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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has been sending reminders to personal care homes, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities regarding the benefits of Long-Term Care Resiliency Infrastructure Supports & Empowerment (LTC-RISE). Please see the latest reminder below:
Over the last several months, the LTC-RISE partners have been reaching out to skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, and assisted living facilities with various quality improvement projects funded by their partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). By completing a needs assessment with you at your facility, the LTC-RISE partner can work with you to identify and support areas of improvement that will strengthen your facility’s ability to respond to any future health crisis at no financial cost to you. Some of the areas they can assist with include infection prevention and control, emergency preparedness, facilitating staffing contracts, use of health technology, and more! Please see the letter for additional information on this initiative for personal care homes and assisted living facilities, as well as skilled nursing facilities.
Many of you have already taken advantage of the opportunity to participate in any or all of these programs, but for those of you who have not, I encourage you to reach out directly to your local LTC-RISE partner to find out about how to enroll and be included in this and future opportunities that may become available.
Please go to the DOH LTC-RISE website to read more about this opportunity, see which region serves your facility based on county, and see contact information to find out more about enrolling with our LTC-Rise partners.
On October 7, 2022, the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL)/Financial Management Services (FMS) conducted a stakeholder meeting. During the meeting, a PowerPoint presentation was reviewed. Going forward, these stakeholder meetings will take place on a quarterly basis. There will also be an FMS Advisory Group established. A link to the application to be considered for this group is included in the PowerPoint presentation (slide 23). They are still accepting applications if anyone is interested in this opportunity.
Thursday, October 20 — 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
REGISTER
Trauma comes in many forms. Research suggests that individuals with disabilities are two to ten times more likely to experience a traumatic event than the general population. The barriers individuals face related to trauma include increased risk of abuse and a lack of follow through when traumatic events are reports. This session will help to define trauma, inform providers on how to create a trauma-informed practice, and give an overview of empirically-supported trauma interventions from childhood through adulthood.
Presenter: Nicholas DeMarco, Ph.D. Director of ID Mental Health Supports, PMHCC, Inc.
Dr. DeMarco is an experienced behavioral health leader with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. His training was from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The meeting materials from the October 4, 2022 Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Subcommittee meeting are now available. You can find the materials below:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Request for Information (RFI) that seeks public input on the concept of establishing a National Directory of Healthcare Providers and Services (NDH) that could serve as a centralized data hub for health care provider, facility, and entity directory information nationwide. The goal of this directory is to improve access to care, reduce clinician burden, and support interoperability throughout the health care sector.
CMS is seeking comment on how a CMS-led directory could reduce directory maintenance burden on providers and payers by creating a single, centralized system, promoting real-time accuracy for patients.
Feedback obtained in response to the RFI will aid CMS’ understanding of the current landscape of health care directories, as well as information useful to CMS when considering an NDH. CMS is specifically requesting public feedback on the NDH concept and potential benefits, provider types, entities and data elements that could be included to create value for the health care industry, the technical framework for an NDH, priorities for a possible phased implementation, and prerequisites and actions CMS should consider taking to address potential challenges and risks.
The RFI will be published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2022. Comments on the RFI will be accepted through December 6, 2022.
The next Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Subcommittee meeting is coming up on November 2, 2022. The meeting will take place from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the PA Department of Education Building’s Honors Suite, 1st floor, at 333 Market St. in Harrisburg. Participants can also join via webinar.
To participate in the meeting via webinar, please register here. When registering, please verify that you entered your email address correctly. You will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar if you registered correctly. If you have trouble accessing the webinar registration through Internet Explorer or Safari web browsers, please try accessing it through a different web browser such as Chrome or Edge.
Dial In Number: (415) 655-0060
Access Code: 473303994#
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry has the following grant opportunities that are currently available:
Pennsylvania Industry Partnership Program (IP) Grant:
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) announces the availability of approximately $4,000,000 in funding for the Pennsylvania Industry Partnership (IP) Program Grant awards. L&I will be supporting Industry Partnership Programming through the competitive award of grants of up to $250,000 to support Industry Partnerships across the commonwealth to improve economic growth, while preparing workers with training for their current positions and future advancement. Projects funded through Industry Partnership grants should identify workforce, education and training, and economic development gaps; coordinate regional needs to support industry needs; identify public and community resources to address industry-identified needs; and increase collaboration among businesses within a targeted industry sector. Eligible applicants include local workforce development boards, non-profit and non-governmental entities, community-based organizations, educational and post-secondary educational organizations, labor organizations, business associations, and economic development entities.
More information can be found here, including info on an upcoming bidder webinar on 10/6/22. The IP grants close on 10/28/22. If you have questions or concerns regarding this grant opportunity, please email L&I.
Schools-to-Work Program (STWP) Grant — Round 3:
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) announces the availability of approximately $2,500,000.00 of funding for the Schools-to-Work Program (STWP) Grant award(s). L&I will be establishing a STW Program through the competitive award of a grant(s) to a sponsor(s) in partnership with schools in the commonwealth to support the establishment or enhancement of a workforce development partnership between schools, employers, organizations, or associations to create pre-apprenticeship apprenticeship pathways. This NGA seeks applications to support this statewide initiative. Grant awards may not exceed $250,000.00.
L&I also has funding currently available for school-to-work program grants. The STWP grant closes on 10/12/22. If you have questions or concerns regarding this grant opportunity, please email L&I.
If you have further questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.
Immediate Action Required for Regulatory Compliance – Please Read Carefully
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is providing a critical update to those providers who hold a license to operate a facility licensed by DHS. On August 18, 2022, DHS and RCPA released an alert regarding changes in how licensed agencies provide information related to civil rights compliance. Since that time, DHS has received several questions and is providing further clarification.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Human Services
BEO/Office of Civil Rights Compliance
Room 225, Health & Welfare Building
P.O. Box 2675 Harrisburg, PA 17120
Inquiries: (717) 787-1127
Email
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centralized Case Management Operations 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20201
Customer Response Center: (800) 368-1019 TDD: (800) 537-7697
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
801 Market Street, Suite 1000
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3126
Inquiries: (800) 669-4000
Complaint Process Overview
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
333 Market Street, 8th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Inquiries: (717) 787-4410