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Authors Posts by Carol Ferenz

Carol Ferenz

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Message from the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP):

Good Morning:

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to delay the Quality Assessment and Improvement (QA&I) activities associated to Cycle 2, Year 1 until July 1, 2022. For FY 2021–2022, ODP will be conducting a second interim review process with several temporarily modified QA&I activities of Administrative Entities (AE), Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO), and Providers; which includes Agency with Choice (AWC) Financial Management Services (FMS) Providers.

The QA&I Interim Year 2 review process is used to demonstrate outcomes in the following areas: CMS Performance Measures, Information Sharing Advisory Committee (ISAC) recommendations, health and welfare, and ODP priorities. It also serves to validate an entity’s adherence with federal and state requirements.

During Interim Year 2, AEs, SCOs and Providers identified in the sample will not receive a traditional onsite review as all activities will occur remotely to include a virtual conference and virtual follow-up meetings if necessary.

Attached please find the updated QA&I Interim Year 2 Review Process Document that includes the changes highlighted in yellow. This document will provide important information for stakeholders to complete the process successfully.

ODP recognizes the many ongoing challenges providers, SCOs, and AEs are managing related to the COVID-19 pandemic; thank you for your continued commitment to supporting individuals with and intellectual disability and autism.

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Message from the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP):

Dear Intermediate Care Facility for Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IDs) and Community Home Provider:

The Department of Human Services (DHS) has a critical need for updated vaccine uptake information as a result of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases and recent news related to boosters. We need your help to gather this important information. Please complete this brief survey by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

This survey is part of a larger effort to obtain a point-in-time view of the vaccination rate of staff and residents in all facilities licensed by DHS. For the number of staff, please use the count for those currently employed and who work within the licensed residential setting(s) operated by your agency (even if they might not come into direct contact with individuals receiving services).

We realize that you have provided this information in the past; you will note that this survey is much shorter than previous versions (Residential Providers complete for agency, not by licensed home) and should take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

For any questions regarding this survey, please contact ODP.

Thank you for your support in our ongoing fight against COVID-19.

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The ID/A Coalition, comprised of RCPA, The Arc of PA, PAR, and Disability Rights of PA, sent a letter to the members of Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation to express their support of the $400 billion in funding to strengthen the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) infrastructure and workforce, which supports the states intellectual disability (ID) and autism communities.

The coalition also sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Legislative leaders calling upon the general assembly to immediately release the funds allocated to the state through the American Rescue Plan to provide critical supports to the ID/A community.

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Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Save the Date!
Registration will soon be opening for the 2021 Pennsylvania Autism Training Conference (PATC).

The Office of Developmental Program’s (ODP’s) Pennsylvania Autism Training Conference (PATC) will be taking the virtual stage once again in early October 2021. Due to the continuing pandemic, this conference will be conducted virtually on a three-day schedule that will include presentations and panels from subject matter experts, providers, self-advocates, and families. Personal narratives will be interspersed throughout the conference in an effort to highlight the perspective of the individual at the core of what we do.

This conference will provide professionals working directly with children and/or adults with autism, with tools, strategies, and resources to help provide the most effective support.

See the attached flyer for more information!

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A Message from Deputy Secretary Kristin Ahrens:

To: Licensed Residential Providers
Hello,

We thank those who have taken the time to complete this survey. For those that have yet to do so, we ask you complete by close of business this Friday. The survey will only take a few minutes. This information will be critical to assist DHS in helping promote vaccination and ensure that all facilities have the provider partners they need to do so. Thanks for all the work you do.

Thank you again for all your support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As PA DOH and DHS prepare for the potential for updated vaccine guidance from the CDC, we request that all Long Term Care Facilities (LTCFs), Congregate Care Facilities and Residential Providers fill out the below one-time survey discussing each facility or community home’s vaccine access plan. The survey consists of only a few questions and should take no more than 3 minutes of your time.

Survey: https://form.jotform.com/212066323150139

Long Term Care and Congregate Care Facilities are asked to share the following information about vaccine access in their facilities:

  • Plan for accessing COVID-19 vaccine doses for residents
  • Who will administer the COVID-19 vaccine at the facility

Please respond to this survey no later than Tuesday, August 17th.

Please notify PA DOH if you have any questions about the survey or how to access the COVID-19 vaccines with the subject of the email “Long Term Care Facility Survey Questions.”

Survey: https://form.jotform.com/212066323150139

Thank you for all of the work you’ve done to vaccinate residents and community members during this pandemic.

Kristin Ahrens | Deputy Secretary
PA Department of Human Services | Office of Developmental Programs

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Pam Gilbert, Fiscal Manager at the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), has shared the following message:

It has come to my attention that there is a problem on FY 2020–2021 Form ID-46, Schedule 19-A with the formulas at the bottom not summarizing by cost center. Cost reporting forms were sent out on August 5; therefore, in order to correct the error:

  1. If you haven’t started preparing your cost reports, simply use the new file named ID-46 Form rev 07_2021a.xlsx, instead of the one without the ‘a’ which was emailed on 8/5.
  2. If you have started setting up your files and entering data, you will not have to repeat any work. Simply follow these steps:
    1. Open the ODP_ID-46FixMacro. (It does contain a macro so you may receive a warning.)
    2. Open the ID-46 file to be corrected.
    3. Click Enable Editing if yellow bar is visible at the top.
    4. Press Ctrl-Shift-F (Macro will run and make a correction on Sch 19-A, Sch 19-B, and return to Cert schedule).
    5. Save your ID-46 file.

If you have any questions or problems, please contact me.

Regards,
Pam

Pamela S. Gilbert | Fiscal Manager
PA Department of Human Services | Office of Developmental Programs
Bureau of Financial Management and Program Support

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