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Alliance Alert: We are encouraged to see NYS Attorney General Letitia James take strong action to hold hospital systems accountable and ensure that individuals experiencing mental health crises receive the services they deserve. The recent settlement with ����������-Presbyterian Hospital underscores the urgent need to improve how hospitals respond to psychiatric emergencies, including strengthening discharge planning.

At the same time, these findings highlight a broader truth. Hospitals and emergency rooms cannot and should not be the primary entry point for mental health services. This is why it is critical that ���������� continues to build out a comprehensive crisis service continuum that provides people with the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

That means investing in and expanding:

• Daniel’s Law first responder teams that provide health-led crisis responses
• Crisis stabilization centers that offer immediate, short-term support
• Peer respites and crisis residences that create safe, community-based alternatives to hospitalization
• Other innovative, community-based crisis services that reduce reliance on ERs

Equally important is ensuring that people have access to effective, ongoing community-based services that can prevent crises before they occur. When individuals are connected to housing, peer support, treatment, and recovery services, we reduce the likelihood of emergency situations and improve long-term outcomes.

For those who do go through hospitalization, we must ensure that discharge planning is not an afterthought. The need for comprehensive discharge plans and direct connections to community-based supports, as required by new regulations, is essential to preventing readmissions and ensuring continuity of services. People should never leave a hospital without a clear pathway to the services and supports they need to recover and thrive.

These issues, and the broader efforts to strengthen ����������’s mental health system, will be discussed at tomorrow’s Executive Seminar, where staff from the ���������� State Office of Mental Health will present on recent budget investments and this year’s proposals. They will share how these efforts are working to build a more complete continuum of mental health and substance use services across the state.

We encourage all members and partners to join us for this important conversation. Strengthening accountability is critical, but it must go hand in hand with building the community-based system ����������ers need and deserve.

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����������-Presbyterian Agrees to Mental Health Overhaul After State Finds Care Failures
By Amanda D’Ambrosio | Crain’s Healthcare | April 13, 2026

����������-Presbyterian agreed to overhaul its mental health protocols after an investigation found the hospital system failed to monitor psychiatric patients — in some cases allowing them to escape from the emergency room — and neglected to reopen mental health beds shuttered during the pandemic.

State Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlement with ����������-Presbyterian on Monday following a years-long investigation into its psychiatric treatment programs. The probe highlights the state’s continued effort to increase psychiatric capacity and improve treatment amid an ongoing mental health crisis.

“Too many ����������ers experiencing mental health crises have been met with inadequate care when they need help most,” James said in a statement. She said ����������-Presbyterian agreed to reforms that will help protect patients, strengthen oversight and ensure individuals in crisis have access to services.

Under the settlement, ����������-Presbyterian will pay $500,000 to the state for misconduct and implement changes including updating its electronic health records system, improving oversight of psychiatric patients in the emergency room and strengthening discharge planning.

The attorney general’s office launched an investigation into ����������-Presbyterian after hearing testimony from patients and providers in 2022 about the lack of access to mental health care. Investigators reviewed medical records and emergency department data of patients with behavioral health conditions from 2018 to 2024 at ����������-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

The investigation found that ����������-Presbyterian repeatedly failed to keep track of patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies, allowing them to leave the hospital without receiving necessary care. In one instance, a patient with a history of suicide attempts and homocide ideation was referred for inpatient psychiatric care. The patient waited in the emergency room for more than two days until they could be transferred to a bed, and eventually left the hospital without being admitted, the investigation found.

The attorney general’s office also found that ����������-Presbyterian failed to reopen inpatient psychiatric beds that closed during the pandemic, despite state policies mandating that hospitals bring such beds back online. ����������-Presbyterian is licensed for 513 psychiatric beds across its 10 hospital campuses, but more than 100 of those beds remained offline as of May 2023, the investigation found.

Angela Karafazli, a spokeswoman for ����������-Presbyterian, said in a statement that the health system “remains committed to continuous improvement for our patients and the communities we serve.”

“Since 2022 we have continued to strengthen policies and workflows, expand mental health capacity with inpatient beds and outpatient services, and improve safety,” Karafazli said, adding that the attorney general’s findings recognize those improvements.

NY AG Reaches Settlement with ����������-Presbyterian Hospital
By Johan Sheridan | ABC News 10 | April 13, 2026

����������-Presbyterian Hospital has agreed to overhaul its screening and security protocols and pay $500,000 in fees and costs after state investigators discovered that the hospital system treated psychiatric patients improperly and kept over 100 inpatient psychiatric beds out of service across its system post-COVID. The settlement mandates new observation protocols and monitoring requirements, and NYP administrators have to upgrade their electronic records system so medical providers have up-to-date, accurate information. The state will also impose a $10,000 penalty for any future violations of the terms of the settlement.

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — ���������� Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement with the ����������-Presbyterian Hospital system on Monday. The settlement requires the healthcare network to reform its emergency mental health care program.

The legal agreement signed on Friday forces the NYP Hospital system to overhaul its screening and security protocols to prevent patients from wandering out of emergency rooms unsupervised, alongside paying $500,000 for legal fees and court costs. But while they agreed to the settlement, legally, the hospital network neither admitted nor denied the findings from the AG’s office.

A spokesperson defended their practices in a statement Monday morning: “Providing safe, high-quality care for patients with complex behavioral and medical health needs, is a priority,” NYP said. “Since 2022 we have continued to strengthen policies and workflows, expand mental health capacity with inpatient beds and outpatient services, and improve safety—improvements that the Attorney General’s findings acknowledge. We are proud to have one of the largest behavioral health footprints of any multi-campus hospital in ���������� and remain committed to continuous improvement for our patients and the communities we serve.”

But according to James, state investigators discovered that the hospital system treated psychiatric patients improperly, and that they broke the law to keep available mental health beds closed post-COVID.

“Too many ����������ers experiencing mental health crises have been met with inadequate care when they need help most,” the attorney general said in a statement announcing the settlement. “Mental health care is necessary medical care, and hospitals have a legal and moral obligation to treat these crises with urgency and compassion.”

Investigators at the AG’s office reported that care in ERs repeatedly broke down at NYP, including consistent failures to properly screen or stabilize patients with behavioral health issues. They said they found that hospital staff didn’t properly supervise patients or review any external records from emergency medical workers when determining care.

According to the AG’s office, in one case, a suicidal teenager left the hospital within minutes of his evaluation because staff didn’t follow safety precautions. Another patient ran from the emergency department after attacking a bystander, but hospital staff waited until the next day to notify police. Another patient—a schizophrenic septuagenarian—left without supervision, sleeping in the lobbies of area buildings during a rainstorm.

The investigation also apparently revealed that NYP failed to bring its licensed inpatient psychiatric beds back online after the pandemic. As of May 2023, they were keeping over 100 beds out of service across its system. Investigators said that contributed to a shortage of inpatient care as emergency rooms overflowed with patients experiencing a mental health crisis.

But ultimately, NYP did submit a state-approved plan in late 2023 to restore offline units, expand outpatient programs, and bring its enterprise-wide psychiatric bed capacity to 499.

In the interest of safety, the settlement mandates new observation protocols and monitoring requirements. NYP administrators also have to upgrade their electronic records system so medical providers have up-to-date, accurate information.

The state will also impose a $10,000 penalty for any future violations of the terms of the settlement.

Take a look at the terms of the settlement here: