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Brain Injury

The Bureau of Human Services Licensing (BHSL) within the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has issued the following guidance on the lifting of regulatory suspensions for Personal Care Homes (PCHs) and Assisted Living Residences (ALRs):

On July 1, 2022, the suspension of various regulatory provisions under the state disaster emergency declaration was extended to October 31, 2022. On November 1, 2022, the remaining regulatory suspensions expired, and the full regulatory requirements of 55. PA Code Chapter 2600 (Personal Care Homes) and 55. PA Code Chapter 2800 (Assisted Living Residences) were reinstated.

While most of these regulatory requirements required compliance beginning immediately on November 1, 2022, certain regulatory suspensions included 90-day grace periods designed to allow facilities to fully comply with the regulations. That 90-day period will come to an end on January 30, 2023. Facilities are expected to be able to demonstrate compliance with these regulations beginning January 31, 2023.

A guidance document for Personal Care Homes and Assisted Living Residences includes a list of all applicable regulations that were suspended under the emergency declaration, the dates and details of the suspensions, and clarification on what providers can expect when compliance is being measured in their facilities.

Please note that compliance with annual training requirements is dependent on the 12-month training year for Direct Care Staff and Administrators, as determined by the licensed entity. Training requirements for training years that ended between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, are required to be in compliance by January 31, 2023. If a training year began in 2022 but does not end until 2023, that training year is incomplete and compliance cannot be measured until after the conclusion of the training year.

Please also note that for administrator training years ending in 2023, all 24 hours of administrator training may be completed online, provided that at least 12 of those hours are formatted as a live training (e.g., Zoom, Teams, etc.). A maximum of 12 hours of online asynchronous or pre-recorded trainings are permitted.

Questions about this announcement and the guidance document can be directed via email.

January 18, 2023, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm ET
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A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care organizations and care teams need a complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present — to provide effective services with a healing orientation. Trauma-informed practices hold the potential to improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes, as well as provider and staff wellness.

This webinar, cosponsored by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) and the Better Care Playbook, will highlight how Denver Health, a large health system in Colorado, is implementing a trauma- and resilience-informed approach into organization-wide policy and practice, while also focusing on addressing systemic racism and biases. Panelists — including Maria Gonsalves Schimpf, MA, MT-BC, Director, Denver Health RESTORE; Kris Gaw, MBA, FACHE, Chief Operating Officer, Denver Health; and Ken Epstein, PhD, LCSW, Consultant, P.R.E.P. for Change Consulting — will discuss their efforts, including building staff capacity, promoting organizational culture change, and gaining leadership buy in.

Denver Health is a participant in Advancing Integrated Models, a national initiative led by CHCS and made possible through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

On January 6, 2023, the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) held a Financial Management Services (FMS) Stakeholder meeting. The meeting included updates from the Community HealthChoices Managed Care Organizations (CHC MCOs), updates on the transition status, training, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) compliance, and a presentation from Tempus. Additional information can be found by reviewing the PowerPoint presentation.

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The Bureau of Human Services Licensing (BHSL) has released the 2019 and 2020 annual reports on Personal Care Home (PCH) licensing. The reports describe the characteristics of PCHs, needs of individuals served, number and types of inspections completed, number of complaints investigated, enforcement actions taken, provision of technical assistance to operators, and other methods used by BHSL to achieve its mission of protecting individuals.

A full list of PCH annual reports can be found on the PCH annual report site.

Questions about PCH reporting requirements or the contents of these reports can be addressed via email.

The Pennsylvania office of the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is offering a free webinar as a part of their commitment to educate employers and workers about the pertinent laws and the rights of care workers. This webinar will focus on the Fair Labor Standards Act for Home Care Industry Employers, Registry Services, and Staffing Agencies and Associations.

The webinar will be held on Thursday, January 19, 2023, from 10:00 am – 11:30 am.

Register here. For questions about this event, contact Karen Welton.