Local Planning
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Local Planning Overview
Section 5.07 of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law requires state and local government to develop comprehensive plans for the provision of state and local mental hygiene services. In New York City, the Division of Mental Hygiene (DMH) is responsible for developing these annual plans and submitting them to the respective State office for each of the three mental hygiene disability areas: Office of Mental Health, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, and Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. The Bureau of Planning, Evaluation and Quality Improvement (BPEQI) is the office charged with completing these local plans for DMH. In addition, BPEQI also issues planning documents other than those specified by the Mental Hygiene Law, such as needs assessment findings and service resource documents.
Over the past few years, DMH has been working to strengthen local planning. Planning efforts are organized around three pivotal questions: i) Who is being served; ii) What services are they receiving; and iii) To what effect. To answer these questions, we are moving toward a new planning framework that is data-driven, epidemiologically informed, population-based, and driven by measurable quality indicators. This planning framework features four key elements:
- Prevalence data to estimate
the number of New Yorkers who have mental hygiene disorders.
- Capacity data to determine
the existing resources available to meet service need. These data can be
deconstructed into service type, geographical distribution, cultural
competence and other factors.
- Utilization data to
determine who is actually being served, their characteristics and, equally
important, by deduction, an approximation of people in need of services who
have not accessed the service delivery system.
- Quality data to determine the appropriateness of care, consumer perceptions of care, and outcomes relevant for people with mental hygiene disorders.
This population-based approach to planning expands the planning focus of previous years beyond the existing service system and those utilizing it to include those possibly in need who are not presenting for services. DMH is committed to using our local planning process to better describe unmet need, and to develop recommendations for resource allocation, capacity expansion, and programmatic priorities. Local government plans are also being used to chart local efforts to improve the lives of individuals who have mental hygiene disorders and disabilities, as well as to advocate for resources and policy changes at the State level.
DMH is committed to ensuring that NYC stakeholders have input into this planning process. Each year BPEQI planning staff work with NYC stakeholders (consumers, providers, families and advocates) to identify unmet needs and/or obstacles, aspects of the service delivery system that are working well and should be expanded, and changes that would improve the system. This is done via meetings with trade groups and targeted stakeholders, and/or public hearings. In addition, DMH has two advisory groups that participate in the planning process: the Federation for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services; and the Community Services Board, which has a subcommittee for each disability area.
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Local Government Plans
Fiscal Year 2009
Fiscal Year 2008
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Other Publications
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Contact Information
For more information on local planning, contact Nora Puffett at 212-219-5002 or npuffett@health.nyc.gov.
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