December 2, 2025
Note: This document has two attachments:
1) 2026 NYS Legislative Session Calendar
2) List of 93 bills that moved to Governor Hochul’s desk for final action yesterday, 12/1. The Governor must act on these bills by 12/12. After this round, she’ll only have 159 more bills to decide by the end of the year. Lawmakers passed 856 bills through both chambers this year, fyi.
OMH Funding Opportunity: Expanding the Partial Hospitalization Program for children and adolescents
The New York State Office of Mental Health has issued a Request for Proposals to expand the Partial Hospitalization Program for children and adolescents throughout New York State. The program provides access to services for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families, giving them the help they need to thrive and remain engaged in the community. OMH intends to issue six awards statewide, with priority to providers proposing to serve areas with critical need due to the absence of such services.
Critical need areas include the following Economic Development Regions and specific Boroughs of New York City:
Central New York – Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego.
Mohawk Valley – Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, and Otsego.
New York City boroughs – Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.
North Country – Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence.
Southern Tier – Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, and Tompkins.
Western New York – Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara.
The RFP can be found on the OMH website at: https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/rfp/2025/phpcr/index.html
The Trump administration’s proposal to impose tighter student loan limits for many graduate health programs is drawing backlash from professional groups, who warn it could worsen medical workforce shortages. The plan would allow students in “professional” programs, such as MDs, pharmacists, and clinical psychologists, to borrow up to $200,000, while capping most other health-related graduate students, including advanced practice nurses, PAs, and physical therapists, at $100,000. Critics say the narrower definition will discourage students from entering essential health fields and undermine public health preparedness, prompting petitions and pressure from major health organizations. The administration argues the limits will reduce graduate program costs and won’t affect bachelor’s or associate nursing programs. (Article here)
Using the Wraparound Approach for Children with Complex Behavioral Health Needs
Many children with complex behavioral health care needs lack access to effective services. The Wraparound model, an evidence-based approach to intensive care coordination, helps families navigate health and social services to address these needs. Wraparound is associated with positive outcomes, including greater stability at home and in the community, reduced need for residential care, improved clinical and functional outcomes, and lower costs.
State Medicaid agencies can strengthen implementation of Wraparound by simplifying and making funding more flexible and by enhancing infrastructure and training for providers serving children and families. Medicaid programs can also collaborate with other state agencies to align approaches and standards for intensive care coordination using Wraparound.
This Evidence Roundup highlights emerging evidence on the effectiveness of Wraparound to support children with complex behavioral health needs, including findings on effective program design and implementation. It offers insights for policymakers, state agencies, health plans, and providers interested in understanding opportunities to better support children with complex behavioral health needs.
Yesterday President Trump signed into law H.R.2483 — the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. This legislation reauthorizes funding through the next five years for many crucial programs, including the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program, which helps bolster the workforce by providing loan repayment opportunities for substance use disorder treatment and recovery providers in the face of severe workforce shortages. It also supports critical recovery efforts achieved through the Building Communities of Recovery program and comprehensive opioid recovery centers.
The bill also revises several programs. These revisions include:
- Expanding a program that supports resources for first responders to include the purchase of drugs or devices to treat non-opioid overdoses.
- Expanding a program that supports employment services for individuals in recovery.
- Reauthorizing the National Peer-run Training and Technical Assistance Center for Addiction Recovery Support and temporarily authorizing a regional technical assistance center to assist the national center.
Additionally, the bill establishes new requirements for HHS, including requirements related to:
- Establishing a Federal Interagency Work Group on Fentanyl Contamination of Drugs.
- Reviewing and potentially revising the scheduling of approved products that contain a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone under the Controlled Substances Act.
Read the National Council’s section-by-section summary for a more detailed explanation of each of the bill’s provisions.
Here’s what ASAM’s President said to Becker’s about the reauthorization of the SUPPORT Act:
The American Society of Addiction Medicine said the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 includes critical substance use disorder care provisions but warned that reduced staffing at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration could hinder its rollout.
On Dec. 1, President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, reauthorizing and revising HHS programs addressing substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
Stephen Taylor, MD, president of ASAM, said reductions in expert staff at SAMHSA raise concerns over how and when provisions will reach addiction medicine clinicians, risking the program being reauthorized “in name only” if the agency is not fully equipped to administer them, according to a news release shared with Becker’s.
The law alone does not resolve barriers to substance use disorder treatment, Dr. Taylor said, calling on Congress to pass additional legislation. ASAM continues to support the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act, which would allow addiction physicians to prescribe methadone through community pharmacies, and the Residential Recovery for Seniors Act, which would expand Medicare coverage for 24-hour addiction care.