Across the state, New York communities are struggling to access mental health care, which has only become more difficult amidst the COVID pandemic. Since the pandemic began, hundreds of inpatient psychiatric beds have been eliminated, converted to COVID-related or general medical use, or have been completely taken out of commission.
This year, it is estimated that there are fewer than 5, adult short-term inpatient psychiatric beds in hospitals across the state, which is As New York is dealing with a crisis in mental health care, New York Attorney General Letitia James has held in-person public hearings to examine the accessibility of mental health care for New Yorkers with serious mental illness across the state.
Three million New Yorkers live with mental illness. One-third do not get the treatment they need. A major reason is that they cannot find a mental health provider who accepts their insurance. Out of almost calls, we found that only 14 percent offered an appointment for in-network care. This means that 86 percent of the listed, in-network mental health providers were ghosts: unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients:.
These results show that mental health care is inaccessible to many New Yorkers and that health plans do not comply with laws that require them to:. To make urgently needed mental health care available to patients:.
Attorney General Letitia James held an in-person hearing with affected individuals and family members, advocacy groups, health care providers, elected officials, and government agencies about the challenges accessing mental health care in New York. Attorney General Letitia James held an in person hearing with affected individuals and family members, advocacy groups, health care providers, elected officials, and government agencies about the challenges accessing mental health care in New York.
