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Authors Posts by Carol Ferenz

Carol Ferenz

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Medical marijuana buds in spilling out of prescription bottle with branded cap on black background

The Department of Human Services (DHS) and Department of Health (DOH) have issued an updated Medical Assistance Bulletin. The purpose of this bulletin is to clarify the storage, use, and administration of medical marijuana in facilities licensed by the Pennsylvania DOH and Pennsylvania DHS in accordance with the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act.

This bulletin updates MA Bulletin 01-19-45, titled “Medical Marijuana and State Licensure of Facilities and Agencies” issued July 17, 2019, to add two additional licensed facilities, Assisted Living Residences and Personal Care Homes. The previously issued bulletin is obsolete with the issuance of this bulletin.

The responses contained within the bulletin relate only to the state statutes and regulations enforced by the Departments. The Departments cannot make any representations or guarantees about the position of any other state or federal law enforcement or regulatory entity. The Departments strongly recommend that providers consult with their legal counsel with any questions or concerns related to state or federal medical marijuana requirements not specifically addressed in this document.

This bulletin applies to all Facilities Regulated by the following:

  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600 (relating to Personal Care Homes)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2800 (relating to Assisted Living Residences)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3270 (relating to Child Day Care Centers)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3280 (relating to Group Child Day Care Homes)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3290 (relating to Family Child Day Care Homes)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3800 (relating to Child Residential and Day Treatment Facilities)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 5310 (relating to Community Residential Rehabilitation Services for the Mentally Ill)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 6400 (relating to Community Homes for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability)
  • 55 Pa. Code Chapter 6600 (relating to Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability)
  • 28 Pa. Code Part IV (relating to Health Facilities)

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS BULLETIN SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO:
Department of Human Services Office of Policy Development
PO Box 2675, Harrisburg, PA 17110-2675
General Office Number 717-265-8347

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Hole torn in a dollar bill with medicaid text

News from ANCOR:

FINANCE DEMOCRATS DENOUNCE TRUMP ADMIN FOR HARMFUL MEDICAID BLOCK GRANT PROPOSALS

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and all Democratic members of the Finance Committee today called on the Trump administration to end its harmful attacks on the Medicaid program, which provides essential health care to more than 70 million Americans. The letter comes ahead of the committee’s hearing on the president’s budget.

“This Administration in coordination with your Department has taken every opportunity to try to gut Medicaid and put critical health coverage for millions of vulnerable Americans on the chopping block,” the senators wrote. “It is time for the Trump Administration’s ongoing assault on the Medicaid program to end. The public has spoken loud and clear – Medicaid serves as a lifeline to millions of Americans and their loved ones, and they do not want to see it block granted, capped, or gutted.” 

Last month, the Trump administration announced new guidance for the Medicaid program that would hand states a playbook to implement block grants. In return for placing arbitrary funding caps on its Medicaid program, the state would get unprecedented authority to cut benefits and access to care, including prescription drugs, and further restrict coverage by charging unaffordable premiums and cost sharing, and implementing arbitrary paperwork requirements. This week, the Trump administration followed up to their illegal guidance with a budget that proposes to gut Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion, block grant and cap the program, and push their failed paperwork requirements on all states.

Such policies would lead to devastating cuts to Medicaid, jeopardizing affordable, comprehensive care for millions of Americans benefiting from the Medicaid expansion and endangering health care for millions more, including seniors and individuals with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for nursing and home-based care, children and individuals with complex needs who depend on Medicaid to get the help they deserve to stay and thrive in their communities and at school, those suffering from opioid use disorders who count on Medicaid to get the treatment they so desperately need, and individuals impacted by public health emergencies in need of critical care.

The full letter can be found here.

Joining Ranking Member Wyden on the letter are Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Maria Cantwell, D-Wa., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Tom Carper. D-Del., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Mark Warner, D-Va., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has received many questions and requests for clarification from stakeholders regarding Medication Administration contained in 55 Pa. Code §§6100.461 – 6100.469. ODP Announcement 20-014 was developed to communicate requested guidance as well as two attached documents: 1) A Medication Administration Question and Answer document; and 2) A Medication Administration Training Requirements by Service document. The Question and Answer document will be continually updated as questions and requests for clarification are received.

