This bill establishes a state-funded program to provide peer support for healthcare workers' mental health. It creates a grant program through the Office of Mental Health, allowing eligible organizations (like hospitals or community groups) to apply for up to $250,000 each to develop peer-to-peer mental health support programs. The program requires training for peer volunteers in areas like stress and suicide prevention, while prohibiting the collection of personal health data from workers seeking support. The state appropriates $10 million to fund the program, which takes effect immediately. The bill directly affects healthcare workers by expanding access to confidential mental health support through their peers.
Enacts the "ensuring access to behavioral health act"; includes mental health services, substance use disorder treatment services and recovery support services to network adequacy requirements for insurance coverage.
S 1964 updates New York's process for determining a patient's incapacity to make healthcare decisions, primarily affecting patients who cannot make their own medical choices and the healthcare providers involved. It requires an initial written determination by a treating doctor, followed by a second independent assessment by a qualified specialist (like a psychiatrist for mental illness cases or a developmental disability specialist) specifically for decisions about life-sustaining treatment. Hospitals must establish written policies outlining the training and credentials needed for staff making these concurring determinations. The bill aims to standardize and strengthen the review process while ensuring determinations are made by appropriately qualified professionals.
This bill amends New York's education law to explicitly permit students to miss school for mental or behavioral health reasons, directly affecting students, parents, and school districts. It requires the state education commissioner to establish rules governing such absences, similar to existing rules for religious observances. Schools must follow these rules when approving absences related to a minor's mental or behavioral health, rather than relying on general absence policies. The change does not create new mental health services but formalizes a pathway for students to miss school without penalty for these health needs. The bill focuses on attendance policy, not treatment access or school funding.
S 5296, "Nicole's Law," requires hospitals in the state to implement specific protocols for patients admitted with self-inflicted, life-threatening injuries like suicide attempts or drug overdoses. Hospitals must review a patient's history of such injuries, contact family/caregivers for background, and extend inpatient stays based on prior incidents. Upon discharge, hospitals must provide families with 48-hour notice, hold care planning meetings, connect patients to community-based mental health services, and schedule follow-up checks. The law also mandates clinical trials to offer crisis resources and referrals if participants disclose past suicide attempts. This directly affects hospitals, patients with repeated self-harm, and community mental health providers.
Grants school districts the ability to implement telehealth school-based mental health clinics; establishes the student mental telehealth reimbursement fund; relates to funding the student mental telehealth reimbursement fund.
Requires clinical experience for certain mental health practitioners; allows such practitioners to make assessment-based treatment plans; makes related provisions.
This bill allows licensed telehealth providers to deliver health, dental, and mental health services to students within school settings. It requires providers to meet specific licensing standards, obtain parental consent, and use secure technology to protect student privacy. Schools will not bear costs for these services - funding comes from federal, state, or other existing sources - and telehealth must supplement, not replace, existing school health staff like nurses and counselors. The state must create regulations covering provider requirements, billing, technology standards, and compliance with privacy laws.
This bill establishes a state-funded grant program to create peer support networks for health care workers, directly affecting hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities that apply for funding. It appropriates $10 million to provide grants (capped at $250,000 per entity) to eligible organizations to develop peer-to-peer mental health programs focused on issues like PTSD and suicide prevention. The program requires standardized training for peer volunteers and administrative staffing, while prohibiting the collection of personal health data from workers seeking support. The law mandates that grant recipients follow state-established standards for program implementation and ensures privacy protections for participants.
Requires private insurance plans which provide for reimbursement for psychiatric or psychological services or for diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions to include reimbursement for services provided by child advocacy centers.
