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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Steve Huz, PhD¹, Anthony Mancini, PhD¹, Chip Felton, MSW², and Amy Smith, MPA¹. (1) Bureau of Adult Services Evaluation Research, New York State Office of Mental Health, 44 Holland Ave., Albany, NY 12229, 518-473-9559, coevsjh@omh.state.ny.us, (2) Center for Information Technology and Evaluation Research, New York State Office of Mental Health, 44 Holland Ave, Albany, NY 12229

Involuntary outpatient commitment (IOC) has been the subject of much controversy as an approach for engaging individuals in mental health services. To date, much attention regarding IOC has focused on the impact of court-ordered treatment on improved outcomes for recipients. Although this is a key issue, the effectiveness of IOC in engaging individuals in services that were previously not well-engaged has important implications

This presentation presents findings from New York State's evaluation of Kendra's Law with a particular emphasis on service engagement. Kendra's Law established Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) as the means through which court-ordered outpatient treatment is delivered to certain individuals with mental illness and a history of hospitalizations or violence.

Study findings show that case managers report that 42% of recipients (n=2806) can be described as having good or excellent engagement in services at the onset of their court order. After 6 months under an AOT court order, this increase to 61%. Analyses of Medicaid claims data also show that individuals under court order show increased use of intensive community based services both during and following AOT compared to use prior to AOT. In addition, individuals who move from poor levels of engagement to good or excellent levels demonstrate a broad range of positive outcomes. Finally, using a matched sample of clients in Assertive Community Treatment teams with AOT orders and without AOT orders (n=580), we found that AOT status predicted improved engagement over time.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the involuntary outpatient committment program in New York State.
• Articulate issues associated with the debate around involunatry outpatient committment.
• Assess the effectiveness of involuntary outpatient committment in New York State.

Keywords: Mental Health Services, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No