Center for Disability Services to Close Psychiatric Program, Leaving 1,100 Patients Searching for Care
Major Behavioral Health Provider Announces Abrupt Exit from Psychiatry
The Center for Disability Services (CFDS), a longstanding provider of medical and behavioral health services in the Albany region, announced in late November 2025 that it will discontinue its psychiatric program by December 31. The decision affects approximately 1,100 patients, many of whom have severe autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, or complex psychiatric conditions requiring specialized long-term care. CFDS cited an inability to recruit or retain psychiatrists, stagnant Medicaid reimbursement, and rising clinical and administrative costs as the primary reasons behind the closure. The announcement follows months of escalating staffing shortages and marks one of the most significant single-site psychiatric service reductions in the region in more than a decade.
A Sudden Loss of Care for High-Need Patients
The closure leaves families and caregivers in urgent search of alternative psychiatric providers in a market already strained by long waitlists and statewide workforce shortages. Many of the 1,100 affected patients have relied on CFDS for years—some for decades—because few outpatient psychiatric programs are equipped to manage individuals with profound developmental disabilities or co-occurring behavioral health needs. According to family accounts shared with local reporters, patients have faced six-to-twelve-month waits for comparable psychiatric services even under normal conditions; with CFDS withdrawing completely, the pressure on the remaining system is expected to intensify almost immediately.
CFDS leaders reported that attempts to stabilize the program had failed despite extensive recruitment efforts, including national searches for psychiatrists and outreach to academic programs. The organization pointed to persistent workforce deficits—especially among board-certified psychiatrists with experience in developmental disabilities—and a payer environment where Medicaid rates no longer cover the cost of specialized care, medications management, and interdisciplinary coordination. A spokesperson noted that the organization “held on as long as it could,” but ultimately could not maintain the staffing or financial baseline required for safe service delivery.
Clinicians currently employed in the program are expected to assist with care transitions, but families say many local practices are already declining new patients or are booked months out. For some individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities, abrupt disruption in psychiatric care can trigger regression, behavioral instability, or loss of progress built over years of consistent treatment. Caregivers have described racing to find openings in hospital-affiliated clinics, private practices, or telepsychiatry services’ often with limited success. While community hospitals may absorb some volume, most operate with their own psychiatric shortages, raising concerns about continuity of care for the patients with the most complex needs.
Workforce Conditions and Financial Pressures Converge
The situation at CFDS reflects broader pressures across New York and the national behavioral health landscape: prolonged psychiatrist shortages, high vacancy rates in developmental-disability specialties, competitive pressures from telehealth corporations, and reimbursement structures that have not kept pace with clinical demand. State data show that outpatient psychiatric vacancies remain at crisis levels, with some counties reporting fewer than one psychiatrist for every 10,000 residents. Providers serving high-acuity disability populations face even sharper challenges, as the work requires specialized training not typically covered in general psychiatry residencies.
Financial constraints further complicated CFDS’s position. The organization reported that reimbursement rates—particularly Medicaid’s dominant role in disability services—failed to offset the rising cost of psychiatric labor, crisis management, compliance requirements, and associated clinical supports. As rates remained static and operational costs climbed, the program reportedly began operating at a sustained deficit, leaving leadership with few viable options.
Families and Advocates Raise Alarm Over Service Gaps
The abrupt nature of the announcement has drawn concern from caregivers, disability-rights advocates, and local lawmakers, who warn that the region may not have the capacity to absorb such a large influx of displaced patients on short notice. Some families told reporters they learned of the closure with little advance notice, and say they have been left to coordinate transitions largely on their own while facing weeks-long delays in securing intake evaluations at alternative clinics.
Advocates argue that psychiatric care for people with disabilities already sits at the edge of system capacity, and fear that losing a major provider could lead to increased hospitalizations, behavioral crises, or long-term care placements that might otherwise have been avoided. They also note that many patients require psychiatrists familiar with atypical medication responses, sensory barriers, behavioral patterns, or co-occurring medical conditions common in autism and intellectual disabilities; specialties not widely available in general outpatient settings.
Local officials have called for coordinated response efforts, including emergency support from county mental health departments and potential telepsychiatry partnerships. But with the program scheduled to close in a matter of weeks, families say they are racing against time. Some have reported waitlists already stretching into spring. Others say they worry their loved ones will lose access to medications requiring close psychiatric oversight, creating risks of destabilization during what is expected to be a difficult transition period.
What Comes Next as the Community Scrambles for Solutions
CFDS has stated that patients will receive discharge summaries, medication lists, and referrals to external providers, but acknowledged that community capacity may be insufficient to meet immediate demand. Regional behavioral health agencies are exploring short-term staffing reinforcements, though options remain limited given statewide shortages. The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities and the Office of Mental Health have not yet announced any formal intervention or emergency continuity plan.
As December 31 approaches, uncertainty remains high for the 1,100 patients and their families who must secure new psychiatric services in a system already stretched thin. While CFDS maintains that the closure was unavoidable due to workforce and financial pressures, the ripple effects highlight the fragility of specialized psychiatric care in communities statewide—and the growing difficulty of maintaining access for individuals with the highest needs.
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