The Alliance for Rights and Recovery, in partnership with national mental health and substance use advocates, is proud to co-host an upcoming Congressional Briefing: “Strengthening Mental Health and Substance Use Services Nationwide”

When: Friday, May 15, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 AM

Where: Rayburn Building, Washington, DC

This important briefing, sponsored by the Congressional Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, will bring together leaders and advocates from across the country to highlight the current state of mental health and substance use services and the urgent need to strengthen community-based supports.

Together, we will provide Members of Congress and their staff with a real-world perspective on:

• What is currently working in mental health and substance use services
• Where critical gaps remain
• The federal actions needed to strengthen prevention, treatment, recovery, and long-term stability

The panel will feature voices representing mental health recovery, substance use services, youth, and families, offering a comprehensive view of how federal policy can better support individuals, families, and communities.

This is a critical opportunity to elevate the importance of community-based, recovery-oriented services and ensure federal policy reflects the needs of the people and communities we serve.

Please also see the attached flyers for additional details, and feel free to share this opportunity with your networks.

We hope you can join us for this important conversation!

Register here��to attend:��

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CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Alliance Annual Conference

Our Alliance for Rights and Recovery is extremely pleased to invite proposals for our 44th Annual Conference, “Our Movement, Our Moment”, to be held September 23-25 at our new location at the Albany Marriot. We’ve created a newer, more accessible and modern environment because our movement is evolving—and the spaces where we gather must evolve with it.

At the same time, we will bring the same unmatched sense of power, purpose, discovery, healing, spirit, solidarity, and celebration that has made our widely acclaimed conference a beloved annual tradition across our state and nation for more than four decades.

Your presentation will uplift and inform recovery and rights proponents, community providers, peer supporters, policymakers and pioneers to resolutely promote personal rights and recovery and foster the highest quality community services and supports!

Topic Categories:

• Foundations of Peer Support
• Mental Health, Substance Use & Whole Health
• Systems Navigation & Integration
• Equity, Inclusion & Cultural Responsiveness
• Person-Centered Services and Supports
• Workforce Development & Leadership
• Advocacy, Policy & Systems Change
• Innovation & Emerging Practices
• Sustainability & Organizational Health
• Personal Growth, Recovery & Lived Experience
• Practice-Based Skill Building

Submit Proposals Using this Link:

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With 97 percent of participants remaining housed, nearly 90 percent avoiding hospitalization, and no arrests or incarcerations among those served, the STEPS program is demonstrating what is possible when we invest in thoughtful, community-based approaches that support individuals beyond periods of intensive support.

Programs like STEPS fill a critical and often overlooked gap in our system. Too often, individuals move from high-intensity services without the structured support needed to maintain stability. By focusing on safe transitions to lower levels of services while maintaining housing and clinical connections, STEPS is helping people move toward long-term recovery, independence, and full community inclusion.

This kind of work is essential. Recovery does not end when someone leaves intensive services. It requires ongoing support, continuity, and access to stable housing and community-based resources. Without these, individuals are at greater risk of cycling back into crisis, hospitalization, or involvement with other systems.

We strongly support efforts to expand programs like STEPS and ensure sustained investment in models that help people successfully transition through the continuum of services. Strengthening these pathways not only improves individual outcomes, but also helps build a more effective, efficient, and humane mental health system for all ����������ers.

ICL’s leadership in this space is a powerful example of what can be achieved when we invest in recovery-oriented, community-based solutions.

We also encourage organizations and others who are developing and implementing innovative programs to share their work with the broader community. The Alliance’s Annual Conference this September is an important opportunity to highlight effective models like STEPS. We invite providers, advocates, and partners to submit workshop proposals and help educate our community on the programs and practices that are making a difference across ����������.

Submit your Alliance Annual Conference proposal here:

STEPS Program Shows Promise in First Two Years
By Katelyn Cordero and Maya Kaufman | Politico | April 20, 2026

A pilot program designed to help ����������ers with serious mental illness transition out of intensive mental health programs shows promise in early results, according to the Institute for Community Living.

