NY to overhaul state psychiatric care
ALBANY— New York officials plan to overhaul the state’s psychiatric services over the next four years by consolidating 24 inpatient hospitals statewide into 15 regional centers and establishing more than two dozen outpatient service hubs.
The consolidation plan released by the Office of Mental Health on Wednesday begins in 2014 and is expected to save $20 million the first year. The state spends about $6.6 billion, including federal funds, annually on mental health treatment.
New York opened its first asylum 175 years ago, and it’s time to fundamentally change the way the state thinks about mental health, according to Acting Commissioner Kristin Woodlock. About $1.3 billion, or 20 percent, is currently spent on inpatient care for about 1 percent of its patients, the agency reported. The psychiatric hospital census has dropped to about 4,000 down from 93,000 in the 1950s.