Early Childhood Suspensions and Expulsions — Free Webinar on March 10
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Preparation for the Upcoming Rate Increases for the Adult Autism Waiver
ODP Announcement 22-021 provides guidance on the upcoming rate increases for the Adult Autism Waiver. Compensation is beginning March 1, 2022; the new rates will be implemented in the Home and Community Services Information System (HCSIS) on March 1, 2022. All Individual Support Plans (ISPs), including ISPs in draft, pending review, or pending approval status, will be updated with the new rates for each of the applicable services. An additional fiscal segment will automatically be added on each ISP for each service that is impacted by the rate change.
Providers are strongly encouraged to review Service Authorization Notices or the Provider Service Detail report in HCSIS to confirm the new rates were loaded, authorized, and that they are billing the increased Fee Schedule Rate before attempting to bill for any services rendered March 1, 2022, and after.
Compensation for the Period July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022
Providers should bill normally for any services rendered from July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022. ODP will be compensating providers, via gross adjustments, for the difference between the rate billed and the updated fee schedule rate for dates of service rendered during the period July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022. This is intended to eliminate the provider’s effort of voiding and re-billing claims.
ODP anticipates processing gross adjustments during the April to May 2022 timeframe to ensure all billing for dates of service July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022, has been completed. Because the rates will be loaded into HCSIS effective July 1, 2021, and the gross adjustment compensation will be issued by ODP, providers should not adjust any claims after April 1, 2022, submitted for services rendered on July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022.
Adjustment of a claim(s) for services delivered during these dates will result in a duplication of payment that will need to be repaid. Providers are strongly encouraged to bill in a timely manner to minimize the need for corrections.
For questions on how to resolve billing errors for services that were rendered on July 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022, contact Amber Bennett.
Correction to Rates for Small Group Employment and Residential Habilitation Ineligible Fees
Because of an internal editing error, the rates for Small Group Employment and Residential Habilitation: Community Home Ineligible published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin (52 Pa.B. 1326, February 26, 2022) were incorrect. The correct rates, with the corresponding procedure codes, are higher than what was published. The corrected rates are also available on the Department of Human Services’ website.
IPRC Webinar: Documentation Overhaul — Reimagining Family-Friendly Documentation
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
12:00 pm–1:00 pm EDT, 11:00 am–12:00 pm CDT,
10:00 am–11:00 am MDT, 9:00 am–10:00 am PDT
Christine Koterba, PhD, ABBP
Kimberly C. Davis, PhD
Speaker Bios:
Christine Koterba, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychology and Neuropsychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Ohio State University. She is also the attending neuropsychologist on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit and the Associate Director for the Pediatric Neuropsychology Internship Track. She serves on the board of the Brain Injury Association of Ohio, is a co-chair of the Education and Advocacy Committee of the International Pediatric Rehabilitation Collaborative, and is a co-chair of the International Neuropsychology Society Brain Injury Special Interest Group. In addition to her work in pediatric rehabilitation and brain injury, she has particular interest on the impact of acquired illnesses with the potential for neurological impact, such as COVID-19 and MIS-C in children. She has published on COVID-related changes to neuropsychology rehabilitation practice and has presented on the impact of the pandemic on children and pediatric neuropsychology.
Kimberly Davis, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Department of Pediatrics, Division of Psychology and a Pediatric Neuropsychologist at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) in Houston, Texas. Dr. Davis is the Attending Neuropsychologist on the Texas Children’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit, where she provides comprehensive assessment, consultation, and family education for children, adolescents, and young adults with recently acquired brain injury. She has also established clinical services and pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training curricula for inpatient neuropsychological consultation and outpatient pediatric cognitive rehabilitation. In addition to her work as a clinician-educator, Dr. Davis leads a number of intraprofessional collaborations aiming to enhance care for youth with acquired brain injury. She is the Vice President of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Neuropsychology Collaborative, serves on the board of the International Neuropsychological Society Brain Injury Special Interest Group, and contributes to subcommittees and work groups through the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society, International Pediatric Rehabilitation Collaborative, and American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. She has published and presented on long-term outcomes of pediatric-acquired brain injury and maintains a specific interest in family perceived educational needs throughout the continuum of pediatric brain injury recovery.
Objectives:
At the end of the session, the learner will:
- Discuss 3 challenges to effective communication with families.
- Identify alternative language to use when communicating with families.
- Describe methods to assess caregiver communication preferences.
Audience: This webinar is intended for all members of the rehabilitation team, including medical staff, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, licensed psychologists, mental health professionals, and other interested professionals.
Level: Intermediate
Certificate of Attendance: Certificates of attendance are available for all attendees. No CEs are provided for this course.
Registration: Registration is complimentary for members of IPRC/RCPA. Registration fee for non-members is $179. Not a member yet? Consider joining today. Multiple registrations per organization are permitted.
ODP Update: Clarification of Staff Reporting of COVID-19
ODP Announcement 20-099 provides further updated instructions on the use of the Health Risk Screening (HRS) web portal in staff reporting cases of COVID-19 and provides a reminder that timely reporting is essential to ensure system responsiveness to COVID-19 outbreak.
DHS Budgets $1.6B in Capitation for D&A Services for FY 2023; Appropriations Hearings Set for This Week
The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet for a budget hearing with the Department of Human Services (DHS) at 10:00 am on Tuesday, March 8. The budget hearing will be livestreamed. Then, at 10:00 am Wednesday, March 9, the House Appropriations Committee will hold its hearing with DHS. That hearing will also be livestreamed.