A report detailing the STEPS&�Բ�����;����Dz�������’s  shows that 97 percent of the individuals who went through the program remain housed. Roughly 89 percent avoided hospitalization, and none of the program participants were arrested or incarcerated while in the program.

The program works with individuals to transition from high-intensity care to lower levels of care, while ensuring that they have housing and the clinical oversight necessary to succeed.

“STEPS began as a pilot to close a critical gap in our mental health system. Our independent evaluation confirms that it is working,” Jody Rudin, president of the Institute for Community Living, said in a statement. “This is helping us address the mental health crisis that has played out on our streets.

Rudin noted that she would like to see the city expand the program in light of its early success. The ICL is calling on the city council to release $4.5 million in this year’s budget that was allocated to the program. They are also calling on the city to expand the program’s reach to more ����������ers who rely on the city’s intensive mental health services.

The group is looking to fill a gap in services for individuals who have stabilized during intensive treatment and need a steady off-ramp out of the system. According to the ICL, roughly 1300 people are on waitlists for behavioral health treatment

“As ���������� City continues to confront a visible mental health crisis, STEPS offers a proven, scalable solution that expands capacity, reduces costs, and protects some of the city’s residents with most acute needs,” Rudin said.

The post Supporting Transitions to Recovery and Community Inclusion! appeared first on The Alliance for Rights and Recovery.

The ���������� State Office of Mental Health recognizes April as Arab American Heritage Month. This is a time to celebrate the rich histories, cultures, and contributions of Arab Americans across ���������� State and the nation. We celebrate the diversity within Arab American communities and acknowledge the important role these communities play in shaping a more inclusive and vibrant society.

We recognize that Arab American individuals and families may experience unique barriers to care, including stigma, language access needs, and the impact of discrimination. Addressing these barriers is essential to promoting wellness and equitable outcomes. By fostering understanding, respect, and inclusion, we strengthen our collective ability to support mental health and wellbeing for all.

Resources

• works to support and empower the Arab Immigrant and Arab American community by helping them adjust to their new home and become active members of society.
• (Google Drive).
• Visit the OMH webpage for .

Office of Diversity and Inclusion
44 Holland Avenue, Albany NY 12229 | omh.ny.gov
518-473-4548 | OfficeDiversityInclusion@omh.ny.gov

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We particularly want to recognize the leadership of ���������� Lawyers for the Public Interest in advancing this work and helping to elevate rights-respecting approaches that center the voices and experiences of people most impacted by our current systems.

These models, many of which are led by peers, EMTs, and behavioral health professionals, show that crisis response can be rooted in support rather than force, and engagement rather than coercion. They reflect what people with lived experience and advocates have long called for: a system that prioritizes safety, trust, and human rights.

The success of these programs provides a clear path forward for localities, states, and the nation. We must heed these lessons and move away from systems that default to law enforcement, which too often escalate crises and lead to harm, particularly for Black communities and other communities of color.

Here in ����������, we have an opportunity to lead.

We must continue to expand crisis response pilot programs and ensure sustained investment in the Behavioral Health Crisis Technical Assistance Center to support communities in building effective, evidence-based alternatives. At the same time, we must pass Daniel’s Law and fully realize its vision of a statewide crisis response system that deploys trained teams of peers and emergency medical professionals as the primary responders.

To make this a reality, the Alliance continues to call for the inclusion of $15 million in this year’s final state budget to support Daniel’s Law initiatives and strengthen the crisis response infrastructure across ����������.

Transforming crisis response is not just a policy choice. It is a moral imperative. The models exist, the evidence is clear, and communities are ready. Now we must ensure the investment and political will follow.

See the full report and see below for more information.

US: Rights-Respecting Approaches to Mental Health Crisis
By Human Rights Watch | March 30, 2026

(����������) – Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response , , and the  said in a report released today. These approaches are desperately needed as US , many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment. 

