Developing & sharing guidance to continue OnTrackNY services during the Covid-19 Pandemic

May 2023

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Amplify OnTrackNY project summaries provide an accessible overview of projects led by Amplify OnTrackNY, including the goals, actions taken, learnings, and next steps. 

Project overview

What is the goal of this project?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, community mental health agencies, including OnTrackNY, had to rapidly develop and adjust guidance to accommodate changing circumstances during the pandemic. One example is how and when to provide telehealth or in-person care. This project explored factors that influenced how guidance was developed and ways to communicate ongoing changes in guidance.

What has happened so far?

Amplify OnTrackNY conducted 23 interviews with people from three groups: 1) New York State Office of Mental Health leadership and Field Office Directors, 2) OnTrackNY Agency leaders, and 3) OnTrack Central leadership and trainers. We asked people about the types of guidance they received, their experiences developing and putting guidance into practice, and the impact of policy decisions and guidance in their daily work.  

What was learned?

Throughout the pandemic, the NYS Office of Mental Health, OnTrackNY agencies, and OnTrack Central had to figure out how to develop different types of guidance, such as what services could be provided over telehealth, how to protect privacy when using telehealth, how to safely interact with participants when in-person, how to work from home and coordinate team members, and how to maintain quality and continuity of care. When making decisions these groups had several things to consider. For example:

• Each group had to consider their role and expertise in developing guidance 
• The needs of participants and families, such as increased stress due to the pandemic, access to technology, and concerns or preferences about in-person and telehealth interactions 
• How changes in the way services were delivered may have a long term impact on the OnTrackNY care model
• How resources, such as staff access to technology, or flexibility may impact how agencies deliver services
• Uncertainty about the pandemic and how long telehealth services would be allowed to continue 

Once guidance was developed, it was communicated rapidly using different strategies. When guidance was communicated, feedback was sought from various stakeholders.

Strategies that allowed for sharing general guidance very quickly and widely:

• Sending emails about guidance
• Updating websites with new guidance
• Maintaining a list of frequently asked questions and answers
• Writing memos and other documents to describe guidance

Strategies that allowed for more interaction and direct feedback from stakeholders:

• Hosting townhalls and webinars to provide updates to providers and answer questions in real time
• Providing education, trainings, and Q&A sessions tailored to the types of questions coming up
• Having more frequent calls (within and across agencies), team huddles, and check-ins to discuss rapidly changing guidance and how to implement it
• Surveys for participants and families 

What's next for the project?

We are sharing what we learned with different groups like OnTrack Central and the OnTrackNY Youth and Young Adult Leadership, Family Advisory, and Provider Councils. We are presenting our findings in scientific journals and academic conferences.  

How will this project make a difference?

This project helped us learn how a mental healthcare system had to quickly create and share guidance to keep providing services during a public health emergency. This information will help OnTrackNY understand how to best respond to similar situations in the future. 

To learn more about this project, email amplify.otny@nyspi.columbia.edu

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