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Children's Services

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During the recent RCPA Children’s Committee meeting, leadership from the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) informed members about plans to hold six regional policy forums throughout the state. Forum information and pre-registration is now available.
Regional Forums for Partnering to Strengthen Early Childhood Policies to Include All Children are being held from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm on:

  • Tuesday, August 16: Park Inn by Radisson Clarion, 45 Holiday Inn Road, Clarion
  • Wednesday, August 17: PaTTAN, Pittsburgh
  • Friday, August 19: PaTTAN, Harrisburg
  • Monday, August 22: The Woodlands, 1073 Highway 315, Wilkes-Barre
  • Tuesday, August 23: PaTTAN East – 333 Technology Drive, Malvern
  • Wednesday, August 24: Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel, 3549 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

The Regional Policy Forums will focus on:
Offering input and creating strategies to support inclusion, including identifying strategies to build and sustain partnerships, developing a framework for addressing suspension and expulsion in early childhood programs, and providing input on statewide policy around inclusion, suspension, and expulsion. These policy forums will be work sessions with facilitated small group discussions to provide input to OCDEL on governance, professional development, and leadership support, related to these issues. Participants are expected to attend for the entire day and provide input based on their experiences and expertise. This is not a training or a conference where passive attendance is an option.
Pre-registration will be required for the Regional Policy Forums.

  • Go to the training calendar
  • Select the date for which you want to register and complete the online registration
  • Please use the registration key RFEC2016 (ALL CAPS)

For registration questions, please contact Linda Rhine. Registration will close on Friday, July 22, or earlier if maximum capacity is reached at a specific site.

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Our colleagues at ASERT share important information and advice each month through their regular newsletter. In their most recent issue, ASERT offers suggestions for families that may be planning trips and vacations for the summer months ahead, noting that Pennsylvania has over 10 amusement parks designed for maximum family fun. Autism service providers and families, as well as those who work with and care for special needs children, know that sometimes these venues can be overwhelming and stressful for all involved. Some of the suggestions provided for families and for adults that are supporting and supervising children are to:

  • Call Ahead: Many parks offer special programs to individuals with special needs and their families.
  • Map it Out: Before arriving, be sure to review a map of the park and note where things like restrooms and quiet areas are so that you can access them easily when needed.
  • Pack Smart: Amusement parks can be loud and chaotic at times. If someone has sensitivities to noises, be sure to pack headphones, ear plugs, or other items to help them manage the environment.
  • Go Early or Late: Some parks offer “preview” packages or discounted admissions for arriving later in the day.

Read the full article on “Amusement Park Tips” as well as other information that supports the work of community providers of autism services and the families of individuals with autism – and consider signing up for regular ASERT updates.

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Your feedback is greatly needed. The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its final overtime rule which increases the threshold related to the overtime exemption. This has caused great concern among RCPA members as there is no additional funding being proposed to cover the cost of this change. RCPA will be submitting testimony and testifying in front of the Senate Labor and Industry and Senate Appropriations Committees on Tuesday, June 21 regarding this issue. In preparation for this important Senate hearing, we are asking members to complete this SURVEY no later than Wednesday, June 15, so that we have data to present in addition to our concerns.

If you have already taken the survey, you do not need to provide feedback again. We appreciate your attention and input regarding this very important issue. Thank you.

Please contact RCPA Director of Government Affairs Jack Phillips with any questions.

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The Department of Human Services (DHS) just announced their decision to lengthen the transition time for the start of the Community HealthChoices (CHC) program. The first phase (southwest part of the state) was originally scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2017. The implementation date of phase one has now been changed to begin July 1, 2017.

The decision to extend the start date allows more time for the 420,000 Pennsylvanians who will ultimately benefit from CHC to understand the program adjustments that will occur, including how access to and receipt of home- and community-based services will be improved.

All other established CHC timeframes will remain the same. The selection of managed care companies, changes in the Commonwealth’s information technology systems, and other changes are still proceeding on the same timeframe. The implementation of phases two and three (the southeast and remainder of the Commonwealth) also remain on the previously announced timelines of 2018 and 2019, respectively.

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The commencement of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics through Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, and the growing movement of individual providers to create medical homes to provide clients with co-located mental health and primary care providers in one facility, holds tremendous promise and opportunity for the coordination and enhancement of delivery of care to clients. These new provider relationships in shared office and facility spaces create new legal issues for providers under the federal Stark law and Anti-kickback statute. Providers must ensure that they do not inadvertently run afoul of these important federal fraud and abuse laws.

RCPA will offer a webinar presented by Renee H. Martin, JD, RN, MSN, a partner in the firm of Dilworth Paxson, LLP. This webinar will describe the legal requirements providers must be aware of under these federal laws and help to apply that knowledge in structuring financial relationships for use of these shared spaces. The webinar is intended for provider organizations’ executive staff, project planners, and legal counsel.