The 66-page report, “,” identifies key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises and explores how alternative mental health crisis response programs have carried out these approaches in practice. Many of these models share core elements, including promoting individual autonomy, providing voluntary support rather than mandating compliance, and avoiding unnecessary law enforcement involvement. 

“Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal, given their orientation toward force and compliance,” said , US program director at Human Rights Watch. “Fortunately, there are alternate approaches that emphasize personal autonomy and consent to treatment.”

Researchers studied over 150 crisis response programs from across the United States and feature eight that have committed to implement key aspects of supportive, rights-based mental health crisis response without police as primary or default responders. The researchers interviewed program administrators and, where possible, community members and advocates for unaffiliated perspectives on the programs. Researchers used international human rights law and standards as a tool for identifying key elements of rights-respecting programs. 

In many cases, police presence escalates mental health crises and results in coercion and violence. People with mental health conditions are particularly at risk to police violence and are much more likely to be killed during police encounters than people without a disability. This risk is especially true for Black people and other people of color with mental health conditions. Police often tend to approach people in crisis with commands and calls for compliance in situations when a more nuanced and supportive interaction that peers—those with lived mental health experience—and mental health workers can provide is needed. 

The eight programs featured in the report are based in communities around the United States. Some are connected to local government, while others operate independently. Their response teams differ in composition, though most include peers, social workers, emergency medical technicians or paramedics, and crisis intervention specialists. They typically respond on-site to the person experiencing a crisis, and provide a variety of services, including assessments, de-escalation, safety planning, crisis counseling, education, transportation, referrals to community resources, and follow-ups. 

The programs were developed with the recognition that police-centered mental health crisis responses have often led to violence and harm to the person in need of support. Black people and other people of color have been especially exposed to that violence and harm, due in part to existing structural racism in policing, mental health care, and more generally throughout society. 

Programs that emphasize non-coercive models and non-police responses seek to avoid that violence and provide more effective support for people experiencing crises by mobilizing and training peers and other professionals, steeped in the culture and communities they serve.

The metrics by which the programs were evaluated include eliminating police as primary or default responders, avoiding involuntary treatment, implementing a consent-centered approach to treatment, promoting participation of peers, providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive training, and maintaining a deep connection to the communities they serve. Researchers evaluated the programs’ commitment to providing accessible services, response times comparable with other emergency services, follow-up care, and minimization of power imbalances between service providers and those they support. 

“These programs serve as examples for how we can truly serve individuals and communities to make their own decisions through support and care,” said , senior staff attorney of the Disability Justice Program at ���������� Lawyers for the Public Interest.

While no one program purports to embrace or implement all these rights-respecting criteria, each program is oriented around at least some of them. Researchers did not evaluate outcomes and did not endorse any program’s particular model or approach to crisis response.

“As federal, state, and local governments move toward more coercive approaches to mental health crisis response, like involuntary commitments, hospitalizations, and forced medication, it is important to understand that programs honoring human rights do exist,” said , community engagement and communications manager at the Center for Racial and Disability Justice.

The post Advancing Rights-Respecting Crisis Response in ���������� and Nationwide! appeared first on The Alliance for Rights and Recovery.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Alliance Annual Conference

Our Alliance for Rights and Recovery is extremely pleased to invite proposals for our 44th Annual Conference, “Our Movement, Our Moment”, to be held September 23-25 at our new location at the Albany Marriot. We’ve created a newer, more accessible and modern environment because our movement is evolving—and the spaces where we gather must evolve with it.

At the same time, we will bring the same unmatched sense of power, purpose, discovery, healing, spirit, solidarity, and celebration that has made our widely acclaimed conference a beloved annual tradition across our state and nation for more than four decades.

Your presentation will uplift and inform recovery and rights proponents, community providers, peer supporters, policymakers and pioneers to resolutely promote personal rights and recovery and foster the highest quality community services and supports!

