NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the launch of new teams to support patients after they leave the hospital. New Critical Time Intervention teams will serve adults who have had multiple psychiatric hospital or emergency visits within the last year and provide follow-up care for up to nine months.
Funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health, the $32.2 million teams include nurses, social workers, care managers, mental health professionals, and peer specialists and are funded for five years. Services include accompanying patients home on discharge day, helping them access follow-up care in the community, supporting personal goal-setting, and assisting them with securing public benefits and entitlements to address their basic needs. Critical Time Intervention teams will be available at NYC Health + Hospitals / Bellevue, Jacobi, Kings County, Metropolitan, and Queens and are projected to serve up to 650 patients a year.
These teams will complement NYC Health + Hospitals’ Peer Bridger program, which pairs patients discharged from a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) with certified Peer Counselors to provide support for up to several months after they leave the hospital. Peer Counselors, who have lived experience with mental health or substance use challenges, will help patients connect with outpatient services, psychosocial clubhouses, transportation resources, and community-based supports such as libraries, food pantries, and crisis respite programs. Peers are uniquely positioned to serve patients with complex and co-morbid mental health and substance use disorder needs, and they can connect to traditionally hard-to-reach patients by sharing their lived experience to support recovery. The Peer Bridger program is available at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, Elmhurst, Harlem, Jacobi, Kings County, North Central Bronx, Queens, and Woodhull.
“NYC Health + Hospitals serves more patients with behavioral health needs than any other organization in New York City, and these two programs will help our patients establish care in the community after they leave the hospital,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues at the New York State Office of Mental Health for their commitment to our patients.”
“We are proud to announce new initiatives that provide intensive support for patients with complex behavioral health needs to help them reach their personal recovery goals,” said Omar Fattal, MD, MPH, Chief of Behavioral Health Services, NYC Health + Hospitals. “By working closely with these patients, Critical Time Intervention teams and Peer Bridgers extend our behavioral health continuum of care beyond the hospital walls to provide short-term support that will help prevent people from continuing to cycle through the hospital system. Together, these programs fill crucial gaps in care by supporting patients at pivotal moments – whether preparing for discharge, returning home, or building long-term connections in the community. These programs reinforce NYC Health + Hospitals’ commitment to providing comprehensive, person-centered behavioral health care across the city.”
“By connecting people leaving inpatient psychiatric care at hospitals with critical intensive wrap around services, we can help secure a path to recovery for our fellow New Yorkers,” OMH Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said. “The CTI teams now operating at these hospitals in New York City and others throughout the state are helping more New Yorkers connect with the mental health supports they can rely on to live and thrive in their community.”
NYC Health + Hospitals currently employs over 100 peers across the system and is one of the largest employers of peers in New York City. Nearly 50% of the peer counselors who are employed at NYC Health + Hospitals are graduates from the NYC Health + Hospitals Peer Academy.
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest provider of behavioral health in New York City. The system provides over 60% of behavioral health services citywide serving nearly 80,000 patients annually across emergency, inpatient, and outpatient care.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible.
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