DHS is budgeting more than $6 billion in capitation to pay for behavioral health services in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022/2023. Based on the current fiscal year’s spending, approximately 22 percent, or $1.6 billion, is budgeted to be spent for drug and alcohol, including administration fees paid to behavioral health managed care organizations, according to DHS. The $6 billion is an increase of 11 percent over the $5.4 billion budgeted for FY 2022.
The details of the budget are available in DHS’ 2022/2023 Executive Budget.
The $6 billion behavioral health budget (p. 105 of 399 in the Executive Budget) is comprised of:
- $3,897,128,323 in federal dollars;
- $2,053,063,138 in state dollars; and
- $57,038,059 in COVID funding (i.e., a portion of the temporary 10 percent increase in federal medical assistance percentage [FMAP] as part of the American Rescue Plan Act).
The FY 2022/2023 budget also includes $57 million in state dollars for the Behavioral Health Services Initiative (BHSI). BHSI includes state funds to provide treatment services to Pennsylvanians who are uninsured, do not have insurance that covers the service they need, or cannot obtain Medical Assistance benefits. Single County Authorities distribute those dollars per the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol’s Fiscal Manual, according to DHS.
The DHS Executive Budget also breaks out an $80 million line item in both FY 2021/2022 and FY 2022/2023 for the American Society of Addiction Medicine transition (See p. 101 of 399). This $80 million, $16 million of which is state dollars, is included in $6 billion behavioral health capitation budget.
RCPA will continue to update the membership on the budget as it moves toward passage in the coming months.
2022 ASD Virtual Seminar: Registration is Open!
Positive Behavioral Supports: Meaningful, Everyday Application
We are always looking for better ways to support someone to achieve the quality of life they desire. This requires a social, behavioral, and biological understanding of that person. Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) is an empirically documented, person-centered approach that can be used in day-to-day supports for all people across all systems. For those of you who are not familiar with PBS, ODP will provide an overview of this framework, sharing examples and ways that this has been implemented. For those of you who have a general understanding of the essential elements of PBS, ODP will provide you with tools and ways to infuse PBS into your programs and supports to strengthen your focus on supporting a positive quality of life.
Please join ODP on one of the following dates and times:
- Wednesday, April 6, 2022, from 12:30 pm–4:30 pm
- Thursday, April 7, 2022, from 10:00 am–2:00 pm
- Tuesday, April 12, 2022, from 2:00 pm–6:00 pm
- Thursday, April 21, 2022, from 9:00 am–1:00 pm
- Tuesday, April 26, 2022, from 11:00 am–3:00 pm
To register for a session, you must follow these steps:
- Visit this link and log in to MyODP OR create a new account.
- Complete and submit the Spring 2022 ASD Seminar Demographics Form.
- Return to the main course page to register directly through Zoom.
Notes:
- You will receive an email confirmation of your registration directly from ASERT Collaborative when you complete all steps mentioned above.
- Content is repeated for all five dates, so you only need to register for one session.
Reminder for IDD Member Webinar: How to File a Rate Appeal — March 7, 2022
How Blended, Braided, or Sequenced Funding Can Help Drive Employment, Equity, and Inclusion
The LEAD Center will host a webinar entitled “How Blended, Braided, or Sequenced Funding Can Help Drive Employment, Equity, and Inclusion” on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 from 3:00 pm–4:30 pm ET. This federal interagency webinar will feature state practitioners across the workforce system discussing how they successfully applied innovative and collaborative resource sharing to benefit both businesses and jobseekers with disabilities.
Register here for the webinar.
Residents Urging Action on Workforce Crisis
In the last month, more than 2,500 residents have contacted the administration and their local state senators and representatives urging them to address the workforce crisis affecting Pennsylvania’s human services sectors.
The outreach has been extraordinary! But we can’t stop now.
The House and Senate will be wrapping up their annual budget hearings over the next few days and turning their attention to crafting the commonwealth’s final spending plan before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
If you haven’t done so already, please reach out and urge lawmakers to increase funding to support human services professionals so individuals and families in need get the support and care they deserve. Ask your networks to do the same.
Pennsylvania is sitting on billions of federal dollars and state “rainy day” funds that could increase wages to help us attract and retain human service professionals. Yet, even as this workforce crisis worsens, the money remains unspent as the needs of our most vulnerable residents go unmet.
The outpouring of support so far is evidence of how this crisis is affecting individuals and families, as well as the providers and professionals who want to serve them.
But we need to do more…and we need to sustain the effort.
Please VISIT HERE to learn how you can help. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed of our progress. Most importantly, TAKE ACTION TODAY. Tell lawmakers to increase funding to address the workforce crisis facing Pennsylvania’s health and human services.
Thank you for your continued support.
Requirements for First Aid, Heimlich Techniques, and CPR Training in ODP Licensed Facilities
ODP Announcement 22-028 is to notify licensees that trainings in First Aid, Heimlich techniques, and/or CPR provided to staff and caregivers in ODP-licensed settings on or after April 1, 2022, must have an in-person component.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ODP permitted online-only courses with no in-person component, as many hospitals and health care organizations were not offering in-person classes. Hospitals and health care organizations have since resumed in-person instruction with necessary COVID precautions in place. As such, any training in First Aid, Heimlich techniques, and/or CPR provided to staff and caregivers in ODP-licensed settings on or after April 1, 2022, must have an in-person component.
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