Topic Categories:

• Foundations of Peer Support
• Mental Health, Substance Use & Whole Health
• Systems Navigation & Integration
• Equity, Inclusion & Cultural Responsiveness
• Person-Centered Services and Supports
• Workforce Development & Leadership
• Advocacy, Policy & Systems Change
• Innovation & Emerging Practices
• Sustainability & Organizational Health
• Personal Growth, Recovery & Lived Experience
• Practice-Based Skill Building

Submit Proposals Using this Link:

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The scale of this potential coverage loss cannot be overstated. Health coverage is the gateway to mental health support, substance use services, primary care, and the full range of supports people need to stay healthy and stable in their communities. Losing coverage means delayed services, worsening conditions, and increased reliance on crisis systems that are more costly and less effective.

We strongly support efforts outlined in S.9589/A.10926 to maintain Essential Plan coverage for over 444,000 ����������ers and preserve access to the NY State of Health Marketplace for thousands more. These actions are critical to mitigating the harmful impacts of recent federal changes and ensuring continuity of services for those who rely on these programs.

This is a pivotal moment in the state budget process. We must do everything possible to ensure that as many eligible individuals as possible remain covered. That means:

• Urging state leaders to include these protections in the final budget
• Expanding legislative support and advocacy for this proposal
• Mobilizing advocates, providers, and community members to take action now

We encourage all Alliance members and partners to use the call-in tool, connect with your legislators, and amplify this message within your networks. Sharing local data on coverage losses by county can be especially powerful in demonstrating the real impact these changes will have on communities across ����������.

Protecting coverage is not just about insurance. It is about protecting access to services, supporting recovery, and preventing crises.

Now is the time to act. See below for more information, including who to call! 

ACT Today:

Almost half a million ����������ers are set to lose coverage when the state transitions the Essential Plan back to the Basic Health Program.  We need to keep up the push for a solution in this year’s budget!

Below is a message from Elisabeth Benjamin of the Community Service Society with the call-in tool to make your calls to the Governor and Legislative leaders, as well as a link to a two-page memo to use as talking points.  You’ll find anticipated coverage losses by county, which you should share with your own individual legislators.

Thank you for continuing to take action!

Good morning,

Can you help us mitigate the worst impacts of HR1?

Budget conversations are progressing.  Please reach out to the Governor and Legislature to protect coverage for nearly half a million ����������ers.  A half million ����������ers losing coverage would be so grateful if you could help get calls into the legislature to support the HR1 mitigation efforts in the State budget, outlined in |.  This bill would maintain Essential Plan coverage for 444,000 citizens and lawful immigrants set to lose coverage on 7/1/26 and preserve access to the NYSOH Marketplace for 15,000 lawfully present immigrants set to lose coverage on 1/1/27. 

·&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;  TODAY: Call upon Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Governor Hochul and demand they protect access to the health coverage in the final budget. 

·&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����; Leverage your contacts in the legislature: Please see the . We are asking to: 

(1) Urge more legislators to speak up in conference about this bill; many who have already signed on are not doing this critically important step. 

(2) Encourage more legislators to support this proposal by becoming co-sponsors. Use this  that has talking points and data on coverage loss data by county. 

Thank you!!

Elisabeth

Elisabeth R. Benjamin, MSPH, JD
Vice President & Managing Director
The Community Service Society of ����������
633 Third Avenue, 10^th��Floor
����������, NY 10011
(212) 614-5461

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At a time when the current federal administration is signaling a shift away from Housing First in favor of more coercive and restrictive housing models, we must be clear. Housing First must be protected and expanded. Approaches that require treatment or abstinence before providing housing create unnecessary barriers, delay stability, and ultimately worsen outcomes. Housing is the platform from which recovery can begin, not something to be earned after the fact.

This makes our upcoming Executive Seminar especially timely and important.

