PCS Results

Important Notes

Listed below are some noteworthy changes in the tables between the survey years 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Often, these changes were implemented by OMH to comply with federal reporting responsibilities. Each link (above) contains an image of the respective survey form so the reader can see how individual items appeared at the time of the survey.

Tables 2 and 5 have different features regarding the items “Ethnicity” and/or “Race.”

• In 1999, the survey respondent was allowed to choose only 1 race/ethnicity from the one and only race/ethnicity question.
• In 2001, the respondent could choose all that applied from the one and only race/ethnicity question.
• In 2003, 2005, and 2007, the survey exhibited 2 separate questions: 1 for race, and 1 for Hispanic ethnicity. Each survey respondent was obligated to indicate whether the client identified him/herself with Hispanic ethnicity or not, and further answer the question regarding race.

Tables 3 and 6 have different features regarding the items "SPMI" and/or "SMI."

• In 1999 and 2001, the tables report "SPMI" which is the "Severe and Persistent Mental Illness" variable from the survey form.
• In 2003, 2005, and 2007, these same tables report "SMI" which is "Serious Mental Illness," a variable calculated by OMH using a combination of diagnostic variables from the survey form.

Table 4 has different features regarding the item "Client’s Residence."

• In 1999 and 2001, the variable that appears in table 4 is "client’s reported residence type", which is exactly what the respondent answered in the survey. Recall, according to survey directions, this "reported residence type" will not be the client’s current residence if the client was (a) an inpatient, (b) in a residential program, or (c) incarcerated.
• In 2003, 2005, and 2007, the variable that appears in table 4 is "client’s current residence type," which is a variable OMH calculated to reflect the current living situation for each client.

Table 6: rows have "Employment Status" and columns have "Age Groups" in 2005 and 2007

• For years 2005 and 2007, table 6 columns are "Age Groups" whereas in earlier years the columns represented "Diagnosis Groups." Additionally for 2005 and 2007, table 6 has rows summarizing each client’s "Employment Status" but in 1999, 2001, and 2003 these rows summarized "Prior Services Received."

The reader may notice a decline of roughly 6,000 individuals served between the years 2005 and 2007. This decline may be due to a change in administration of the survey. The OMH converted from paper to Web-based data-collection in order to reduce redundant data reporting and to provide survey results earlier. Concurrently, the OMH tied the Web application into the OMH master provider directory; i.e., the "State public mental health system." The two-year decline of 6,000 individuals (3.5%) in the Patient Characteristics Survey reports may be due to incompleteness of the provider directory and difficulties that some providers encountered in making the transition to Web-reporting, rather than a real decline in population served by the State public mental health system.