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Authors Posts by Melissa Dehoff

Melissa Dehoff

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Melissa Dehoff is responsible for all medical rehabilitation and brain injury service issues. Ms. Dehoff attends multiple state-level meetings to advocate on behalf of members on brain injury and rehabilitation issues and is a member of the Department of Health Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has been sending reminders to personal care homes, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities regarding the benefits of Long-Term Care Resiliency Infrastructure Supports & Empowerment (LTC-RISE). Please see the latest reminder below:

Over the last several months, the LTC-RISE partners have been reaching out to skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, and assisted living facilities with various quality improvement projects funded by their partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). By completing a needs assessment with you at your facility, the LTC-RISE partner can work with you to identify and support areas of improvement that will strengthen your facility’s ability to respond to any future health crisis at no financial cost to you. Some of the areas they can assist with include infection prevention and control, emergency preparedness, facilitating staffing contracts, use of health technology, and more! Please see the letter for additional information on this initiative for personal care homes and assisted living facilities, as well as skilled nursing facilities.

Many of you have already taken advantage of the opportunity to participate in any or all of these programs, but for those of you who have not, I encourage you to reach out directly to your local LTC-RISE partner to find out about how to enroll and be included in this and future opportunities that may become available.  

Please go to the DOH LTC-RISE website to read more about this opportunity, see which region serves your facility based on county, and see contact information to find out more about enrolling with our LTC-Rise partners.

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On October 7, 2022, the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL)/Financial Management Services (FMS) conducted a stakeholder meeting. During the meeting, a PowerPoint presentation was reviewed. Going forward, these stakeholder meetings will take place on a quarterly basis. There will also be an FMS Advisory Group established. A link to the application to be considered for this group is included in the PowerPoint presentation (slide 23). They are still accepting applications if anyone is interested in this opportunity.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Request for Information (RFI) that seeks public input on the concept of establishing a National Directory of Healthcare Providers and Services (NDH) that could serve as a centralized data hub for health care provider, facility, and entity directory information nationwide. The goal of this directory is to improve access to care, reduce clinician burden, and support interoperability throughout the health care sector.

CMS is seeking comment on how a CMS-led directory could reduce directory maintenance burden on providers and payers by creating a single, centralized system, promoting real-time accuracy for patients.

Feedback obtained in response to the RFI will aid CMS’ understanding of the current landscape of health care directories, as well as information useful to CMS when considering an NDH. CMS is specifically requesting public feedback on the NDH concept and potential benefits, provider types, entities and data elements that could be included to create value for the health care  industry, the technical framework for an NDH, priorities for a possible phased implementation, and prerequisites and actions CMS should consider taking to address potential challenges and risks.

The RFI will be published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2022. Comments on the RFI will be accepted through December 6, 2022.

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The next Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Subcommittee meeting is coming up on November 2, 2022. The meeting will take place from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the PA Department of Education Building’s Honors Suite, 1st floor, at 333 Market St. in Harrisburg. Participants can also join via webinar.

To participate in the meeting via webinar, please register here. When registering, please verify that you entered your email address correctly. You will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar if you registered correctly. If you have trouble accessing the webinar registration through Internet Explorer or Safari web browsers, please try accessing it through a different web browser such as Chrome or Edge.

Dial In Number: (415) 655-0060
Access Code: 473303994#

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Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

QUAKERTOWN, PA — September 30, 2022: Community Skills Program® — a non-residential rehabilitation program of Counseling and Rehabilitation, Inc., has transferred its program to continue under Success Rehabilitation and will now become a part of Success Rehabilitation’s comprehensive continuum of care.

“We are truly humbled to have the trust of Sally Kneipp, founder of Community Skills Program, and will work with her to continue, under Success Rehabilitation, to build on her legacy and the incredible work of Community Skills Program. We are excited to come together to strengthen our culture of excellence in becoming the model for post-acute brain injury rehabilitation.” Success Rehabilitation CEO Joanne Tangney said in a statement, “This new initiative accelerates our strategic goal of delivering a comprehensive continuum of care to meet the rehabilitation needs of individuals with acquired brain injury or other neurologic impairments wherever they need it the most — from our residential and outpatient programs to their homes and communities.”

When explaining the decision to approach Success Rehabilitation about administering Community Skills Program as part of Success’s comprehensive care options, Sally pointed out that she has respected the brain injury providers with whom Community Skills Program has collaborated over the years, and has enjoyed their collegial relationships. She added, “Given the values and vision of Success Rehabilitation’s team members and the continuity and consistency of their management, it seemed logical for Success to take the reins in expanding Community Skills Program’s non-residential home and community-based services under their leadership.”

Community Skills Program, a private non-residential rehabilitation program of Counseling and Rehabilitation, Inc., has been serving individuals in Pennsylvania since 1981, and then in New Jersey, as well. Community Skills Program was designed to assist individuals with traumatic brain injuries to make the transition from hospital-based programs to inclusive community living focused on their strong interests and personal goals.

Success Rehabilitation is a specialty post-acute brain injury rehabilitation provider with residential and neuro rehabilitation outpatient program locations in Southeastern Pennsylvania. For 34 years, Success Rehabilitation’s CARF Accredited brain injury programs have set the standard for outcomes-focused rehabilitation, including a comprehensive vocational program, improving the lives of individuals who have experienced acquired brain injury.

Visit Success Rehabilitation

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On behalf of the Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Learning Network, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation invites you to join the next special population webinar on October 13, 2022.

Going Beyond “Great Job!” With Appreciation That Impacts Lives
This webinar will continue to follow this quarter’s education theme, addressing workforce challenges. We all share the same need to feel appreciated for our contributions, yet only 3 in 10 US employees strongly agree that in the last seven days they have received recognition or praise for doing good work (Gallup, 2017). Using an interactive exercise, this session will explore a different way of expressing appreciation that supports connection and wellbeing.

Please invite the following Special Population Team Members:

  • Nursing Home Administrators;
  • Directors of Nursing;
  • Nurse Managers;
  • Medical Directors;
  • Service Coordinator Supervisors; and
  • Human Resource Team Members.

VISIT HERE to register for this Zoom webinar scheduled on Thursday, October 13, at 2:00 pm.

You will need your National Provider Identifier (NPI) to register. (If you do not have one or do not know it, please enter 0 on the registration form)

REMINDER: If you have not already registered for the October 6, 2022, Nursing Facility Webinar: Protecting and Preserving our Workforce by Preventing Common Injuries, VISIT HERE.

The Learning Network is part of the Department of Human Services’ Quality Strategy for Nursing Facilities, offered as a collaboration of the Community HealthChoices Managed Care Organizations.

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RCPA has been in communication with the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA), who has been working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) do not face inappropriate non-compliance penalties related to the IRF Patient Assessment Instrument (PAI) version 4.0 that is set to go into effect tomorrow (October 1, 2022). One particular concern is new items in version 4.0 do not include a “skip logic” to account for unplanned discharges that classify as incomplete stays. This oversight could lead to many IRFs not meeting the 95 percent data completion threshold for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Quality Reporting Program (IRF QRP).

Yesterday, CMS released a statement on the issue along with a Question & Answer (Q&A) document. CMS also noted that the agency will determine if a permanent fix is necessary and will release any related guidance or data specifications in the coming weeks.

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