Otonichar explains intake and mental health assessment process
Otonichar describes comprehensive medical intake and mental health referrals. He says clinicians review history, interview patients, seek collateral information, and use records including PSYCKES to determine diagnosis, treatment, and level of care.
In my testimony, I will provide an overview of CHS's mental health services, starting with the initial mental health assessment and concluding with our reentry services.
I will describe the spectrum of mental health care in the jails, including the mental health therapeutic housing units.
CHS medical and nursing professionals conduct a comprehensive medical evaluation of all individuals when they are admitted to the New York City jail system.
During these intake evaluations, nurses and doctors obtain vital signs, draw labs, and offer testing for communicable diseases.
They also ask patients a comprehensive set of questions about their medical and mental health history and current physical and mental health status.
Based on the information obtained during the intake assessment, patients may be referred for follow-up care and or additional evaluations, including to the mental health service.
Patients may be referred to the mental health service for evaluation either as a result of the CHS intake screening or at any time during their incarceration.
During every initial mental health assessment, a licensed CHS mental health provider reviews the patient's full mental health history, interviews the patient, and reviews an extensive social history with the patient, including
past personal relationships, educational attainment, adverse past experiences, and socioeconomic stressors.
Clinicians may obtain collateral information from community-based providers to inform their assessment and to ensure that the patient's history is complete and accurate.
When available, the clinical mental health staff review past medical records as well as the patient's psychiatric services and clinical knowledge enhancement system or
psyches report, which includes historical information about inpatient psychiatric care at a New York State Office of Mental Health facility and Medicaid-funded community-based mental health treatment.
The information the mental health provider obtains during this assessment helps to inform their diagnostic assessment, individualized treatment plan, case management, and reentry planning.
The information also enables clinicians to assess clinical risk factors and to determine the patient's most appropriate mental health level of care.