New York State Office of Mental Health

New York State

PAITENT SAFETY STANDARDS, MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS GUIDELINES (click here)
In conjunction with the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYS-OMH), our Patient Safety Team develops, updates, and publishes the Patient Safety Standards, Materials and Systems Guidelines on a semi-annual basis. architecture+ performs the majority of the required testing of products in our purpose-built workshop. The Patient Safety Standards offer guidance with respect to patient safety features in an effort to reduce the risk of harm to individuals in psychiatric inpatient settings. It provides product risk-assessment guidance for NYS-OMH’s: - existing and new state-operated inpatient facilities - psychiatric units in licensed Article 28 general hospitals It is also used as a reference guide for numerous states and private facilities nationwide. Additionally, we collaborate with countless healthcare manufacturers on the development of products appropriate for the therapeutic environment.

Project Type:
Expertise
Mental Health

Statewide Campus Planning

For 30+ years, architecture+ has developed long-term planning strategies, standards, and methodologies for 28 psychiatric center campuses across the state. At the onset of this project, the system was designed to serve 50,000 people across 37 million square feet in 1,350 buildings on 5,000 acres. After reorganization and modernization, the remaining campuses serve between 3,500 to 4,000 people in less than 12 million square feet. As part of this project, architecture+ developed a prototypical psychiatric facility that was utilized as a baseline guide in master planning the transition from the current outdated campuses to more responsive and efficient facilities. The methodologies developed are applied to all New York State Office of Mental Health facilities. The project has generated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital projects with an average payback of 1.2 years and resulted in $93 million in cost avoidance. Through our firm’s Statewide Campus Master Plan contract with NYS-OMH, we continue to provide planning services for eleven campuses throughout the state. This includes feasibility studies and space usage and allocation data management. We also write and maintain guideline specifications, baseline space standards, and serve as an architectural and planning resource for the Department of Capital Operations at OMH.