August 18, 2025

As many of you know, I met with OMH leads last week to share with them our recommendations for ways in which the Office, acting on its own, could provide administrative relief to providers while simultaneously implementing policies and procedures that could possibly mitigate the negative impacts of HR1 – the so called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.  One of the primary issues I raised was member concerns regarding the OMH Capacity Survey announced last month.  I recommended a delay of  implementation, a quarterly vs. monthly submission requirement, and an internal search of data (requested on the survey) that could be obtained by the Office using an alternative source (rather than providers).  I educated OMH regarding the significant resource drain this requirement will have on our members, and pushed for a reconsideration of the Survey.  OMH reps were gracious and listened hard to all of our recommendations. OMH’s communication to the field just arrived.  It is attached and pasted below. 

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Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for raising important questions and providing detailed feedback related to the implementation of OMH’s Capacity Monitoring survey, specifically the timing, the need for providers to prepare, additional clarity on standardized definitions for questions, and other concerns.

In response, we are pushing back the survey start date until later this year and will be scheduling meetings with you in September to review goals and address outstanding questions. We are sending the attached communication to clinic providers and will be repurposing the scheduled sessions in August and September as information and feedback sessions. 

Thank you for your collaboration on this important effort. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Ben Rosen

Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner

New York State Office of Mental Health