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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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On August 6, 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s (DOH) Holly Simpson, Infection Preventionist in the Bureau of Epidemiology, conducted a webinar titled “PAHAN 569 Update: Work Restrictions for Healthcare Personnel with Exposure to COVID-19.” This webinar provided a lot of great information, and a recording of the webinar is now available to view.

Included in the presentation was a review of the information contained in PA HAN 569. This review included topics such as defining a “high-risk” exposure for healthcare personnel (HCP), how and when work exclusion for HCP should occur, testing strategy for HCP, and criteria for reducing work exclusion for HCP to mitigate staffing shortages.

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The Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Human Services (DHS) issued the following time-sensitive information that includes links to very important surveys regarding COVID-19 vaccine access and vaccination rates. Please take a few minutes to complete these. Additional instructions are included in this handout.

COVID-19 cases are increasing around the country and in Pennsylvania due to the Delta Variant. In order to continue to support our long-term and congregate care facilities and keep residents and staff safe, the Departments of Health (DOH) and Human Services (DHS) need to understand current vaccination rates for people receiving care and staff in licensed residential setting as well as providers’ abilities to access vaccines for staff and residents.

Please complete both surveys linked below by Friday, August 20:

  • DOH Vaccine Access Status
    • If you have any questions about the survey or how to access COVID-19 vaccines, please email DOH with the subject of the email “Long-Term Care Facility Survey Questions.”
  • DHS Vaccination Rate Survey (instructions here):
  • Both surveys are brief and will provide the most up-to-date information of how your facilities access vaccines as well as current vaccination rates at your facilities.

Your response to these surveys will help us ensure that your staff and residents can get a COVID-19 vaccine if they have not yet received one or, if necessary, receive a booster if they are recommended. We know that unvaccinated individuals are most at-risk of infection and complications related to the Delta Variant. DOH, DHS, and our partners strongly urge that all people who are eligible protect themselves and all around them by getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Please continue to encourage your staff and residents who are not yet vaccinated to protect themselves and get their shot.

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

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Today, Governor Wolf announced that Commonwealth employees in state health care facilities and high-risk congregate facilities will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 7, 2021. Individuals who are not vaccinated will be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Additionally, beginning September 7, 2021, all new external hires in these facilities must be vaccinated before commencing employment.

In addition to the ​”vaccine or test​” requirement, Governor Wolf announced a vaccine incentive for state employees under the governor’s jurisdiction. Starting October 1, 2021, ​all vaccinated state employees under the governor’s jurisdiction are eligible for an additional 7.5 or 8 hours paid time off. The Office of Administration will work with employees and agencies to develop a mechanism for employees to confirm proof of vaccination.

Currently, more than 63​% of Pennsylvanians 18 and older are fully vaccinated, with the state ranking fifth among all 50 states for total doses administered. Members are encouraged to review the vaccine outreach letter to help in promoting vaccinations to those in your facilities. Additional free resources are available on the PA Unites Against COVID website.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has developed a new Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) training module specifically for Service Coordinators (SCs) and Direct Service Providers (DSPs).

SDoH are environmental and societal factors that impact health outcomes. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes SDoH as the conditions in which an individual is born, grows, lives, works and ages. These often-interrelated factors, though not medical in nature, can have a significant effect on health and long-term care outcomes.

The goal of this training is to educate SCs and DSPs about SDoH, review barriers to addressing SDoH with program participants, and apply the learning to the long-term care environment. To access the online training module, go to OLTL Service Coordinator Online Training – Dering. Complete the training module, then complete the registration page at the end of the training to receive credit for the course.

Questions about this training module should be directed to the enrollment unit.

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Inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) are reminded about the upcoming IRF quality reporting program (QRP) submission deadline that is quickly approaching. The IRF patient assessment instrument (PAI) data set assessment data and data submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for January 1, 2021–March 31, 2021 (Q1) are due with the submission deadline of August 16, 2021. All data must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm on August 16, 2021.

The list of measures required for this deadline is found on the CMS QRP website:

Providers are encouraged to run applicable CASPER/iQIES/NHSN analysis reports prior to each quarterly reporting deadline in order to ensure that all required data has been submitted.

Swingtech sends informational messages to IRFs that are not meeting annual payment update (APU) thresholds on a quarterly basis ahead of each submission deadline. If there are email addresses that need to be added or changed to which these messages are sent, an email should be sent here. Please include facility name and CMS Certification Number (CCN) along with any requested email updates.

