Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

The enacted budget makes the following changes to the Executive Budget (June 18, 2010):

·         Makes no changes to the All Funds appropriation, an $87.05 million increase from the SFY 2009-10 enacted budget All Funds appropriation

 

However, a DOB summary memo provided the following information (bold) that had not previously been made public:

·           Reforms will include the transfer of most State-delivered services to less costly not-for-profit providers over a multi-year period, increasing staff caseloads, reassessing the number of individuals requiring service, and developing different levels of service that is more closely tailored to individual needs

·           Transferring the administration and oversight of the Family Care program from the State to the not-for-profit provider network over a multi-year period beginning in 2010-11.

·           Reducing costs for research and administrative operations at OMRDD's Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities located in Staten Island; reducing 20 positions in areas outside of Autism research that have not generated comparable levels of external grant funding

 

OMRDD has told PEF that the Commissioner is committed to maintaining state operated Medicaid Service Coordination. OMRDD’s multi year plan would transfer approximately 100 of the current approximately 600 Medicaid Service Coordination positions to the private sector over six years and be accomplished through attrition.  Thirteen MSC positions will be eliminated during the current fiscal year unless additional MSCs take advantage of the Early Retirement Incentive.   Definitive information is not yet available regarding the Family Care program.

 

·         Changes the name of the agency to the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities.

 

·         Extends the current exemptions for social work and mental health professional licensure requirements from June 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013 and requires SED to complete a workforce study by July 1, 2012 in anticipation of further changes to the underlying licensure statues to appropriately reflect which titles, functions and duties should be performed only by licensed or otherwise authorized personnel.  Authorizes SED to provide waivers for exempting corporate practice prohibitions for certain not-for-profit corporations and education corporations, establishes procedures for such waivers and allows State agencies to contract with entities applying for such waivers.  

 

The Senate Budget Resolution makes the following recommendation (March 22, 2010):

·         $6.5 million in 2009 Deficit Reduction Plan related increases (these reductions may be in local assistance)

·         $1 million reduction in funding to the Institute for Basic Research

·         $5 million reduction in inflationary adjustments (this reduction may be in local assistance)

·         Modifies the Executive proposal to extend the exemptions for social work and mental health professional licensure requirements from June 1, 2010 to June 1, 2014 to include any NYS or Federal Agency or other governmental entity and require that such entities report their progress toward compliance on an annual basis on or before June 1 of each year.

 

According to the Assembly analysis (as of January 28, 2010):

·         The budget includes a personal service reduction of $24,328,000 for collectively bargained benefit and/or compensation changes.  We assume this is OMRDD’s share of the proposed $250 million in union concessions.

·         $1,512,000 in savings is related to both the transfer of 10 positions to the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General to eliminate duplicative oversight and management functions, and

a reduction of the number of audits conducted by outside firms. 

The Executive Budget recommends (analysis as of January 19, 2010):

A FY 2010-11 workforce of 21,857 FTEs, an increase of 89 FTEs from the adjusted FTE level for FY 2009-10.  This reflects the attrition of 2,074 FTEs offset by 2,163 new fills. The Workforce Impact Chart provided by DOB shows a SFY 2010-11 OMR workforce of 21,875 FTEs.  OMR management claims that this number does not reflect the 20 FTE IBR workforce reduction.

The following table identifies adjustments in the current fiscal year’s FTEs along with the recommended change from the adjusted FY 2009-10 FTEs by program:

OMR has indicated that the numbers in the Executive Budget narrative (above) are misleading. The apparent shift in FTEs from Community Services to Institutional Services is disputed by OMR.  They indicated to PEF that the year-end workforce target of 21,857 is accurate, but staffing increases would be occurring on the community side and decreases on the institutional side as consumers are transitioned from developmental centers into the community.  The Research in Mental Illness Program should also reflect the attrition of 20 FTEs from 2009-10 to 2010-11.

·         An All Funds appropriation of $2.26 billion, an increase of $87.0 million (4.0%) over the enacted appropriation for FY 2009-10.  This includes a $31.8 million (2.7%) increase in Personal Service and a $15.3 million increase (12.1%) in Contractual Services.

·         A reduction of 25 FTES associated with the consolidation and/or streamlining of certain DDSO functions, including Business Office and Human Resources responsibilities, development oversight, or local assistance contracting out

·         The transfer of 10 FTEs responsible for conducting Medicaid compliance reviews for not for profit providers, to the Office of Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG). There is no associated transfer of function Article VII language for this proposed transfer.

·         A reduction, through attrition, of 13 FTEs (106 FTEs over a six year period) associated with restructuring Targeted Case Management services. Reforms to the MSC program may include adjusting staff caseloads, reassessing the number of individuals receiving case management services, developing different levels of service based upon the individuals needs and potentially offering a self-directed option.

·         The reduction, through attrition, of 20 research related FTES associated with certain research functions not directly related to OMR’s core mission.  The Executive Budget shows no change in FTEs for IBR from 2009-10 to 2010-11, but OMRDD has informed PEF that the 20 FTE reduction target is accurate.  They were not able to provide any additional information about what research is not considered a core function.  Management made a commitment to look into retraining possibilities to assist potential placement in other agencies and/or research entities such as HRI.

·         The reduction of 15 FTEs related to beginning implementation of administrative efficiencies and restructuring of the management and oversight of the Family Care program. When fully implemented 123 FTEs will be eliminated.