National Council for Mental Wellbeing Releases CRN Report “The Provider Relief Fund: FAQ”
OMHSAS Guidance: Telehealth Regulatory Waiver Request
OMHSAS has released the following Telehealth Regulatory Waiver Request template in order to streamline regulatory waiver requests for the continued delivery of telehealth services following the 9-30-21 end date of statewide regulatory waivers based on the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration.
The waiver submission process will adhere to the revised OMHSAS Waiver Bulletin 16-13.
The waiver will cover deliverable considerations for the following services
- Mental Health Intensive Case Management 55 Pa. Code § 5221.33(4)(iii)
- Outpatient Psychiatric Services 55 Pa. Code § 1153.14(1)
- Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Clinic Services 55 Pa. Code § 1223.14(2)
Each waiver request will remain in place for a 1-year period and will require providers also have documented policies in place for clinical appropriateness and the delivery of telehealth in emergencies. RCPA recommends agencies carefully review each section of the waiver request as they complete their submission.
The waiver will outline the following service considerations:
- To ensure continuity of telehealth delivery of services by allowing this agency/facility to use audio-only service delivery for Outpatient Psychiatric Services, Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Clinic Services when the individual served does not have access to video capability or for an urgent medical situation.
- To ensure continuity of telehealth delivery of services by allowing this agency/facility to accept verbal consent/verification for documentation where a signature cannot be obtained when delivering Mental Health Intensive Case Management Services.
Submission Considerations:
- For all Mental Health Intensive Case Management and Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic Waivers: Please submit all waiver requests to the appropriate OMHSAS Regional Field Office with an attached letter of support from the County MH/ID Administrator where your primary licensed location is at.
- For all Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Clinic Services Waivers: Please submit here. No letter of support is required for these waivers.
Providers may utilize the following language in your waiver request letter:
Kristen Houser, Deputy Secretary
OMHSAS
Commonwealth Tower, 11th Floor
303 Walnut Street, Harrisburg 17101
Dear Deputy Secretary Houser:
This letter is a request for a waiver of Department of Human Services regulation(s) to continue the delivery of services through telehealth after September 30, 2021, which is the end date of the Governor’s COVID -19 Emergency Disaster Declaration which authorized certain regulatory suspensions. The details for this request for waiver are included in the form below. In addition, a letter of support from the County MH/ID Administrator for this request for waiver is attached. (REMOVE if Outpatient D&A Clinic Waiver)
Your consideration for approval is appreciated. I look forward to your response. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this regulatory waiver request, please contact me at (Phone and e-mail address.)
Sincerely,
(Signature)
(Name)
Members may contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp or their respective Policy Director with questions or feedback.
American Rescue Plan Act Home and Community-Based Funding Update
Equality Act — Call for Provider Support of LGBT Equality Legislation
RCPA was approached by a coalition of organizations in support of federal nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community, including Freedom for All Americans, the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center of Allentown, and other state and local partners.
The RCPA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee purpose statement reads that “the committee will actively challenge systemic racism and social injustice through advocacy for legislation, policies, and practices that promote equity, providing guidance and support for DEI initiatives within RCPA member organizations…” This initiative is in alignment with RCPA DEI efforts.
Currently, federal law lacks explicit nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community in housing, credit, lending, federally funded programs, and public spaces like restaurants, stores, theaters, and hospitals. Additionally, 29 states, including Pennsylvania, lack state laws that explicitly protect LGBT people from discrimination.
This coalition is soliciting supporters from Pennsylvania’s community of service providers — those who support and care for the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, including LGBT Pennsylvanians who face additional challenges due to the lack of nondiscrimination protections. Service providers are an important and trusted voice in Pennsylvania, and your inclusion will help to demonstrate the broad level of support for nondiscrimination statewide.
By signing on you to this initiative, your organization will join a diverse coalition of service providers supporting the nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community. Your organization’s name will be shared publicly and will also be shared with Pennsylvania’s US Senators.
To offer your organization’s support, follow this link to join Pennsylvania Service Providers for LGBT Nondiscrimination Protections and make your voice heard.
Please reach out to Jack Phillips or Cindi Hobbes with any questions.
Leading in 2021: Hoping, Healing, Helping Conference Updates
In addition to the general sessions, including national updates that will provide valuable information to all, we have several break-out sessions that will be offered live each day during our 2021 Conference. These sessions include:
Tuesday September 28, 2021
- Preparing Infrastructure for Managed Care in ID/DD Providers
- Coordinating Measurement-Based Care: How the Maryland Community Behavioral Health Association Improved Treatment Outcomes and Leveraged Their Data
- Leadership in Technology for a New Era
- The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Regional Approach to Address Healthy Equity
- Magical Metaphors: Creating a Shared Language Within a CBT Treatment Setting
- Without a Playbook: Navigating the Pandemic While Still Moving Forward
- Enhancing Whole Health and Wellness: Working Works When Using Social Security Work Incentives
- Linking Up! CANS Across the Tristate Area, and How This Can Optimize Care
- Creating an Employee-Centered Culture to Attract & Retain Staff
- Mobile Buprenorphine: A Novel Method for Engaging Populations in Substance Use Disorder Care
- Improving Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services For OUR Older Adults. YOU Can Help!
