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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has announced the speakers for their Children’s Crisis Intervention Forum, which will be held April 29 – 30, 2025, at the Hilton Harrisburg. The speakers will include:

  • Drew Martel, LISW, CADC, is a leading expert in crisis intervention and suicide prevention, overseeing crisis response programs at CommUnity Crisis Services.
  • Amanda Gillespie, LISW-S, is the MRSS Coordinator at Case Western Reserve University, with expertise in crisis intervention and youth mental health.
  • Heather Distin, Project Director at Case Western Reserve University, is a licensed clinical counselor with 20 years of experience in youth behavioral health and multi-system collaboration.
  • Ashley Nichols-Kaye, MS, MHP, CHCO, is the Program Manager for Human Services Quality Management and HIPAA Compliance at Venango County Human Services.
  • Dr. Rhonda Boyd is a faculty member at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and an associate professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is also the associate director of CHOP’s Child and Adolescent Mood Program.
  • Jennifer Foxworthy, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, is the Founder and CEO of Inspirationally Speaking, LLC, and Unstoppable You Ministries, Inc., serving others as a motivational speaker, author, and coach.

From experienced insights to actionable strategies, these speakers (and more) will inspire your impact!

Date: Tuesday, April 29 – Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Location: Hilton Harrisburg (discounted accommodations available)
Parking: Discounted parking provided to conference guests
Register Today – Space is Limited!

Please contact RCPA Policy Associate Emma Sharp with any questions.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is pleased to announce that the draft application for the Fiscal Year 2025 Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) grant is now available for public comments. The draft application has been posted for public review on the Mental Health in PA website.

The PATH grant is a non-competitive formula grant available to all states and territories by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1990. PATH programs serve individuals with serious mental illness experiencing or at imminent risk of homelessness. The PATH grant application is submitted to the federal agency Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) annually.

Please note that this is the Pennsylvania application to SAMHSA. This is not a request for new PATH project proposals.

The PATH Application public comment period will remain open until 10:00 am Friday, March 21, 2025. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to Lauren MacWithey, Pennsylvania PATH Grant Coordinator, via email.

Please contact RCPA Policy Associate Emma Sharp with any additional questions.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared Bulletin 00-25-01: Room and Board for Individuals Enrolled With the Office of Developmental Programs and 5 accompanying documents:

The sixth document referenced in the bulletin, a version of the Room and Board Agreement translated in Spanish, will be released soon. Stakeholders will be notified when this version of the agreement is ready for use.

This bulletin is to clarify Room and Board requirements outlined in 55 Pa. Code Chapter 6100 (relating to Services for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability or Autism).

ODP has scheduled two trainings:

  1. Room and Board Training: For Residential Habilitation & Life Sharing Professionals
    Friday, March 28, 2025, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
    If you are a professional, please register here.
  2. Room and Board Training: For Individuals and Families
    Thursday, April 3, 2025, 11:30 am  – 1:00 pm
    If you are an individual or family member, please register here.

These trainings will include:

  • The intent of Room and Board;
  • An explanation of Room and Board policies and regulations;
  • An explanation of policy implementation; and
  • An overview of the attachments to the bulletin.

There will be time during the sessions to answer questions submitted by participants during the webinars. For this reason, ODP kindly asks stakeholders to save questions about the bulletin until after the training is held.

Please see the bulletin for additional details and information.

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Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared communication ODPANN 25-028 to clarify how the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation’s (OVR) Memo on March 15, 2025, regarding the Order of Selection and the OVR waiting list for services impacts referral requirements and access to ODP-funded employment services.

ODP and OVR will host a Virtual Office Hour on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 11:00 am. Interested parties are invited to join staff from both ODP and OVR to learn more about how the waitlist for OVR’s services may impact ODP’s employment services. There will be a short presentation with most of the time reserved for participants to ask questions to OVR and ODP staff. The link to register for the Virtual Office Hour may be found at the Virtual Office Hour registration page.

Please review the announcement for registration information and additional details.

