New York State Department of Mental Hygiene
The New York State Department of Mental Hygiene is a department of the New York state government. Its regulations are compiled in title 14 of the "New York Codes, Rules and Regulations". It is composed of three autonomous offices. These offices are headed up by a commissioner who also serves on a council that performs inter-office coordination. Mental health. The majority of the "public mental health system" is in voluntary outpatient programs, the largest and most used being clinic treatment services. Inpatient care is provided mainly by state psychiatric centers, supplemented by  homeless shelters, the general hospital network, and jails. 45–57% of New York mental health consumers use Medicaid, which is the largest single source of funding. History. The department was founded in 1926 as part of a restructuring of the New York state government, and was given responsibility for people diagnosed with mental retardation, mental illness or epilepsy. Dr. Frederick W. Parsons was appointed the first department commissioner in January, 1927. He was replaced by Dr. William J. Tiffany in 1937, who then resigned in 1943 over an investigation into handling of an outbreak of amoebic dysentery at Creedmoor State Hospital . By 1950, the department had grown into the largest agency of the New York state government, with more than 24,000 employees and an operating cost exceeding a third of the state budget. The Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse was transferred from the New York State Department of Health to the Department of Mental Hygiene in 1962. In 1978, the Department of Mental Hygiene was reorganized into the autonomous Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Office of Mental Health (OMH), and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD). These three offices are headed up by a commissioner who  also serves on a council that performs inter-office coordination. In 2010 the OMRDD became the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). In 2019 the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse became the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS).