BILL NUMBER: S3979
SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to establishing peer
crisis diversion homes
 
PURPOSE:
To create peer crisis diversion homes which would provide short term
peer support to individuals in psychiatric crisis who can be served
outside of a hospital with the goal of helping them stabilize and re-en-
ter into independent living.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section
31.34.
Section 2: This act shall take effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Our nation's psychiatric emergency system is in crisis Community mental
health resources across the nation have become progressively more scarce
In the Past several decades and people with psychiatric disabilities
have increasingly turned towards emergency rooms (ERs) at a great cost
to society both fiscally and socially. Emergency rooms are stretched to
the breaking point. There is limited physical space and limited staff
and this has resulted in a dramatic increase in wait time in the ERs. A
2008 study in Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of The Health Sphere
showed a 4.1% increase per year in ER wait time between 1997 and 2004,
with ethnic minorities, women and patients in urban ERs waiting longer
than other patients. The tragic death of Ms. Esmin Green in 2008 at the
Kings County Emergency Room in Brooklyn New York is an example of the
consequences of such overcrowding. Hospital officials then reorganized
parts of the emergency department to speed up patient flow, to incorpo-
rate ExpressCare clinic to provide faster urgent care.
To support the community integration of people with psychiatric disabil-
ities and solve the problems defined above, experts have consistently
called for innovative cost effective community based alternatives to the
crisis in our psychiatric emergency response system. Through the use of
peer crisis diversion homes, New York State can become a national leader
in the delivery of innovative crisis services for people with psychiat-
ric emergencies. These peer-operated homes will be designed to assist
people with psychiatric disabilities in diverting from psychiatric
distress which would otherwise have lead to a hospitalization. Equipped
with a variety of traditional self-help and proactive tools to maintain
wellness, clinical staff and trained peer companions will assist resi-
dents in learning self-help tools with the underlying goal of avoiding
future emergency room and inpatient hospitalizations. For several years
a not-for profit has run a hospital division program called Rose House
for residents of Orange and Ulster Counties which is similar to the peer
crisis diversion homes envisioned in this bill. This bill expands upon
the Rose House model thus filling a gap in the mental health system and
helping individuals break the cycle of often chronic unnecessary, inef-
fective and expensive hospitalizations.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: S5274 -Referred to Mental Health
2021-22: S.4657 - Referred to Mental Health
2019-20: S.4381 - Passed Senate
2017-18: S.3256 - REFERRED TO MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILI-
TIES
2015-16: S.1894 - Referred to Mental Health and Developmental Disabili-
ties
2013-14: S.890 - Died in Mental Health
2011-12: S.3017 - Died in Mental Health
2009-10:S.5012 - Referred to Finance
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal with savings as expensive ER visits are averted.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.