximizing inpatient space by renovating behavioral units and staffing all inpatient beds across the system.
- Increasing the volume of outpatients served by at least 10%.
- Adding services for special populations, including individuals with substance use disorders, people experiencing homelessness and children and adolescents. The system will add a substance use training program to make sure all patients are assessed for substance use disorder. NYC Health + Hospitals also previously announced plans to establish school-based mental health clinics.
- Expanding care management workforce to support social needs, and standardizing training for social workers across the system.
- Continue training staff in screening and assessment of high-risk patients, deescalation and violence prevention.
- Recruiting and training behavioral staff members, including establishing a psychiatric physician assistant career program and providing loan repayment for behavioral providers and staff who agree to work at the system for three years.
Read more here.