Access to Health

What health services are available to Young Adults?

Correctional Health Services (CHS) provides Young Adults in correctional custody with access to seven main types of scheduled services: (1) Medical; (2) Nursing; (3) Mental Health; (4) Social Work; (5) Dental; (6) Specialty Clinic Services; and (7) Substance Misuse. For details on each service type and associated outcomes, see CHS’ full Access to Health report.

Are Young Adults being seen for their scheduled health services?

Correctional Health Services (CHS) provides monthly reports to the BOC on access to health and mental health for Young Adults (YA) in DOC custody. From January 2018 to December 2018, CHS completed 471,435 scheduled services DOC-wide (adolescents, young adults, and adults).  There were 30,656 services completed for YAs representing 6.5% of all completed services.

The completion rate of scheduled services DOC-wide for 2018 was 77%. The completion rate DOC-wide decreased from a 78% completion rate in January 2018 to a 76% completion rate in December 2018.

However, the overall annual completion rate of services scheduled for Young Adults in 2018 was 70%. The YA completion rate decreased from a 72% completion rate in January 2018 to a 63% completion rate in December 2018. Mental health and dental services had the lowest completion rates compared to other service types.

For details on each month’s service types and associated outcomes, see CHS’ full Access to Health report.

What are the main reasons Young Adults are not seen for their scheduled health services?

Non-Completion of Scheduled Services

CHS reports the reasons for non-completed scheduled services for YAs in their access to health reports. From January 2018 to December 2018, 139,644 of CHS’ scheduled services were not completed, with non-completed YA scheduled services making up 13,822 or 9.8% of all non-completed scheduled services.

Between January 2018 and December 2018, the top reason for non-completion of scheduled services was the Department of Correction’s non-production of YAs–explaining 67% of all non-completed scheduled services for YAs. In 2018, the second most common reason for non-completed scheduled services was that YAs were out to court during their appointment – explaining 16% of non-completed services—, and the third most common reason was that scheduled services are rescheduled by CHS–explaining 15% of non-completed services.

For details on each month’s service types and associated outcomes, see CHS’ full Access to Health report.

Board of Correction Reports on Access to Health and Mental Health Care
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/boc/downloads/pdf/Reports/BOC-Reports/Health_Access/4b_Access%20Report%202018%20Review_Final_June%202019.pdf
Correctional Health Services Reports
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/boc/reports/correctional-health-authority-reports.page