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The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by the first President Bush in 1990. The bill, championed by Senator Bob Dole, who himself suffers from a physical disability, was enacted with the intention of eliminating discrimination against the disabled, whether it be a physical or...
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The Economics of Recovery: Threading the Needle
The Government Guy was summing up his four hour PowerPoint presentation on how easy it was for people with disabilities to get a job; “You just need to take advantage of the many work incentives like Ticket-to-Work, PASS Plan, Medicaid Buy-In, IRWEs, Subsidies, Tax Credits, etc., don’t worry...
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Social Security: Dispelling the Myths
Very often in the human services field we encounter people who want to help but just are not equipped. Their desire to make a difference in another’s life or situation prompts them to pass on bits of information that they themselves have learned, experienced or heard. As often happens in the...
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From the Publisher – The Economy’s Impact on People and Community Services
As we all watched on TV and felt firsthand when we pay our monthly bills, we have been in the midst of an economic meltdown not seen since the Depression of the 1930’s. The Stock Market tanked, the housing market crashed, foreclosures reached all-time highs, and many people lost their homes and...
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Our Economy’s Effect on New York State’s Mental Health Budget
One can hardly turn on a television or listen to the radio without coming across some discussion of our present economic times. Terms like financial tsunami and economic disaster are cavalierly bandied about as ways of describing where our economy presently stands. With unemployment rates reaching...
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NYS OMH Engaged in Mental Health Services Restructuring
New York State is engaged in a multi-year initiative to restructure the way the State delivers and reimburses publicly supported mental health services. Over the past 50 years, New York’s public mental health system evolved from one dominated by large State psychiatric hospitals serving tens of...
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The NYSPA Report – Outpatient Mental Health Clinic Reimbursement Reform
The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) has embarked upon a far-ranging project to reform outpatient mental health clinic programs and the Medicaid reimbursement methodology which supports them. A particular target of this reform process is the elimination of the COPs add-on. COPs (short...
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The Economics of Recovery: Demystifying Government Work Incentives
Joanne is diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She receives $761/Mo. in Social Security Disability Income (SSI), $200/Mo. in Food Stamps, she has her own one-bedroom apartment thru Supported Housing (Section 8), Medicaid and a half-fare bus pass. She applied for a part-time cashiers’ position at...
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The NYSPA Report: New Federal Parity Law May Expand Coverage for Mental Illness in New York
This edition of the NYSPA Report discusses the impact that new federal parity legislation may have on the coverage of mental health and substance abuse services in New York State. The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, signed into law on October 3, 2008,...
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An Overview of Timothy’s Law: Its Past, Present, and Future
Like many structural shifts in public policy, it often takes a horrific tragedy to move us to do the right thing. Case in point-Timothy’s Law. Named after Timothy O’Clair, a 12-year old boy who committed suicide shortly before his thirteenth birthday, the law demands that insurance companies...
