October 5, 2021

According to OMH Medical Director Tom Smith, yesterday OMH received CMS approval for the CORE Services it sought approval to implement earlier this year.  Sounds like this will re-start or perhaps accelerate the CORE Service trainings being offered by MCTAC and other entities

Below is the Press Release that went out from OMH to Adult BH HCBS Providers, Health Home Providers and Care Management Agencies  re:  approval from CMS of CORE Services:

Attn: Adult Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services (BH HCBS) Providers, Health Homes and Care Management Agencies (CMA)

New York State (NYS) is excited to announce the approval of
Community Oriented Recovery and Empowerment (CORE) Services.

On October 5, 2021, NYS received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to transition four Adult Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services (BH HCBS) to a new service array called CORE Services. CORE Services will be available in the Health and Recovery Plan (HARP) and HIV Special Needs Plan (HIV SNP) benefit packages.

NYS will provide adequate notice prior to CORE Services go-live. Additional details and guidance regarding the CORE Services implementation will be released in October 2021.

The following Adult BH HCBS will transition to CORE Services:

  *   Community Psychiatric Support and Treatment (CPST)
  *   Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR)
  *   Empowerment Services – Peer Support
  *   Family Support and Training (FST)

The remaining Adult BH HCBS will continue to be available in the HARP and HIV SNP benefit packages:

  *   Habilitation
  *   Education Support Services
  *   Prevocational Services
  *   Transitional Employment
  *   Intensive Supported Employment
  *   Ongoing Supported Employment
  *   Non-Medical Transportation

Adult BH HCBS Short-term Crisis Respite and Intensive Crisis Respite services will transition to Crisis Residence services, which are a part of the Crisis Intervention Benefit and already available to all adult Medicaid Managed Care enrollees.

A CORE Implementation Webinar Series will be provided by MCTAC and available to CORE Service providers and Health Homes/Care Management Agencies serving HARP and/or HIV SNP members. Training announcements will be distributed via MCTAC and the Adult BH HCBS Listserv.

Technical Assistance

OMH and OASAS will provide technical assistance to providers throughout the transition. Questions and requests for support may be sent via email to the appropriate host agency:

  *   For OMH-Hosted Providers: Adult-BH-HCBS@omh.ny.gov<mailto:Adult-BH-HCBS@omh.ny.gov>
  *   For OASAS-Hosted Providers: PICM@oasas.ny.gov<mailto:PICM@oasas.ny.gov>

We would like to thank Adult BH HCBS providers for their patience and invaluable feedback provided during this process.