Financing Mental-Health Services in the State of New York

Mental-health care is a major public-sector problem in the State of New York. We were asked by the Ways and Means Committee of the New York State Assembly to recommend a new fiscal structure with shared funding between the state and the counties to better achieve the objective of the state's mental-health-care program. We developed a simulation model for the problem and used it to design new funding plans; the results of our analysis have been written into legislation introduced into the New York State Assembly.