We are excited to announce the addition of Patrick Wildes, former Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services and Mental Hygiene at the ���������� State Governor’s Office and current Director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, to our federal policy panel. His expertise will be invaluable as we examine the rapidly evolving federal policy landscape.

During the seminar, we will provide a comprehensive overview of recent federal policy changes, including those impacting housing, Medicaid, and behavioral health services. We will also explore what these changes mean for ���������� and, critically, what can be done in response.

The discussion will focus on:

• What government can do to protect and strengthen proven models like Housing First and many others
• How providers can adapt and continue delivering effective, person-centered services
• What advocates can do to push back against harmful policies and advance solutions that promote recovery, dignity, and stability

As federal priorities shift, it is essential that we come together to ensure that people with mental health conditions, substance use challenges, and other disabilities are not left behind. We must continue to fight for policies that are grounded in evidence, equity, and human dignity.

We encourage all members and partners to join us for this critical conversation.

Register Today:

Opportunity Starts at Home Campaign Releases New Fact Sheet on Recovery, Mental Health, and Housing
By Julie Walker | National Low Income Housing Coalition | April 13, 2026

�ճ��  (OSAH) campaign released a new  describing the essential connection between access to affordable housing and recovery for individuals with substance use disorders and/or mental health conditions. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) designates a stable home as one of the four essential dimensions of recovery. Housing insecurity, on the other hand, is associated with declining mental health, increased risk of incarceration, and a significantly higher risk of opioid overdose. More affordable housing and investments in supportive housing models that place people in housing without requiring abstinence or treatment are necessary to promote long-term recovery from substance use disorders.  

Access to a safe and stable environment is essential in recovery, but systemic barriers frequently prevent people from securing the housing they need to heal. Many individuals with SUDs or mental health conditions are disproportionately represented in the criminal legal system, often due to a lack of treatment access. Housing providers frequently use criminal history as a reason for denial, a practice that serves as a barrier to housing access and potentially violates fair housing laws.  

The most effective housing solution for individuals with substance use disorders involves prioritizing immediate placement in housing without requiring abstinence or treatment as a prerequisite. Evidence from a systematic review of 26 studies reveals that programs that house people without requiring treatment saw an 88% reduction in homelessness and 41% improvement in housing stability. Participants in supportive housing were also found to be 3.4 times less likely to use drugs or alcohol during their first year compared to those in programs that require treatment first. 

By strengthening existing affordable housing solutions and investing in supportive housing models, policymakers and communities can promote recovery and build a more equitable system of care. Recovery and mental health advocates play a vital role in ensuring that people who are housing insecure or experiencing homelessness can access the stable environment they need and deserve.   

The fact sheet was developed with the help of campaign partners the , the , and . In total, the campaign has posted 18 multi-sector fact sheets on its website. Each fact sheet compiles landmark research to help policymakers, opinion leaders, and the public understand the deep connections between housing and other national priorities, from healthcare to education to economic growth. Housing advocates are encouraged to download the fact sheets and use them in making the case for cross-sector collaboration with potential allies in other sectors. Expanding the movement for housing justice requires ensuring that sector partners understand how housing directly impacts their own missions and goals.  

Read the fact sheet .

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At the Alliance for Rights and Recovery, we believe our top priority must be clear: ensure that as many eligible people as possible remain covered by Medicaid. Coverage is the foundation for accessing mental health and substance use services, as well as the broader supports people need to live, work, and recover in their communities.

To do that, we must take a broad and proactive approach to exemptions. Categories such as “medically frail” and individuals with substance use disorders must be defined and implemented in ways that capture as many eligible people as possible, not restrict access through narrow interpretations. The flexibility within these definitions must be used to protect coverage, not limit it.

For those who are not exempt, the state must go further in creating real pathways to meet new requirements. This includes expanding access to employment, education, and meaningful volunteer opportunities that can help individuals maintain their coverage while also supporting their recovery and long-term stability. These opportunities must be accessible, supportive, and aligned with people’s needs.

