Behavioral Health Merger in Talks
Leaders study feasibility of combining mental health, substance abuse offices
By Rick Karlin
Updated 11:32 am, Saturday, January 31, 2015
Editor’s note: Sherry Grenz is president of theNational Alliance on Mental Illness – Albany Relatives, an affiliate of NAMI-New York State. Her title was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.
While not in the latest budget proposal, a possible merger between the Office of Mental Health and Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services is being studied by leaders at the two state agencies.
Talk of joining the organizations under the heading of behavioral health has been around for a while, but officials involved in mental health services were told last week that hearings are planned.
Mental Health, or OMH, operates psychiatric centers across the state and oversees more than 4,500 organizations and local centers that provide for mental health needs. The agency serves more than 700,000 people.
OASAS oversees almost 1,600 programs offering addiction treatment or prevention and serves an estimated 240,000 people per year.
OMH spokesman Ben Rosen said that 2015 will be devoted to studying a possible merger.
“Over the last several years, OMH and OASAS have been working very closely together to improve and integrate the delivery of behavioral health services,” he said in a prepared statement. “This year, both agencies will continue to assess whether creating a new integrated behavioral health services agency would enhance New York State’s ability to improve service delivery; transition to Medicaid Managed Care and more easily operate within the overall health care system; and improve treatment outcomes for the nearly 1 million people we collectively serve each year.”
Sherry Grenz, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Albany Relatives, says she wants to ensure that a merger doesn’t limit or decrease services.
“As New York state comes up with ways to save taxpayer dollars, we are concerned that these savings not be at the cost of cutting back on critical services and supports to those with serious mental illness,” she said.
“Since approximately 50 percent of those with serious mental illness have a substance abuse or alcohol problem, we can understand the rationale for wanting to merge OMH and OASAS but, as is said, ‘the devil is in the details.'”
“There are pluses and there are minuses,” said Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. “It’s an understandable sort of discussion and it’s an important one.”
The merger discussion comes as OMH continues to downsize its traditional psychiatric center hospitals in favor of local community-based residences and facilities for those with mental illnesses.