May 29, 2024

On May 1 the NYS OMH issued a proposed regulation (see attached – page 34) in the NYS Register that would expand existing licensure thresholds for the provision of primary care services in Article 31 outpatient clinics.  As we discussed with DoH officials last fall, the proposed regulation would allow OMH MHOTRS programs to provide up to 30%  of their annual visits as medical visits, an increase from the 5% threshold currently in place.  Importantly, Health Monitoring and Health Screening services can continue being provided outside of this threshold.  We are keeping our eyes peeled for a similar proposed regulation from OASAS.

The formal public comment on this proposed regulation commenced May 1 and continues for 60 days, or until  June 30^th.   The NYS Council will be submitting comments based on member feedback.  

I am going to send this note to the NYS Council’s Regulatory Affairs Committee with a note that we would appreciate receiving comments on the proposed regulation through the new Committee.  As such, we encourage ALL NYS Council members to identify a representative to participate on the Committee.  To add your representative to the Committee list, and to ensure they receive updates from the new Regulatory Affairs listserv we have created for the group, please send Cindy Levernois at cindy@nyscouncil.org the name and email address of your agency representative to the Committee.

I will be back to you very shortly with an announcement for the next meeting of the NYS Council Regulatory Affairs Committee.  The next meeting of the Committee WAS scheduled for tomorrow, but since we need to provide time for participants to collect feedback from within the agency we will push the meeting back to early June.  Stand by for more information and THANK YOU in advance for your participation.