To request technical assistance or submit a question, please use this email address.

Additionally, in order to provide guidance on accessing the correct Medication Administration Training websites and to announce 2020 Face-to-Face Medication Administration Course information, ODP published Announcement 20-015. The Medication Administration Course is applicable to employees working in the following Department of Human Services (DHS) or Department of Aging licensed environments:

  • Chapter 2380: Adult Training Facilities
  • Chapter 2390: Vocational Facilities
  • Chapter 2600: Personal Care Homes
  • Chapter 2800: Assisted Living
  • Chapter 3800: Child Residential and Day Treatment Facilities
  • Chapter 6400: Community Homes for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities that serve eight (8) or fewer individuals
  • Chapter 6600: Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities that serve eight (8) or fewer individuals
  • Chapter 6600: Intermediate Care Facilities for Other Related Conditions that serve eight (8) or fewer individuals
  • Title 6 Aging, Chapter 11: Adult Day Services

Use this link to access the Trainer Registration/Course site.

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ODP Announcement 20-013 informs all staff who became certified during Calendar Years 2016 and 2018 that they are required to become recertified by December 31, 2020 in order to retain their certification. Access to the recertification materials will be available only to those who were certified in 2016 and 2018 and are due for recertification in 2020.

Recertification modules and the accompanying test are available in MyODP at this link.

Recertification applicants will have two attempts – 24 hours apart – to achieve a score of 84%. If recertification applicants wait until the end of the year, they will need to take the test on December 30, 2020 and wait 24 hours to take the test again on the last day, December 31, 2020. If a recertification applicant waits until December 31, 2020 to take the test, they will have only one attempt as the exam will close at midnight on December 31, 2020.

Becoming recertified is highly recommended for staff already certified. Recertification supports the advancement of quality management (QM) skills, knowledge, and expertise, because those who are pursuing recertification are given additional tools and a more in-depth review of information not previously covered in the QM Modules or the face-to-face class. Questions may be directed to this email.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires a statewide process to ensure providers are qualified to render services to waiver-funded individuals. The Provider Qualification Process described below outlines the steps the Assigned AE and provider must follow to meet these requirements and the steps Supports Coordinators take to transition individuals if needed. This communication does not describe the qualification process for SC organizations.

New Provider Requalification
Following the provider’s initial qualification date, all providers classified as New are to be requalified by the end of the following fiscal year as designated on the DP 1059. For example, if a New provider’s first Qualification Begin Date in HCSIS is 01/20/2017, the provider must be requalified by 06/30/2018, which is the end of the following fiscal year. A New provider’s status is updated from New to Existing after the provider is requalified.

Existing Provider Requalification Cycle
Once a provider is classified as Existing, the provider is to be requalified on a three-year cycle based upon the last digit of the provider’s MPI number. By 5/1, sixty days prior to the provider’s qualification 6/30 end date, the Qualification Status will change to Expiring. If the provider is not requalified by the end of the fiscal year (6/30), the Qualification Status will change to expired.

The qualification statuses in HCSIS are as follows:
Service Qualification Status

  • Qualified – The provider meets ODP’s qualification requirements
  • Not Requalified – Assigned AE changes the status from ‘Qualified’ or ‘Expiring’ to ‘Not Requalified,’ if the provider no longer meets ODP’s qualification requirements by 6/30
  • Not Qualified – HCSIS changes the status from ‘Not Requalified’ to ‘Not Qualified’ on 07/01 or ODP can change the status to ‘Not Qualified’ at any time, if the provider’s qualification is being terminated
  • Expiring – HCSIS would automatically change the status from ‘Qualified’ to ‘Expiring’ on 05/01, if the provider has not been requalified
  • Expired – HCSIS would change the status from ‘Expiring’ to ‘Expired’ on 07/01, if the provider has not been requalified

See ODP Announcement 20-007 for the full process and timeline.

The release of this communication obsoletes ODP Announcement 011-18 Provider Qualification Process.

