A 4826: Directs the commissioner of the office of mental health and the director of the state office for the aging shall establish a mental home health services program for the aging to facilitate access to mental home health services to respond to identified mental health needs, including those needs that may have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the aging or families that may not have access to mental health professionals in-person; makes related provisions.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4826 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 6, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. E. BROWN, MAHER, TAGUE, DeSTEFANO, BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to providing mental home health care services to the aging The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 5.05 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding 2 a new subdivision (f) to read as follows: 3 (f) The commissioner of the office of mental health and the director 4 of the state office for the aging shall establish a mental home health 5 care services program for the aging to facilitate access to mental home 6 health care services to respond to identified mental health needs, 7 including those needs that may have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, 8 and for the aging or families that may not have access to mental health 9 professionals in-person. Such program shall provide up to five mental 10 home health assessments, services and visits annually at no cost to the 11 individual, for acute crisis response, mental health assessment, or 12 initiation of care to reduce barriers and facilitate engagement in long- 13 term care. 14 As soon as practicable, but no later than August first, two thousand 15 twenty-six, the offices shall enter into an agreement with a vendor to 16 create, or use an existing, website or web-based application, as a 17 portal available to the aging and providers to facilitate the program. 18 Such vendor shall be determined through a competitive bidding process. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 20 it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04740-01-5