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Percentage of New Yorkers With Mental Illness Rose and State's Efforts to Increase
Number of Beds Have Proceeded Slowly
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The mental health needs of New Yorkers have greatly increased, with 21.1% of adults struggling with mental Illness and 5.1% with a severe mental illness in 2021-2022, according to federal data. Between 2013 and 2022, there was a 23% increase in the number of individuals served by the State’s public mental health system, with nearly 900,000 residents utilizing the services. According to a report by State Comptroller DiNapoli, the rising need for mental health services coincided with a loss of 990 beds, a 10.5% drop in capacity, in inpatient psychiatric facilities statewide between April 2014 and December 2023.
“Increased mental health services are urgently needed to meet the rising demand for care,” DiNapoli said. “With the COVID pandemic behind us, New York must redouble its efforts to restore inpatient psychiatric bed capacity and preserve and expand telehealth services.”
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Increasingly, counties across New York State are providing emergency medical services (EMS), amid a drop in EMS workers and inadequate funding, but more State action is needed to ensure localities are able to provide dependable emergency services around the State, according to a report released by State Comptroller DiNapoli.
State Comptroller DiNapoli announced that six villages were designated in fiscal stress under the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System. Comptroller DiNapoli’s office evaluated all non-calendar year local governments and designated one village in “significant fiscal stress,” one in “moderate fiscal stress,” and four as “susceptible to fiscal stress.”
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