Bill Text: NY S03981 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Makes care and services provided by licensed mental health practitioners eligible for coverage under the Medicaid program.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-08 - PRINT NUMBER 3981B [S03981 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S03981-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         3981--A
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 31, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens.  SAVINO, CARLUCCI, ORTT, RITCHIE -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Health  -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the
          Committee on Finance -- committee discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to making care and
          services provided by licensed mental health practitioners eligible for
          coverage under the Medicaid program
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Legislative intent. Whereas Medicaid covers mental health
     2  services in New York state to psychiatrists,  psychologists  and  social
     3  workers,  Medicaid  does  not  recognize  New York state licensed mental
     4  health practitioners as providers within the  Medicaid  program.  Mental
     5  health practitioners are often the only mental health providers in urban
     6  underserved  minority  communities.  A  critical  result of this lack of
     7  providers is that minority communities bear a disproportionate number of
     8  burdens of mental health disabilities and  inadequately  treated  mental
     9  health  disorders.  Excluding  mental health practitioners from treating
    10  Medicaid beneficiaries with untreated mental illness puts such benefici-
    11  aries disproportionately  at  risk  for  engagement  with  the  criminal
    12  justice  system. This puts individuals, families and communities at risk
    13  of harm.  Approximately 26 percent of adults  experience  a  diagnosable
    14  behavioral  health  disorder each year, and researchers have reported 20
    15  percent of adolescents display psychological problems. Behavioral health
    16  disorders, ranging from inattention to violence are often  a  result  of
    17  those psychological problems.
    18    Mental  health  practitioners  are valuable providers of mental health
    19  services in New York state. Unfortunately Medicaid  does  not  recognize
    20  their important contribution to the present health care delivery system.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01543-05-7
        S. 3981--A                          2
     1    §  2.  Subdivision  2  of  section 365-a of the social services law is
     2  amended by adding a new paragraph (ff) to read as follows:
     3    (ff)  care  and  services  provided  by  mental  health  practitioners
     4  licensed pursuant to article one hundred sixty-three  of  the  education
     5  law.
     6    § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninety-first day after it shall
     7  have become a law.