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PennDOT recently published Phase 1 of the Shared-Ride Transportation Study. The shared-ride public transportation system is available in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. As the 40-year-old system is currently designed, service providers rely on passenger fares to pay for their operating costs. By sharing a vehicle, the average fare per passenger is lower than it would be if the passenger rode alone. Passengers are commonly seniors, Persons with Disabilities, and low-income recipients of Medical Assistance (MA, Medicaid). Shared-ride provides Pennsylvanians with more than four million passenger trips annually to life-sustaining community services. The executive summary can be found here, and the complete text of the Phase 1 study can be found here.

This phase of the study concluded that the status quo is unsustainable. The most vulnerable citizens of Pennsylvania rely on shared-ride service, which is often the only form of public transportation in rural counties. A solution that ensures its sustainability must balance the needs and limitations of the customer, service provider, and funding partner.

The Shared-Ride Transportation Study Phase 2 will build on this effort to identify and evaluate a range of funding, service delivery, and customer experience alternatives, their tradeoffs, and the likelihood of remaking shared-ride service into a sustainable model.

PennDOT proposes to reconvene the Shared-Ride Pilot Steering Committee created by Act 89 of 2013 to evaluate alternative shared-ride models considering experiences over the last decade. The Steering Committee has representation from customer advocacy groups, service providers, the state legislature, and executive branch funding agencies. These perspectives will be necessary to find and implement tomorrow’s sustainable shared-ride funding and service delivery model.

If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.

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Please share these important PA Family Network workshops and support groups with your network! Register for upcoming events at PA Family Network’s website.

Good Life Group, Support Groups

LifeCourse Workshops

Basic Waiver Workshops

Advanced Waiver Workshops

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The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) today issued Licensing Alert 01-2025 to update statewide exceptions granted to narcotic treatment programs (NTP) in September 2024 to expand access to medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder (MOUD). Specifically, this alert expands the exceptions to allow expanded use of telehealth in initial screening and physical examinations consistent with medical practice regulations of the State Board of Medicine.

Effective December 21, 2024, the State Board of Medicine amended its regulation regarding prescribing, administering, and dispensing controlled substances. The updated regulation mirrors federal regulations by allowing regulated practitioners in NTPs to conduct initial physical examinations by telehealth and initiate treatment with buprenorphine or methadone in compliance with federal requirements and requires an in-person physical examination to be completed within 14 days after admission. Therefore, DDAP is also granting an exception to 28 Pa. Code § 715.9(a)(4), which is the rule that requires a face-to-face determination be made as to whether a person has been dependent on a narcotic drug for at least one year prior to starting MOUD, provided that the NTP has a trained person to diagnose the client using medical criteria in accordance with 42 CFR § 8.12(e)(1) and documents the reason for admission for MOUD treatment in the record. DDAP will allow telehealth for the initial screening and medical examination provided that the clinician determines that they can complete an adequate examination through that method, that the mode of telehealth is permissible for the MOUD to be used in accordance with 42 CFR 8.12(f)(2)(v), and that the NTP completes a full in-person physical examination within 14 days of admission in accordance with 42 CFR 8.12(f)(2)(iii).

DDAP first granted statewide exceptions based on 42 CFR part 8 through Licensing Alert 07-2024. Today’s Licensing Alert 01-2025 rescinds and replaces Licensing Alert 07-2024.

Federal regulations continue to require NTPs and clinicians to comply with pertinent state laws and regulations.

To review all of the exceptions DDAP is granting NTPs, read Licensing Alert 01-2025.

There is no need for NTPs to submit exception requests or to inform the DDAP if they are using these exceptions.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared the Medication Administration (MA) April–June 2025 Train-the-Trainer Face-to-Face Schedule. This is for Medication Administration New and Recertifying Trainers.

Classes for New Trainers and Recertifying Trainers will be held separately. New Trainer classes are for first-time trainers designated as New Trainer and start at 8:30 am. Recertifying Trainer Classes are available in the morning and in the afternoon according to the schedule in the announcement. Morning classes are designated as AM Recertification classes and will start at 8:30 am. Afternoon classes are designated as PM Recertification classes and will start at 1:00 pm.

You may register for one of these sessions after completing the course materials in the Train-the-Trainer course on MyODP’s Medication Administration website. View the schedule here.

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