Wednesday September 29, 2021
- Top Funding Resources for Assistive Technology in Pennsylvania
- Measuring What Matters Most: Leveraging the Power of Business Intelligence to Drive Organizational Improvements
- People Like Me: Working with Vulnerable Populations Using an Integrated Model to Behavioral Health Care
- How COVID-19 Changes Our View of Emergency Preparedness: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and Key Strategies for Preparedness Moving Forward
- The Great Reset: Leadership Beyond the Pandemic
- “Link Outside the Box”: Using Remote Services and Technology to Provide Support Services For Individuals With IDD
- Promoting Motivational Interviewing Spirit and Skills with Paraprofessional Staff
- COVID-19 at 18 Months: How the Pandemic Has Changed Us and Society
- Strategies for Reducing Screen Time Fatigue
Thursday September 30, 2021
- A Collaborative Agency-Based Approach to Implementing a Pandemic-Induced Practice-Based Change to Telehealth
- Concussion (TBI) and Behavioral Health (The Missing Peace): Where Are We Now?
- Trauma-Informed Support for People with Intellectual Disabilities
- No Longer Just a Plan — Value Based Payments in Community HealthChoices in 2022
- The Cultural Competency in the Clinical Assessment & Treatment of Adults with IDD and Co-Occurring Mental Illness
- The Path to VBP is Paved With Quality: A National Perspective on Measures of Quality in IDD Services
- Post-Incarceration Care: How to Create an Effective Transitional Model
- Implementing Trauma-Informed PA (TIPA): PRTFs Becoming Trauma-Informed
- We Hear You!
- Expanding Integrated Primary Care for People with IDD: Replicable Models and Policy Implications
- The Unexpected Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Time Banking: A Grassroots Resource for Increased Personal Outcomes and Community Development
There will also be over 20 “on-demand” sessions on many timely subjects and topics, such as Leadership, Diversity, and Remote Supports and Services.
Visit the RCPA Conference website for specific updates to the schedule, posted as they become finalized.
September is FASD Awareness Month
FMS Stakeholder Meeting Scheduled for September 3
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has announced that the Financial Management Services (FMS) stakeholder meeting has been scheduled for September 3, 2021 from 1:00 pm–2:30 pm. This public meeting will focus on the upcoming changes for the administration of FMS under the Community HealthChoices (CHC), OBRA Waiver, and Act 150 programs. Representatives from OLTL and the CHC Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) will be in attendance to discuss upcoming changes. The meeting details are below:
Join from the meeting link
Join by meeting number
Meeting number (access code): 132 810 8394
Meeting password: wyB6SHMKn33
Tap to join from a mobile device (attendees only)
+1-408-418-9388,,1328108394## United States Toll
+1-202-860-2110,,1328108394## United States Toll (Washington D.C.)
Join by phone
+1-408-418-9388 United States Toll
+1-202-860-2110 United States Toll (Washington D.C.)
Global call-in numbers
Join from a video system or application
Dial 1328108394@pa-hhs.webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.
Wolf Administration Requires Masking in Schools, Early Learning and Child Care Settings
IPRC Webinar: Sexuality & Disability
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
3:00 pm–4:00 pm EDT, 2:00 pm–3:00 pm CDT,
1:00 pm–2:00 pm MDT, 12:00 pm–1:00 pm PDT
Cora Collette Bruener, MD, MPH, FAAP
Instructor Bio:
Dr. Cora Breuner is a member of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Department at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Professor of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Breuner earned her MD at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed an internship and residency at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, as well as an Adolescent Medicine fellowship at the University of Washington. She received her master’s in Public Health at the University of Washington.
Dr. Bruener is board certified in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Her clinical interests include the treatment of eating disorders and obesity in the adolescent as well as in sports and trauma-related injuries in the child and adolescent. She is also interested in the management and treatment of adolescents with headaches, abdominal pain, and chronic musculoskeletal pain. She is particularly focused on the use of holistic, mindfulness, and integrative approaches such as biofeedback, yoga, and massage in the management of these conditions. She is president of the Northwest Society of Adolescent Medicine and faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Her research interests include the evaluation of yoga as an adjunctive intervention for eating disorders, biofeedback for chronic headache, and the assessment of complementary medicine for diabetes. Her goal is to incorporate complementary, holistic and integrative medicine into the outpatient and inpatient arenas. She is an active participant in the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on the Committee for Adolescence and the PREP academic board review course for Adolescent Medicine.
Objectives: At the end of the session the learner will:
- Identify age appropriate expressions of sexuality, what to expect, and how to support it;
- Discuss Considerations / Implications of Physical Disability and Sexuality;
- Discuss Considerations / Implications of Cognitive or Intellectual Disability and Sexuality; and
- Identify red flags / risk for abuse in this population.
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 CEUs are provided for this session.
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.
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