Johnson City, NY: Today Governor Hochul held a press conference at the Schorr Theater to announce a $1 billion plan to overhaul mental healthcare across the state. The plan intends to:
- Add 1,000 inpatient psychiatric treatment beds.
- Open 150 new adult beds in state-operated psychiatric hospitals, including 100 in New York City.
- Create 3,500 housing units for people with mental illness, who are more likely to suffer homelessness than the general population.
- Bolster insurance coverage for mental health.
- Expanding outpatient services and better systemic accountability for hospital admissions and discharges are also included as priorities in the plan.
- Increase Medicaid payment rates for school-based satellite clinics and school-based wraparound services.
“We have underinvested in mental healthcare for so long and allowed the situation to become so dire that it has become a public safety crisis, as well,” Ms. Hochul said in the news release. “This proposal marks a monumental shift to make sure no one falls through the cracks and to finally and fully meet the mental health needs of all New Yorkers.”
Source: NYS Governor’s Office