Relates to the hospitalization, care coordination, and assisted outpatient treatment for persons with mental illness by qualified clinical examiners or…

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Erik Bottcher says this is needed

The H.E.L.P. Act aims to address New York City's mental health crisis by expanding the pool of mental health professionals authorized to perform clinical evaluations and direct treatment for individuals who may pose a threat of serious harm to themselves or others. This legislation would allow not only physicians to perform a clinical evaluation of a person's need for involuntary hospitalization, but also psychiatric nurse practi- tioners, psychologists, and clinical social workers. The current restrictions prevent the system from making use of other mental health professionals who are equally qualified to perform these evaluations, exacerbating a systemic staffing shortage, and diverting physicians' time from patient care. The bill does not expand the powers of police or adjust the standards required for commitment in any way. CPEPs (Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Programs) are already heavily reliant on Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (PNPs) to fill the gap left by the psychiatrist shortage and are highly trained clinicians fully capable of performing most basic functions of a CPEP, including whether patients meet admission criteria. With the relatively small number of psychiatrists on duty in CPEPs, the result is often a backlog of patients waiting to be assessed, and making it harder for patients to get careful assessments. Allowing CPEPs to operate more efficiently will lead to higher quality, more careful assessments that take account of the person's treatment history, behavior that led to the removal, and other factors. The psychiatrist shortage is an underappreciated major contributing factor to New York's inpatient psychiatric bed shortage. Hospitals can only open as many beds as they have the personnel to staff. Empowering fully qualified clinicians in significantly greater supply to perform these functions will allow hospitals to open more inpatient psychiatric beds and relieve pressure on the system to reserve the beds they have for those thought to be at highest risk. The H.E.L.P. Act also requires that hospital administrators notify community mental health providers who have treated a patient previously when they are admitted to a hospital. This will help ensure better continuity of care and coordination between different layers of the healthcare system. Additionally, community healthcare providers, along with mental health government officials, must be notified upon discharge of a patient who was involuntarily committed.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.