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A09039 Summary:

BILL NOA09039
 
SAME ASSAME AS S08597
 
SPONSORGunther
 
COSPNSRShimsky
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §7.49, Ment Hyg L
 
Authorizes the commissioner of mental health to establish up to three, three-year pilot programs in community behavioral health organizations for the purposes of creating social worker residency pilot programs to support the ongoing retention and recruitment of licensed clinical social workers.
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A09039 Actions:

BILL NOA09039
 
02/05/2024referred to mental health
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A09039 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A9039
 
SPONSOR: Gunther
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to establishing a social worker residency pilot program; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof   PURPOSE GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Section 1 of the bill requires the commissioner of mental health to establish up to three 3-year Social Worker Residency pilot programs in community behavioral health organizations. Requires the pilot program to provide supervised post-graduate clinical social work experience as required pursuant to Section 7704 of Article 154 of Education Law at no cost to the resident. The bill authorizes the commissioner to develop and establish all other standards applicable to the program, including evaluation criteria. The evaluation criteria for the pilot program shall at least include: a. any improved ability for community behavioral health organizations to recruit newly licensed clinical social workers as part of the pilot program; b. substantive focus of the pilot program training on Evidence Based Models meaning scientific models with track records of clinical success; c. the pilot program providing continuing education for participating social workers of at least one day per week; d. the pilot program providing clinical supervision hours for the social work graduates, which count towards licenses that increase their scope of practice; e. the percentage of the pilot program participants who achieve a full Licensed Clinical Social Worker license; and f. the average length of employment for licensed clinical social workers employed with community behavioral health organizations hosting the social worker residency pilot program. Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: A highly skilled and adequately sized workforce is complementary to and necessary for the success of the State's investments in increased behav- ioral health capacity. Most trained therapists who serve Medicaid popu- lations in the context of a Medicaid mental or behavioral health clinic are Licensed Social Workers who are typically expected to serve a patient panel of at least twenty clients that often have complex presen- tations that are a blend of medical, behavioral, and social needs. This is a daunting prospect that can discourage newly graduated social work- ers from taking positions at community-based agencies who serve under- served and vulnerable populations. Additionally, community-based agen- cies are competing for social workers with venture backed for-profit providers and the rapid growth of telehealth as a modality for mental health services which has further incentivized practitioners to focus more on private practice serving commercially insured patients. One solution to stabilize community-based behavioral health services and address the workforce crisis is to create a postgraduate clinical train- ing program offering fellowships for Licensed Social Workers through a residency program. This initiative would not seek to establish new post- graduate training requirements that might limit the number of people eligible to provide care; rather, it would facilitate workforce growth by offering more advanced training opportunities and creating a pipeline of therapists who have experience providing therapy to complex popu- lations. This pilot program would fund only one day a week of training for residents while they perform Medicaid reimbursable counseling for the other four days of employment. The Jewish Board of Family and Chil- dren's services has a program model that has been successful and popular among its social workers. In comparison to behavioral health professionals, both the Federal government and the State support the training of medical professionals through various initiatives, including enhanced payments to hospitals and federally qualified health centers for graduate medical education (GME) and scholarship opportunities such as the Nurses for Our Future program and the Diversity in Medicine Scholarship program. GME funding alone for New York State is $1.9 billion. All social worker residency program participants would be given full- time salaried opportunities with a placement in a clinical setting for social workers who are already licensed. As such, the program would offer a supportive pathway into clinical practice for recent graduates, practitioners transitioning between settings and others who wish to develop competency in delivering care utilizing evidence-based practice models. Within this framework, the State has the opportunity to set parameters for social worker residency programs, including establishing measurable outcomes, setting standards for wages within the programs and identify- ing areas of focus around the structure and content of the programs. A State-led establishment of postgraduate social work opportunities would help expand New York's long-term capacity and create a national model for investment into advancing behavioral health care, while providing additional support for an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse profession that is mostly comprised of women working with vulnerable populations. Social workers are crucial to the mental health crisis throughout New York State and provide a continuum of care especially required for complex cases. If effective, this pilot could be used as a scalable model to be replicated in hospitals or educational institutions of social work.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: This is a new bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: This bill is subject to an appropriation.   EFFECTIVE DATE: Effectively immediately and shall be deemed repealed six years after enactment.
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A09039 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          9039
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    February 5, 2024
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. GUNTHER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Mental Health
 
        AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation  to  establishing  a
          social worker residency pilot program; and providing for the repeal of
          such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  7.49 to read as follows:
     3  § 7.49 Social worker residency pilot program.
     4    (a)  Subject  to appropriation, the commissioner shall establish up to
     5  three, three-year pilot programs in community behavioral  health  organ-
     6  izations,  as  defined  in  article  thirty-one of this chapter, for the
     7  purposes of creating social worker residency pilot programs  to  support
     8  the  ongoing retention and recruitment of licensed clinical social work-
     9  ers licensed by the department.
    10    (b) Such pilot programs shall provide supervised  post-graduate  clin-
    11  ical  social  work experience as required by the department of education
    12  pursuant to section seven thousand seven hundred four of  the  education
    13  law at no cost to the resident.
    14    (c)  The  commissioner shall establish and develop all other standards
    15  applicable to the program.
    16    (d) The commissioner shall develop evaluation criteria for  the  pilot
    17  programs, which shall include, but not be limited to:
    18    (1) any improved ability for community behavioral health organizations
    19  to  recruit  newly licensed clinical social workers as part of the pilot
    20  program;
    21    (2) substantive focus of the pilot program training on evidence  based
    22  models with track records of clinical success;
    23    (3) the pilot program providing continuing education for participating
    24  social  workers shall provide such continuing education at least one day
    25  per week;
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14237-01-4

        A. 9039                             2
 
     1    (4) the pilot program providing  clinical  supervision  shall  provide
     2  hours  for  the  social work graduates which count towards licenses that
     3  increase their scope of practice;
     4    (5)  the  percentage  of  the pilot program participants who achieve a
     5  full licensed clinical social worker license; and
     6    (6) the average length of  employment  for  licensed  clinical  social
     7  workers  employed with community behavioral health organizations hosting
     8  the social worker residency pilot program.
     9    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall  expire  and  be
    10  deemed repealed six years after such date.
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