UPMC Researchers Find Promise in Test For Shaken Baby Syndrome
County Using Algorithm to Assist in Child Welfare Screening
OMHSAS Leadership
(From OMHSAS)
From: DHS STAKEHOLDERS
On Behalf Of: HS, Secretary’s Office
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2017 2:41 PM
To: DHS Stakeholders
Subject: OMHSAS Leadership
Today I am announcing that Dr. Dale Adair will serve as the Acting Deputy Secretary for the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS). For those of you who have not yet met him, Dale currently serves with distinction as the Chief Medical Officer at OMHSAS and is an essential member of the OMHSAS executive team.
Dale’s nearly 30 years of experience in all levels of state government and his leadership experience will be invaluable as we move forward during this difficult time and begin the process of selecting our next Deputy Secretary. I have complete confidence that Dale will make the transition to a new Deputy Secretary as smooth as possible and that the critical work that OMHSAS does every day continues without interruption.
I would personally like to thank Dale for stepping up into this role, your leadership is needed now more than ever at DHS.
Please join me in welcoming Dale to this new role and working with him so that we can ensure that services continue for the vulnerable Pennsylvanians that OMHSAS serves.
Ted
Family Self-Advocacy at #FamilyFirstPA
RCPA has joined the many community organizations across Pennsylvania that are now participants in the #FamilyFirstPA Coalition. #FamilyFirstPA is a campaign committed to enabling families to advocate for themselves in the ongoing effort to protect human services in the state budget process. The project works with provider, advocacy, faith-based, and community organizations to identify FAMILIES and provide social media platforms for them to share their stories of the challenges they face and the critical support their family has received from community services that rely on state and county funding. While these families may not know about funding streams, waivers, etc., they know what a difference critical human services are making in the lives of their families. In the current phase of the project, #FamilyFirstPA is seeking and interviewing families in four regions:
- Lehigh Valley: Berks, Lehigh, Northampton Counties
- Southeast: Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware Counties
- South Central: Dauphin, Lancaster, York Counties
- Southwest: Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland Counties
More information about the project can be found online and providers and families are encouraged to “like,” participate in, and “follow” #FamilyFirstPA on Facebook and Twitter.
Free Webinars on PA ABLE Savings Program
In follow-up to an Info issued on March 17, 2017, announcing the launch of PA Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Savings Program at a legislative event conducted on April 3, the Pennsylvania Department of Treasury announced they will be offering free webinars on this program. The webinars will provide an overview of the important features and benefits of PA ABLE, including eligibility requirements for opening an account, the federal and state tax benefits, and how the account interacts with current benefits. The dates and times of the webinars available are on the PA ABLE website and will be held in April.
New Millbank Foundation Report on BH Integration in Pediatric Primary Care
A report released this week from Millbank Foundation continues that organization’s focus, research, and information on the growing integrated physical and behavioral health (BH) care delivery system. Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care: Considerations and Opportunities for Policymakers, Planners, and Providers reinforces prior and troubling findings that reflect the rate of childhood mental health needs, professional staff shortages, and the extraordinarily high cost of child-adolescent mental health disorders. More important are the findings related to the growth and positive impact of models for consultation, care coordination, and co-located mental health care in pediatrics. The full report as well as other Millbank Memorial Fund publications related to integrating physical and mental health care are available online.
Training Offered For MH Targeted Case Managers
Drexel University is offering a core training for mental health targeted case managers (TCM) on Wednesday, April 26 and Thursday, April 27, 2017 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. See flyer for details. All new targeted case managers (blended case managers, intensive case managers, resource coordinators) are required to successfully complete the TCM core training within six months of hire.
Drexel University is one of the entities authorized by the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to provide this training. Please call 877-243-3033 or email with any questions. Have a great day!
Making Integration Work: Benefits and Challenges
A Story From Southeastern Pennsylvania
The National Association of Social Workers Pennsylvania Chapter (NASW-PA) representative to the Learning Community Leadership, Troy L. Brindle, LCSW, has led his organization in the vanguard of creative approaches to integrated and co-located mental health care. Recent articles in the Chester County and Delaware County Medical Society publications chronicle “The Benefits and Challenges of Behavioral Health Services in the Medical Setting” as experienced at Springfield Psychological. This brief article offers important insight into how this large, multispecialty outpatient practice has, through “persistence, flexibility, and creativity” begun providing co-located mental health services in a range of primary care, patient-centered, medical home model practice settings.
Supreme Court Overturns Gorsuch Ruling Against Student With Disabilities
Collaboration on Comprehensive Inpatient Regulations
OMHSAS is looking to create a productive and cohesive group to collaborate on the development of comprehensive Inpatient Regulations. The regulations will contain four (4) subchapters that will address the provision of: Inpatient, Extended Acute Care, Residential Treatment Facilities for Adults, and Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities for Individuals under age 21.
The invitation to collaborate on this process will be limited to one or two representatives per group. Please consider who from your organization might be your best representative for each event.
For your information and planning purposes, Sarah Eyster, RCPA Mental Health division and Robena Spangler, RCPA Children’s Division have RSVP’d and plan to attend all events when possible. The complete invitation and schedule of events is available here.
We are looking forward to the work ahead and providing you with the updates as the process moves along.
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