Skip to main content

Mental Health Update

October 16, 2024
Mental Health Update

Op Ed in Times Union from Robert Kent, former OASAS Counsel, advocating for OASAS Providers to be part of State Retirement System


Listed below is an Op Ed from Robert Kent, Former Counsel at OASAS and Former Counsel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.  Among his significant recommendations include adding OASAS Providers as part of State Retirement System.

 

This is consistent with MHANYS call for a Behavioral Health and Other Not For Profit inclusion in the State Retirement System. Not for Profits do incredibly challenging work with individuals that have  complex needs.  We are funded by State Government yet we do not have access to the State Retirement system. We believe it is a matter of fairness and equity to the almost 800,000 not for profit workers. They deserve to be part of the State Retirement System.

 

Opinion

Commentary: New York cannot waver in its fight against drug overdose deaths

Even if the number is trending downward, we are still losing more than 100,000 people annually.

By Robert Kent Oct 11, 2024

Gift Article

Because the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s preliminary overdose death numbers for the past 12 months show a slight decline, we are now seeing news reports with experts telling us why the rate of drug overdose deaths might be slowing.

It calls to mind my work at the New York state Office of Addiction Services and Supports, when our efforts produced a decline in overdose deaths in 2017 and 2018. At the time, everyone had an explanation for the decline – it was the expanded access to naloxone, or the access to treatment, or maybe to other recovery services and supports. My view was that we could not causally connect any one initiative to the reduction — and therefore, our best and safest approach was to credit the decline to every initiative. And that meant we needed to keep doing all of those things.

That still holds true: We need plans more than we need data analysis at this point. Rather than trying to figure out causality, public health experts would be better off spending their time on initiatives to reduce the number of overdose deaths even more. Because even if there is a downward trend in overdose deaths, we are still losing more than 100,000 people annually. And that is where our focus should be.

In its next session, the state Legislature should adopt a plan that includes, at a minimum, the following elements:

  • More workforce incentives, such loan forgiveness, tuition reimbursement, inclusion in the state employee health insurance and retirement systems, to help addiction care providers recruit and retain staff.
  • An investment in front-end prevention services, which are proven to reduce risk factors and strengthen community protections. These include workshops, assemblies and parent and youth education.
  • An investment in supportive housing and an expansion of the number of recovery community centers, along with a reimbursement mechanism for their services. Facilities like these decrease the chances of relapse for people in recovery.
  • Expanded access to naloxone. The state needs to launch an open, competitive procurement process that considers all FDA-approved formulations of this life-saving medicine.

And at the federal level, oversight of state and local government spending of opioid settlement funds is necessary to ensure that there is coordination between these funds and the billions that the federal government provides to states and localities.

Drug overdose is a completely avoidable condition. In the midst of the opioid crisis, we must keep our focus on saving lives. Don’t let data trends lull us into thinking we’ve done enough.

Robert Kent was general counsel at OASAS from 2007 to 2020 and served as the general counsel in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy during the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration.

New York cannot waver in its fight against drug overdose deaths (timesunion.com)