At the same time, we must recognize that increased eligibility checks and work verification requirements will inevitably create new administrative barriers. That is why it is critical to make the recertification and verification process as simple and streamlined as possible, minimizing paperwork, maximizing automatic verification where possible, and reducing the risk that individuals lose coverage simply because they cannot navigate complex systems.

Even with these efforts, we know that people are at risk of losing coverage due to administrative hurdles or fluctuating work situations. That makes it all the more urgent that we act now to protect access to support and prevent unnecessary disruptions in services.

These issues will be a key focus of our upcoming Executive Seminar, where we will break down recent federal policy changes, discuss what ���������� has reportedly been doing to respond, and outline what we can do together to protect the ����������ers we serve as these changes take effect.

We encourage all members and partners to join us for this timely and critical conversation.

Register Today:

Trump and ���������� Are in a Tug of War Over Medicaid Coverage
By Joseph Goldstein | ���������� Times | April 13, 2026

Health authorities in ���������� State are racing to devise strategies to blunt a new federal law that will restrict access to government health insurance programs, including Medicaid, that cover more than half of ���������� City’s residents.

To keep as many ����������ers as possible from being cut from the Medicaid rolls next year, state and city officials are looking for ways to prove that patients are afflicted with addictions or are medically frail, conditions that would exempt them from the new restrictions. And they are considering how to sign people up for volunteer work — such as helping other ����������ers navigate Medicaid’s new rules — which could satisfy the law’s work requirements.

“We’re getting very creative,” Dr. Alister Martin, the city’s new health commissioner, said in a recent interview.

When President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill passed last year, state health officials feared that perhaps 1.5 million people in ���������� might lose health coverage. Those predictions have grown somewhat less dire as officials have come up with possible methods for keeping people insured and exempting them from the new work requirements. Those requirements and other restrictions are expected to start next year.

Under the president’s bill, many adults on Medicaid will be required to work at least 80 hours a month to keep their insurance, unless they are in school, pregnant or raising children younger than 14, or if they qualify for another exemption. The rules are intended to push more people into the work force and reduce what Republicans have characterized as waste and fraud in government programs. The regulations were introduced  the Trump administration’s tax cuts.

States must now verify twice a year that many Medicaid recipients remain eligible, a requirement that is expected to result in many people losing coverage periodically, especially if their work hours vary or they move between jobs, or have difficulty navigating the paperwork requirements.

Since 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was passed, the number of uninsured Americans has dropped substantially. In ���������� State, the share of adults and children without health insurance dropped  . Now, that number is expected to rise again.

The question is by how much.

“This is truly a seismic shift in Medicaid policy, the largest in the history of the program,” Amir Bassiri, the state Medicaid director, said at a panel discussion hosted last month by the United Hospital Fund, a nonprofit.

Chris Pope, a health care analyst at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said that he expected many states — especially those with Democratic leaders who wanted to expand the social safety net — to try to blunt the law by searching for exemptions. State officials have a substantial incentive for doing so: The federal government pays 90 percent of the health coverage costs for some Medicaid recipients, with the states paying the remainder.

“My assessment of the work requirements is there is the greatest possible incentive for states to find every possible loophole,” Mr. Pope said. “A blue state like ����������, I think they’re going to be looking to implement it in the loosest possible way.”

Dr. Martin said that the effort to keep ����������ers on Medicaid — which has not previously been reported — felt particularly urgent to him, like one of those sci-fi movies in which scientists had to save everyone on Earth from an approaching asteroid.

Still, some health care analysts expressed concern that not enough was being done, given that key provisions of the domestic policy bill were going into effect over the next year.

“I’m not seeing the kind of public planning process to reassure me they are ready or that they’re going to be ready,” said Bill Hammond, a health care policy analyst at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a think tank in Albany, N.Y.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement that states would be “required to implement these provisions in accordance with the law, and C.M.S. will issue guidance to ensure exemptions are applied appropriately and that eligible beneficiaries are protected.”