Stark Law and Integrated Health Care Webinar
Wednesday, June 29
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Register today

  • RCPA member registration is $25
  • Non-member registration is $40

Presenter: Ms. Martin exclusively practices health care law and advises both individual and institutional health care providers on regulatory and transactional matters. A significant portion of her practice centers on mental health and substance abuse law, including HIPAA, informational privacy, and fraud and abuse compliance. Ms. Martin has assisted in the formation of regional health information centers and mental health medical homes, working closely with federally qualified health centers and mental health providers.

RCPA will now distribute INFOS and ALERTS covering research, delivery and training models, policy issues, and other topics that will inform our members about collaborative, integrated, and co-located health care. To subscribe to this distribution list, select this link and check “Integrated Care.” This will add to your existing email preference selections.

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The Department of Human Services has issued Bulletin 99-16-04, Enrollment of Co-Located Providers. This bulletin informs providers of the process for enrollment or revalidation of providers that are in co-location arrangements. The bulletin addressed the process for Medicaid enrollment and revalidation for service providers that are “using the same distinct street address as a different currently enrolled provider.” It also addresses situations in which a provider is located within another provider’s offices and is accompanied by the department’s Co-Location Attestation form.

To further support members developing or providing co-located service provider relationships in a shared office and facility space, RCPA will conduct a Lunch and Learn webinar on June 29, focused on the legal issues for providers under the federal Stark law and Anti-Kickback statute. This webinar will describe the legal requirements providers must be aware of under these federal laws and apply that knowledge in structuring financial relationships for use of these shared spaces. Look for webinar information and registration in an RCPA INFO.

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For providers that may be adding behavioral health services to a primary care practice, you’ll need to be sure you’re getting reimbursed for these new services. That means knowing what you can bill for, learning a web of new codes and numbers, identifying which staff can be reimbursed for providing these services, and training staff to code services appropriately. National Council is inviting primary care providers and their behavioral health partners to join integration experts from primary care centers for a webinar on the practical ins and outs of billing for behavioral health services, to a variety of third-party payers, including Medicare and Medicaid.

Participants need to be ready to discuss the menu of billing options available that can match your center’s needs. After this webinar, participants will:

  • Identify billing options for integrated behavioral health services;
  • Ask questions to identify if Medicaid and Medicare numbers are appropriately linked to the mental health services provided; and
  • Employ tips for working with clinical and billing staff at the same time.

This webinar will be held on Monday, June 6, at 2:00 pm. Practitioners and providers can register here.

RCPA will now distribute information on integrated health care. RCPA INFOS and ALERTS will cover research, delivery and training models, policy issues, and other topics that will inform our members (and their physical health care partners) about collaborative, integrated, and co-located health care. To subscribe to this distribution list, select this link and check “Integrated Care.” This will add to your existing email preference selections.

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Last week, the Department of Human Services (DHS) Bureau of Children’s Behavioral Health, Bureau of Policy, Planning and Program, and Bureau of Autism Services, convened the Behavioral Health Rehabilitation Services (BHRS) Regulation Work Group. More than 60 managed care, advocacy, and community provider organizations attended, including a strong representation from RCPA autism and general BHRS provider organizations. Initial discussions ranged from a possible name change for BHRS to the regulations that will reflect the federal and state standards for the unique array of services currently included as BHRS for children with a severe emotional disturbance, as well as children with autism.

Work group members have begun to provide DHS with comments and suggestions. Subgroup meetings/conference calls are now being scheduled for early June, when discussions related to service array and evidence-based practices will be the first areas addressed. The determination of the service array is expected to impact broader discussion related to the other key areas.

OMHSAS Leadership to Attend Children’s Committee Meeting
The directors of the Bureau of Children’s Behavioral Health, and Bureau of Policy, Planning and Program will be attending the June 8 RCPA Children’s Committee meeting/webcast, to review and discuss the status of the work group, as well as other important OMHSAS initiatives. In addition to the Children’s Committee meeting, RCPA will provide regular updates on the OMHSAS BHRS Regulation Work Group and seek member input to inform the work group process.

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The General Assembly and other community leaders are striving to understand the many challenges facing county and private providers working in the Commonwealth’s child welfare field. The nature of working with the community’s most at-risk children and families, conducting a dramatically growing number of suspected abuse reports, and providing an array of services to children and youth in the dependency and delinquency systems, are daunting professional challenges for case workers and line supervisors. The challenging working conditions, vicarious traumatization, and the ever present fear of an error in judgment or action all contribute to an unacceptable rate of staff attrition across the state. The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute recently issued an infographic looking at the cost of staff turnover and the causes, impact, and potential solutions to this growing problem.

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