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Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL) announced that they will hold a statewide Service Coordinator (SC) Training webinar on September 8, 2021, from 10:00 am–12:00 pm. This training webinar will address information for SCs who serve participants who utilize Participant-Directed Services.

Agenda topics will include: Program Information, Roles & Responsibilities, Enrollment Process, Authorizations, and Managing Participant Services. To join the webinar, please visit the Microsoft Teams link below. Please contact PPL with any questions regarding this training.

Microsoft Teams link

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Temple University Harrisburg has announced their free fall 2021 training programs for personal care home (PCH) and assisted living residence (ALR) providers. The training programs will be offered fully online and may be counted toward annual administrator training requirements.

The training sessions that will be offered include:

Please only register for these sessions if you are sure you will be able to complete them. Participation is limited for each course. If you register and later discover you are unavailable to participate, please cancel your registration to allow another individual to participate.

If you have any questions or need technical assistance with registering, please email Temple University or call Temple at (215) 204-4866.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) issued a notice of an upcoming Financial Management Services (FMS) stakeholder meeting scheduled for August 6, 2021 from 1:00 pm–2:30 pm. This public meeting will be to discuss upcoming changes for the administration of FMS under the Community HealthChoices (CHC), OBRA Waiver, and Act 150 programs. Representatives from OLTL and CHC Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) will be in attendance to discuss upcoming changes. Meeting details are below:

Join from the meeting link

Join by meeting number
Meeting number (access code): 132 276 5679
Meeting password: kiDvMyG7S35

Tap to join from a mobile device (attendees only)
+1-408-418-9388,,1322765679## United States Toll
+1-202-860-2110,,1322765679## United States Toll (Washington D.C.)

Join by phone
+1-408-418-9388 United States Toll
+1-202-860-2110 United States Toll (Washington D.C.)
Global call-in numbers

Join from a video system or application
Dial 1322765679@pa-hhs.webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.

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The following information was released from the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) today regarding the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding distribution.

Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was allocated by the General Assembly and enacted by the Governor to provide $282 million to nursing facilities (NF), personal care homes (PCH), and assisted living residences (ALR). These ARPA funds should be used for COVID-19 relief for costs not otherwise reimbursed by federal, state, or other sources of funding. To qualify for the one-time payment, the facility must be in operation as of June 1, 2021.

OLTL is still working on the details of all of these payments. Providers should be expecting to receive a letter with more details about the payments, including information about the approved use of and reporting on these funds, in August of 2021.

Additionally, as OLTL did with the CARES Act payments, payment information by facility for NF, PCH, and ALRs will be posted to the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) website.

Nursing Facility Payments

Out of the $282 million, $247 million is allocated for NF payments. $198 million will be allocated to NF based on Medical Assistance (MA) days of care for the third quarter of calendar year 2019 and $49 million will be allocated based on licensed beds for all nursing facilities as of March 31, 2020.

NF providers enrolled in the MA program do not need to submit requests for the funding. All currently enrolled NFs will receive the funding provided they meet the criteria in the act.

OLTL is preparing the distribution of the funds as one-time gross adjustment for NFs currently enrolled in MA. Providers should expect to see the payment appear as a gross adjustment transaction/lump sum payment on a PROMISe remittance advice with payment issuance occurring nine days after the transaction appears on their remittance. OLTL’s intention is to distribute the payments in early fall 2021.

NFs who are not currently enrolled with MA must complete a form providing information for OLTL to issue the payment and return it to DHS. The form is currently being developed and will be posted on the DHS’ website in August 2021. Reminder messages will be sent to facilities when the form is posted on the DHS website. Checks will start to be issued and mailed in fall 2021. It is a manual process to prepare an invoice to generate a payment to a provider; thus the checks will be issued as the forms are processed.

PCH/ALR Payments

Out of the $282 million, $30 million was provided for payments to PCHs and ALRs. $27 million will be allocated based on the occupancy of the facility on or before April 1, 2020, and $3 million will be allocated proportionally based on the number of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) residents in the facility as of March of 2020.

PCH and ALRs must complete a form providing information for OLTL to issue the payment and return it to the Department. The form is currently being developed and will be posted on the DHS’ website in August 2021. Reminder messages will be sent to facilities when the form is posted on the DHS’ website. Checks will be issued and mailed starting in fall 2021. Please understand it is a manual process to prepare an invoice to generate a payment to a provider; thus checks will take time to be issued to the almost 1200 PCH and ALRs.

If you have questions about the above information, please contact the OLTL Provider Helpline at 800-932-0939.

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