To reduce the number of people stymied by paperwork and red tape, ���������� State has been working to automatically certify residents who are already fulfilling the requirements, by accessing information not only from state databases but from payroll providers.

Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society, a nonprofit that supports anti-poverty policies, said that officials were confronting considerable challenges in their effort to prepare for the Medicaid changes.

“They’re doing the best they can to figure out what they can automate, but people are still going to lose coverage — a lot of people,” Ms. Benjamin said. “Many of those people are already working, but proving it will be hard.”

She predicted that agricultural laborers upstate and employees in industries with high turnover, intermittent hours or off-the-books payments — such as kitchen and construction workers — could be especially prone to losing their health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office had estimated  because they cannot meet the work requirements, while others will lose their insurance because of administrative hurdles or difficulty .

In ����������, health officials said that if people lost Medicaid coverage, they would forgo health care, .

 of ����������ers on Medicaid will probably qualify for exemptions from the new work requirements, which will go into effect next January, according to a presentation that the State Department of Heath shared at the panel discussion.

People with a substance use disorder, for instance, are exempt from the work requirements under the new law. So health officials have been thinking about how to get people’s addictions properly certified and documented.

It’s possible that even addictions diagnosed or treated long ago might qualify, even if they “may seem too old,” Mr. Bassiri, the state Medicaid official, said recently. He said that his department was waiting for further guidance from the federal government. “We’re waiting to get a sense of the fine print on the regulations as to how far back things can apply,” he said.

The new federal law also exempts Medicaid recipients who are deemed “medically frail” — a vague description that physicians can interpret widely, said Dr. Martin, the ���������� City health commissioner.

“The medical frailty exemption is kind of squishy,” he said, explaining that the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was considering how to create a standardized and easy process for physicians to certify patients under this exemption.

“We’re looking at what are the tools and levers we can create to make it easy for physicians to really quickly write almost a form letter by clicking a button,” Dr. Martin said.

Dr. Martin’s résumé appears to make him well suited to tackle the problem. An emergency room physician, he once ran voter registration drives for patients while they waited for care. The registration form, once filled out, served as a proof of address, allowing patients to access a range of social services.

Keeping as many ����������ers insured as possible could prove to be the main challenge of Dr. Martin’s tenure.

“This is why I’m here,” he said in a recent interview, after meeting with colleagues at a city health department clinic in Downtown Brooklyn.

For those who did not otherwise qualify for exemptions from the work requirements, Dr. Martin said he planned to partner with city officials to offer options for community service — which can satisfy the requirements, even if unpaid.

Dr. Martin has also begun thinking about how to mobilize underemployed ����������ers to volunteer with the health department or public hospital system, as a way to keep their health insurance.

“What if the volunteering that they were doing was helping other ����������ers stay covered on Medicaid?” he said.

Mr. Pope, the analyst at the Manhattan Institute, said he expected the provision that allowed “community service” or a “work program” in place of employment to emerge as “the biggest loophole.” He predicted that the federal government would struggle to police that.

The rule requiring 80 hours of work a month might prove flexible. That requirement, according to state health officials, is based on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, meaning someone would have to earn about $580 a month to qualify.

Health officials said that because the minimum hourly wage in ���������� State was more than twice that, the requirement could be satisfied with far fewer hours of work a month.

The officials also pointed out that an entire borough might be spared from the work requirement, because the law exempts residents in counties with unemployment rates of 8 percent or above. The unemployment rate in the Bronx was  late last year.

It remains unclear exactly how many ����������ers will lose federally subsidized health insurance under the new law. Officials have said that the state plans to cover some people who lose federally subsidized insurance. Still, public health experts expect the ranks of the uninsured to rise. “We’re not going to be able to exempt our way out of that,” Dr. Martin said.

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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.

Register Today:

����������-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:

The post Executive Seminar Preview: Strengthening Accountability and Expanding NY’s Crisis Continuum! appeared first on The Alliance for Rights and Recovery.