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Mayor Adams says involuntary hospital trips are helping mentally ill people. The data is thin.
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 29, 2023
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By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 29, 2023
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Mayor Eric Adams is celebrating his year-old policy making it easier to involuntarily hospitalize people presumed to have mental illnesses, which he says is allowing the city to help more of its hardest-to-reach residents. But so far, there’s little data available on the initiative.
Since its announcement, the policy has faced criticism from some mental health advocates, who allege that it amounts to discrimination. But Adams touted the program's "early results" at a press conference on Wednesday, exactly a year after he issued the controversial directive. His administration also hailed a broader effort that includes beefing up the number of homeless outreach workers as well as increasing coordination between city agencies, the public hospital system and nonprofit service providers.
“We have housed and helped a significant number of those most in need of care and support,” the mayor said.
Officials say that out of 100 New Yorkers who are homeless — and who have been identified by city officials as among the “hardest to reach” — 54 are now either housed or in hospitals. The individuals are on two lists maintained by the city’s Coordinated Behavioral Health Task Force, an interagency body that meets regularly to figure out how to engage them in services. That figure is up from 22 people on the list of 100 the previous year.
The task force tracks people who “have a series of complex issues” and who have been engaged by outreach workers over months or years without much success, said Molly Wasow Park, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Social Services.
Of the 54 people from the lists who are currently hospitalized or housed, 31 were involuntarily transported to hospitals for mental health evaluations at some point, said City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak on Wednesday. From the group, 14 are currently in hospitals, including some in state psychiatric hospitals, which typically are reserved for longer stays, said Brian Stettin, Adams’ senior adviser on severe mental illness.
“We continue to work hard with each of them to get them into a less restrictive, appropriate placement,” Stettin said.
But Adams and other city officials at Wednesday’s press conference were unable to answer questions about overall outcomes among the total number of people involuntarily taken to hospitals – including how many of them were actually admitted. They could not say how many ultimately received housing or other services. And the officials also said they didn’t have information about the makeup of the cohort, including how many of those taken to hospitals against their will were transported multiple times.
But officials said more information would be forthcoming. A City Council bill that took effect this year requires the city to publish annual data on involuntary hospital transports, with the first report due in January 2025.
“This point about data is so important and we’re happy that in this administration we are now going to start to keep data in a way that we can drill down on these answers,” said Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for health and human services.
Before Adams changed the policy exactly a year ago, first-responders had reserved involuntary hospital transports for people who appeared to be mentally ill and posed a risk of serious harm to themselves or others. Under the revised policy, the standard was broadened to include those who appear unable to meet their own basic needs.
Since May, an average of 137 New Yorkers have been involuntarily taken to hospitals for mental health evaluations each week, according to City Hall. But it’s unclear how that compares to figures before Adams’ policy took effect in November 2022. Stettin said data on involuntary removals was incomplete before May of this year.
“We have been using that tool more frequently than we did before,” Stettin said. “We’ve also seen an increase from the previous year in how often we are successful at persuading people to come into shelter and get on track for housing without having to be hospitalized first.”
Adams’ plan has also included ramping up homeless outreach and efforts to get people to voluntarily accept services and shelter placements. Through the city’s broader homeless outreach efforts, more than 8,500 people were referred to shelters in the city’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended in June – a 70% increase over the previous fiscal year, according to City Hall. And in fiscal year 2022-2023, about 1,000 people were moved to permanent housing from safe havens, a type of shelter with relaxed rules to accommodate those who have been resistant to traditional shelters, Adams said. That’s a 130% increase over the previous year, according to City Hall.
The mayor added that he has increased the number of homeless outreach workers by 60% since January 2022. In February of that year, Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul launched a Subway Safety Plan that involved ushering people out of the subway system and offering them shelter placements. Since then, Adams said about 6,100 New Yorkers have accepted those placements.
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new york city
housing
Health and Science
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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