Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS)

February 2004

The State Office of Mental Health (SOMH) plans to license a new mental health program for recovery-oriented services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. This program is called Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS). PROS is designed to provide a comprehensive recovery oriented program for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

The primary goal of the program is to integrate treatment, support, and rehabilitation in a manner that will facilitate an individual’s recovery. Some of the goals for individuals in the program are to improve functioning, reduce emergency services and hospitalizations, and increase employment. PROS will allow programs participation in the federal Medicaid program.

Although the State has indicated that the program can go forward without Federal approval, the State Office of Mental Health is opting to wait so that Medicaid dollars can follow program conversion.

The following programs will be required to convert to PROS: Affirmative Business, Assisted Competitive Employment, Client Worker, Enclave in Industry, Clubhouses, Ongoing Integrated Supported Employment, Psychosocial clubs, Transitional Employment, Supported Education, On-site rehabilitation programs and Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation Treatment programs. Continuing Day Treatment (CDT) programs will have the option to change licensure category from CDT to PROS.

The array of proposed rehabilitation, treatment and support services include: CRS (Community Rehabilitation and Support) - services designed to engage and assist individuals in managing their illness and restoring those skills and supports necessary for living successfully in the community; IR (Intensive Rehabilitation) - a customized package of rehabilitation and support services designed to assist an individual in attaining specific goals (eg. employment, education, housing), and services used to provide targeted interventions to reduce the risk of hospitalization or involvement in the criminal justice system; and VS (Vocational Support) - supports to assist individuals in managing their symptoms in the competitive workplace.

We have compiled a list of current issues pertaining to PROS programs: PROS AND EMPLOYMENT RELATED SERVICES: What We Know Now.

PROS can also provide Clinical Treatment services designed to help stabilize, ameliorate and control disabling symptoms. Clinical Treatment will not include the entire range of services currently provided in OMH-licensed clinics, but will provide a recovery focused, disability management approach with medication management, health assessment, clinical counseling and therapy, and treatment for co-occurring disorders, all integrated with PROS rehabilitative service to provide comprehensive care.

There are three licensing options: a comprehensive PROS license containing all the components of CRS, IR and VS along with Clinical Treatment; a comprehensive license with all components (CRS, IR, VS) without the Clinical Treatment enhancement: and a Limited License that will provide only VS and IR.

PROS documents:

Critical Letters To/From Government

• Letter on Employment Issues under PROS from the New York Work Exchange/Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies to Linda Rosenberg, Senior Deputy Commissioner, New York State Office of Mental Health 12/31/03 (Word)
• Multi-Party Letter on PROS: Concerns to Linda Rosenberg, Senior Deputy Commissioner, SOMH, 10/29/03 (PDF)
• Letter to NYC Providers from Jane Plapinger, Assistant Commissioner, NYC DOHMH, 12/11/03 (Word)

Minutes from PROS Meetings

• DOHMH PROS Implementation Workgroup Minutes, 1/14/04 (Word)
• Summary of PROS Meeting with Representatives of SOMH re: Multi-Party Letter, 1/06/04 (Word)

Standards and Tools

• Draft PROS Standards, Issued by the State Office of Mental Health 12/22/03 (Word)
• T2 County Planning Model Tool, 12/22/03 (Excel Spreadsheet)
• T2 Instructions, 12/22/03 (Word)
• Revised PROS Staffing Tool A, 1/26/04 (Excel Spreadsheet)
• PROS Staffing Guidelines A, 1/26/04 (PowerPoint)

Web sites with additional information on PROS:
www.cvmha.org
www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/pros