Kendra's Law: Final Report on the Status of Assisted Outpatient Treatment
Program Evaluation Findings
In this section, we present findings from OMH's ongoing evaluation of AOT concerning: the outcomes of AOT judicial proceedings; how many individuals have received court-ordered AOT; how long individuals typically remain under court-ordered treatment; the characteristics of AOT recipients; outcomes for AOT recipients; and the opinions of AOT recipients about court-ordered treatment and its impact. These findings derive from several sources:
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OMH Central and Field Office staff record basic information on each court order and the status of each order in an electronic tracking system. This system is used to generate regular aggregate reports on the volume of court orders throughout the state and the number of individuals receiving AOT.
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OMH collects additional information concerning AOT recipients from their case managers via a paper-based survey data collection process. Case managers complete a standardized assessment for each AOT recipient at the onset of the court order (baseline), at the end of the initial court order (six month follow-up), and, if the court order is renewed, every six months for the duration of the order. The assessments capture: demographic characteristics of AOT recipients; their status in areas such as living situation, services received, engagement in services, and adherence to prescribed medication; incidence of significant events such as hospitalization, homelessness, arrest, and incarceration; functional impairment in the areas of self-care, social skills, and task performance; and any incidence of harmful behaviors. These assessments are sent to OMH and the results entered into an evaluation database. OMH uses the resulting data to assess outcomes for all AOT recipients as a group. Due to time lags inherent in paper-based survey data collection and processing, and the limited scope of the data collected on the standardized assessments, OMH does not use use the evaluation database to monitor the clinical status of individual recipients.
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A third source of information for evaluating AOT are data gathered directly from a sample of AOT recipients in New York City via face-to-face interviews conducted by researchers from the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University who are working in conjunction with OMH Central Office staff.