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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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In order to avoid a potential 2 percent decrease in the annual payment update for fiscal year (FY) 2025 (October 2024 – September 2025), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF) are reminded that they must submit complete data in calendar year (CY) 2023 for all quality measures that are a part of the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP).

IRF Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF-PAI) assessment data and data submitted via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for July 1 – September 30 (Q3) of calendar year 2023 must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm on February 15, 2024.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) contractor Swingtech sends informational messages to IRFs that are not meeting Annual Increase Factor (AIF) thresholds on a quarterly basis ahead of each submission deadline. These messages were sent late last week. IRFs are encouraged to check to see if any members of their QRP team received a message from the email address “QRPHelp@swingtech.com.” If members need to add or change the email addresses to which these messages are sent, please email QRP Help and be sure to include your facility name and CCN along with any requested email updates. Any IRFs who receive a Swingtech email message are encouraged to identify and review the measures stated as missing data for Q3 2023 ASAP, and resolve any data issues by the February 15 deadline.

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Temple University has announced free online training options that have been approved to meet personal care home (PCH) annual training requirements. There are two spring 2024 training sessions with various dates to choose from. To learn more about the training sessions and to register, visit the following links:

Participation is limited for each course. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants. If you have any questions about these trainings or if you require assistance with registration, please email PCH Administration.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) just announced that, due to reaching capacity in the February 9 meeting, they are adding a second session at 1:30 pm on the same day. If you are already registered for the morning session, do not register for the afternoon session so that they can keep enough space for all who are interested. Both sessions will be recorded and posted publicly to YouTube, and content will be roughly similar within the two sessions. DHS will share Question and Answer (Q&A) sessions from both, and a follow-up Q&A document will be shared next week.

Visit here to register for the afternoon session.

(If the registration link above does not work, please try copying this link directly into your browser: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/9f3d9e64-6d38-45a7-84eb-b0ae2b1aafd9@418e2841-0128-4dd5-9b6c-47fc5a9a1bde)

Information was issued on January 11, 2024, regarding a second virtual transportation summit that has been planned for February 7, 2024.

Due to the original webinar not being accessible to everyone, the decision was made to change the format of the summit to a Teams virtual meeting. The meeting is open to the public, transportation providers, and anyone interested in transportation issues in the Community HealthChoices (CHC) program.

The purpose of the meeting is to have a full and robust discussion about transportation concerns and needs. There will be staff from various programs on the call, including the CHC Managed Care Organizations (MCO) and transportation brokers, MATP, and PennDOT. They will be on the call to listen to the issues and answer questions as they can.

This is a follow-up to the meeting held on December 11, 2023. This meeting will not have any formal presentations but will allow for participants, providers, and attendees to discuss their transportation issues, difficulties, or positive experiences. Participants can also ask questions during the webinar by either raising their hand and waiting until they are unmuted or by asking their question in the chat.

Attendees are encouraged to send questions or requests to speak in advance of the meeting to Cortney Alvord via email.

________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Teams meeting
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Meeting ID: 218 762 770 115
Passcode: 7Hdkxm
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+1 267-332-8737,,881854265# tel:+12673328737,,881854265#
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Phone Conference ID: 881 854 265#

A Joint Statement of Policy was released in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 13, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the State Board of Nursing, and the Department of Human Services (DHS) regarding the application of Pennsylvania’s partial implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act. The partial implantation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act (2021 Act 68) allows Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) who hold current multistate licenses from other compact states to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without obtaining a license from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, so long as the licensee’s principal place of residence is not in this Commonwealth.

What does this mean for Personal Care Homes (PCH) and Assisted Living Residences (ALR)?

The Joint Statement of Policy clarification on the partial implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act means that PCH/ALR providers may consider a RN or LPN with a multistate license who does not have their principal place of residence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be equivalent to a RN or LPN who holds licensure through the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. Any reference to “Registered Nurse,” “RN,” “Licensed Practical Nurse,” “LPN,” or “nurse” in 55. PA Code Chapter 2600 and 55. PA Code Chapter 2800 and their corresponding Regulatory Compliance Guides (RCG) may be interpreted to include eligible multistate licensed nurses, regardless of whether or not the regulation specifically indicates that licensure is required by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.

All other statutory and regulatory requirements continue to apply. All nurses being utilized in PCH/ALR settings must be able to provide services at the physical location if their job description, facility policies and procedures, and/or resident needs require direct resident assessment, evaluation, or treatment.

Visit here for more information on multi-state nurse licensure, including identification of states participating in the compact. Questions about this communication may be directed via email.

The PA Department of Health (DOH) will be publishing two notices in the Pennsylvania (PA) Bulletin on January 20, 2024, regarding the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Advisory Board.

The first notice announces the renaming of the TBI Advisory Board to the Brain Injury Advisory Board:
The Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Advisory Board (Board) was instituted in August 2001 by the Secretary of Health as a requirement of section 1252 the Federal TBI Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. § 300d-52) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Federal TBI Planning Grant, presently known as the Administration for Community Living (ACL) TBI State Partnership Program Grant. There is no requirement for the Board to be specifically called the TBI Advisory Board. Until 2021, the grant stipulated that the Board must have 50% of its voting members exclusively represent individuals with a TBI. With this limited scope, individuals with a nontraumatic brain injury (nonTBI) could not be considered as voting members. It created gaps in representation and understanding, hindering the Board’s ability to address the diverse needs of the broader brain injury community. As awareness of nonTBI evolved and service needs increased for individuals with a nonTBI, ACL expanded the scope of the Board to allow all individuals with nonTBI brain injury to serve as voting members. On August 4, 2023, the Board convened and voted unanimously to change its name to the Brain Injury Advisory Board. This adjustment underscores a strategic initiative toward inclusivity. It acknowledges the various origins of brain injuries and aims to bridge the current gap in representation. The change also aligns the Board’s nomenclature with its commitment to comprehensive advocacy, facilitating a more nuanced understanding and responsive approach to the diverse challenges encountered by individuals affected by all forms of acquired brain injuries.

The second notice provides information about the next board meeting. The Brain Injury Advisory Board will hold their next public meeting on February 2, 2024, from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm in person at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN), 6340 Flank Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17112, in the Cambria conference room.

Meeting materials will be sent out before the meeting and will also be available on their website and at the meeting location. Questions about the meeting should be directed to Nicole Johnson.

The DOH’s Head Injury Program (HIP) strives to ensure that eligible individuals who have a brain injury receive high quality rehabilitative services aimed at reducing functional limitations and improving quality of life. The Board assists the DOH in understanding and meeting the needs of persons living with acquired brain injuries, both traumatic and nontraumatic, and their families. This quarterly meeting will provide updates on a variety of topics including the number of people served by HIP. In addition, meeting participants will discuss budgetary and programmatic issues, community programs relating to traumatic and nontraumatic brain injuries, and available advocacy opportunities.