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Authors Posts by Sharon Militello

Sharon Militello

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As communications director, Sharon Militello is responsible for the design, development, and maintenance of the association website and social media pages; editing and preparation of communications; preparing and running webcasts; cultivating media relations; and maintaining relationships with technology support vendors.

Now more than ever, solutions and strategies are needed to meet the growing demand for mental health and substance use treatment in communities across the country.

NatCon23 — the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s annual conference — will be held on May 1–3 in Los Angeles, California. NatCon23 is more than an event – it’s an invitation to boost your operations and impact, while learning alongside 5,000+ health care colleagues from across the country.

Three days of nonstop learning, networking, and entertainment at the internationally renowned Los Angeles Convention Center. As an attendee, you can:

  • Hear from 280+ sought-after speakers from all facets of health and human services;
  • Enjoy hundreds of hours of evidence-based, industry-leading content;
  • Participate in “deep dive” discussions about the future of our field;
  • Earn continuing education and continuing medical education credits; and
  • Celebrate health care heroes during an awards program.

To explore the value available to you, visit the NatCon23 website, where you can learn about featured speakers, view the curriculum, get the latest updates, and more. I hope you’ll join me at NatCon23 as we celebrate our collective impact, discuss the future of our field, discover new tools and technologies, and keep our momentum going together.

Regards,

Richard S. Edley, PhD
RCPA President/CEO

RCPA is pleased to announce a new program for RCPA members, one that will help you save on your health insurance while providing access to quality care for your employees: Introducing the RCPA Captive Health Plan.

Source: BizNewsPA, Friday, March 3, 2023

WHO’S SOUNDING ALARMS: Organizations that represent nursing homes and care providers for people with intellectual disabilities. The organizations are warning of continued labor shortages that are jeopardizing access to care. Providers have struggled to attract workers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Nearly one-third of nursing homes in Pennsylvania have at least 21 openings for direct-care providers, according to a new report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which says inadequate staffing leads nursing homes to deny entry to people seeking care.
  • In the world of services for people with intellectual disabilities and autism, staff shortages and underfunding have spurred an 11% drop in the number of people being served over the last three years, according to research by the Rehabilitation and Community Providers AssociationPennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disability and The Provider Alliance.
  • The groups described the care system for people with intellectual disabilities as being in a state of collapse.

The bottom line: Provider groups have been pressing for increases in state and federal aid to cope with rising costs and growing demand for services.

  • Their new research comes ahead of next week’s budget address by Gov. Josh Shapiro, scheduled for March 7.

Physical, Mental and Emotional words on a venn diagram to illustrate total balance of mind, body and soul or spirit health and wellbeing

As the behavioral health field continues to move in the direction of integration efforts with physical health, RCPA is embarking on a series of discussions/webinars for 2023. Specifically, to inform our members, we want an open discussion on a range of topics such as:

  • Best practices in integration of care and current successes;
  • Clinical and financial implications;
  • Payer and provider vantage points;
  • How managed care models can evolve to support this effort and overcome barriers;
  • Future innovations;
  • Regulatory reform needed; and
  • Standards, consistency, accountability, and meaningful VBP models.

We would envision speakers from the BH-MCOs, Counties and primary contractors, legislators, providers, the administration, national groups (e.g., National Council, other states), and others.  This would culminate in a discussion at the RCPA Annual Conference in October.

We want the discussion to be an interesting and thought-provoking dialogue and to bring in speakers from a number of perspectives. We hope you will join in the discussion, and information on our first presentation will be coming out shortly. Please contact RCPA if you have ideas for topics or presenters as well.