What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 38
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Directs local government units providing services to individuals with mental illness or developmental disabilities to create a single point of access system
In Assembly Committee · Mental Health · Sponsor Felix Ortiz
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7377
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to directing local government units providing services to individuals with mental illness or developmental disabilities to create a single point of access system
Purpose or general idea of bill
Single Point of Access (SPOA) was a part of the NYS Office of Mental Health's program initiatives 2000-2001. It was designed to expand the existing community based mental health system to enable people with the most serious service needs to access needed housing and care management on a priority basis. The result is a more cohesive and better coordinated system which is responsive to individual needs. No specific statutory basis was ever enacted for the SPOA. During this time of redesign and reform of the behavioral health delivery system in New York, there is a real danger that the substantial benefits which the SPOA provides to real people will be lost or severely diminished causing a substantial reduction in the ability of the community based system to ensure access to care. This bill would recognize SPOAs as a statutorily required part of the community behavioral health system and would preserve its valuable role in the overall service delivery system.
Read the full memo (646 words)
Summary of specific provisions
Adds a new section 17 to section 41.13 of the Mental Hygiene Law to require that a local governmental unit create, direct and supervise a single point of access system to coordinate the care the provision of ancillary services for high need adults and children with mental disabilities.
Justification
SPOA (Single Point of Access) is a process, generally led by a SPOA Coordinator, which helps Local Governmental Units achieve community based behavioral health systems that are cohesive and well- coordinated. The SPOA process provides for the identification of adults and children most in need of services, and manages service access and utilization, including, but not limited to, care management, housing, access to social, services, vocational services, family supports, community resources, and transforming from the criminal justice system.
Since their creation, OMH, the counties and New York City have made significant progress in establishing SPOA processes for adults and children. These intensive referral and care coordination mechanisms enable people with the most serious services needs to access appropriate services on a priority basis. SPOA systems also help to manage referrals to Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams which provide highly individualized treatments and supports in the community to people with serious mental illness. LGUs through their SPOAs routinely work to monitor access to services and services outcomes for individuals with intensive service needs regardless of the ability to pay, insurance coverage or the existence of co-occurring disorders.
The use of LGU-level mechanisms for ensuring access represents an important milestone in the development of statewide accountability for successful service system outcomes, particularly as they affect to critical community support services. The SPOA process addresses the need for individuals and their families, providers, and county and NYC governments to successfully manage the access issue.
As State and Federal funding is reduced and the Medicaid behavioral health system move into managed care, the SPOA process becomes more important to ensure timely access to services for those most-in need. It is critical that the function and role of SPOA be preserved in the managed care world. This legislation recognizes the critical role that the SPOA plays in ensuring the efficient use of sometimes scarce resources needed to manage capacity and improve the appropriate utilization of existing services.
Experience has demonstrated the ability of the community behavioral health system to better meet and manage the service needs of its clients. This bill will help insure the continuation of that ability by preserving this important part of the system and allowing the community itself to determine its own needs and allocate its existing services.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.