November 29, 2023

This week we have confirmed that our proposal for OASAS and OMH outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services to be carved out of the state’s Medicaid managed care program has been taken seriously and discussions at the highest levels of government are now focused on our request. However, many of our peer associations have failed to weigh in in favor of the carve out and this could impact state decision making.  Our field needs to be aligned and no one should sit out this opportunity to fix this massive problem and return scarce resources to the OASAS and OMH systems of care to address waiting lists and workforce shortages.

If you are a member of another association that represents mental health and/or substance use disorder providers that offer OASAS and/or OMH services, we urge you to contact the leaders of the association or a member of the board today and push them to weigh in in favor of the carve out immediately.  The NYS Council will be circulating a sign on letter later today that will make it simple for them to indicate their support.  I will be sharing it with my association peers later today.

The single best opportunity we have to get this done is through our current request to the Executive to carve out OASAS and OMH outpatient services. The NYS Council has put this issue in play with our constant advocacy and data-based depiction of the critical problems associated with the carve in of our services.  But the Administration has been working for months on its budget proposal and generally, by this time of year, critical budget decisions are close to being decided and locked in.  The moment is NOW.

Please see additional information (attached) related to our carve out request.