Panel Releases Recommendations To Reform New York’s Adult Home System for People with Mental Illnesses

A panel formed by New York Gov. George Pataki's (R) administration on Nov. 26 released a report recommending that the state spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" on new services and housing to reform the state's "decades-old" system of adult homes for people with mental illnesses, the New York Times reports. The panel -- created in May by state Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello after a Times investigation revealed "poor conditions and malfeasance" at some of the state's largest adult homes -- recommended a plan to create approximately 6,000 units of new housing for mentally ill people currently residing in group homes. The state has already begun implementing some of the panel's recommendations, including analyzing the needs and conditions of group home residents, sending nurses to guarantee that residents are receiving the proper medications and providing advocacy and legal support for adult home residents. State health officials "embraced" the report but did not address how the state plans to pay for implementing its recommendations, which are expected to cost "hundreds of millions of dollars," the Times reports. "We've indicated our willingness to proceed with these initiatives. But until we go further along in this process, it is impossible to come up with a realistic price tag," state Department of Health spokesperson John Signor said. Several members of the panel yesterday said that state officials had told them that additional financial details will be included in the governor's State of the State message in January and his executive budget (Worth, New York Times, 11/27).

Reaction
The panel's reform plan received a "mixed reaction" from advocates and lawmakers, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports. State Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (D) said, "These are good proposals. But if the governor does not fund them in his budget next year, they are just empty promises." However, some advocates said the panel's report "wasn't enough," according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin. "It's amazing. The residential component of our mental-health system is a car wreck, and the plan now is for government to slow down and look as it drives by," Joseph Glazer of the Mental Health Association said (Rosenberg, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 11/27).