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ODP Announcement 20-010 serves as notice of the requirement to submit qualification documentation for providers who have an MPI number ending in 6, 7, 8, or 9. Providers within this group are due to become requalified in 2020 and must submit documentation no later than 61 days prior to the expiration of provider qualification. Specifically, supporting documentation must be submitted starting February 1, 2020, but no later than March 31, 2020. Documentation must include a completed DP 1059 form, an updated Provider Qualification Documentation Record, as well as any required supporting documentation.

Providers who fail to submit qualified documentation by April 30, 2020, will participate in transition planning for the participants currently receiving Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). As a part of the transition, the assigned administrative entity (AE) will commence transition of waiver participants according to the process detailed in ODP Announcement 20-007. Providers whose qualifications expire June 30 will not be eligible to receive payment for waiver services rendered after June 30, will no longer be qualified to provide HCBS, and will have their name removed from the list of qualified providers of that HCBS.

For reference to provider qualification in PA Code, please see Pennsylvania Bulletin Volume 49, Number 40, Subsections 6100.83-84, which contain provider qualification citation specifications.

For inquiries regarding this communication, contact the ODP Provider Qualification mailbox.

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The US Constitution requires a census of all residents in the entire country every 10 years. The census counts every person living in the US once (and only once) in the right place. You are counted based on where you are living on April 1, 2020. Please encourage individuals that you serve to participate.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL TO PARTICIPATE:

Fair representation & legislative redistricting

The Census determines:

  • How many seats PA has in the US House of Representatives
  • How US congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn

$675+ billion in federal public funding
The Census determines how much funding each state receives for the next 10 years.

Pennsylvania receives $26.8 billion each year
That’s $2,000 per Pennsylvanian

The data collected in the 2020 Census will impact the amount of federal funding our communities get for the next decade for programs like…

  • Medicare (Part B)
  • Medicaid
  • CHIP
  • WIC
  • Healthcare Centers

2020 Census will determine how much food support children, adults, and seniors receive…

  • SNAP
  • School Breakfast Program
  • National School Lunch Program
  • Children and Adult Care Food Program

2020 Census will determine how much we invest in the future of our children…

  • Federal Pell Grants
  • Federal Direct Student Loans
  • Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies
  • Special Education Grants
  • Head Start

2020 Census will determine how much PA’s highways, railways, airports, and ports receive…

  • Highway Planning and Construction
  • Federal Transit Formula Grants
  • Federal Transit Capital Investment Grants

2020 Census will determine how much safe affordable housing will be available…

  • Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans
  • Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers
  • Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments
  • Public and Indian Housing
  • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Program
  • Public Housing Capital Fund

2020 Census determines how much funding rural areas receive for services and infrastructure…

  • Rural Electrification Loans and Loan Guarantees
  • Water and Waste Disposal Systems for Rural Communities
  • Rural Rental Assistance Payments
  • Business and Industry Loans
  • Cooperative Extension Services

2020 Census determines how much support our children and families receive…

  • TANF
  • Title IV-E Foster Care
  • Unemployment Insurance Administration
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds

Your census responses can never be used against you. Under Title 13 of the US Code, the US Census Bureau cannot release any information about an individual. Your answers can only be used to produce statistics.

Census employees and contractors are sworn for life to always protect your information. Violators face fines up to $250,000 and up to five years in prison.

Your information is protected from cyber-attacks, threats, and leaks. The bureau’s cybersecurity meets the highest federal standards for system protection. Your information is protected no matter if you respond online, by phone, or by mail.

If you respond online, make sure the website address begins with HTTPS and includes a lock symbol.

Census workers will never ask for your SSN, banking information, money, or anything on behalf of a political party.

Real census workers carry identification. They will have an official ID badge with photo, a US Department of Commerce watermark, and an expiration date. You can call 800-923-8282 to verify a worker’s identity.

Report suspicious activity. Call your local police department if you receive a visitor falsely claiming to be representing the US Census Bureau.

April 1, 2020 is National Census Day

  • Participate in the census online, by mail, or by phone.
  • If you’re living in Pennsylvania on April 1, 2020, you are a resident.
  • Count every person living in your home on April 1, 2020.

Join in community outreach. Learn more and download resources at the official website.

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