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Substance Use Disorder

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Recognizing the continued movement toward integration of mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and the opportunity to better support and serve its MH and SUD provider members, RCPA has created a Behavioral Health Division.

RCPA’s MH and SUD policy focus will now operate under the BH Division umbrella, where shared MH and SUD interests and initiatives (e.g., workforce, value-based purchasing, telehealth, criminal justice, ICWCs/CCBHCs) will now be managed and supported across the disciplines — while still maintaining existing MH- and SUD-specific committees, subcommittees, and work groups where those interests are specific to one of the two policy areas.

Jim Sharp and Jason Snyder will direct the new BH Division.

  • As Director of Mental Health Services, BH Division, Sharp, whose work to date has focused largely on children’s MH, will maintain his MH policy focus, including continuing to lead separate Children’s Mental Health and Adult Mental Health Committees, along with the other MH-specific committees and work groups already in place.
  • As Director of Substance Use Disorder Treatment Services, BH Division, Snyder will maintain his policy focus on SUD and the existing SUD-specific committees and work groups.
  • In addition, RCPA will no longer use the Drug and Alcohol title (or D&A acronym), replacing it with SUD.
  • Both directors will also collaborate in areas of shared interest, including legislative, regulatory, and policy initiatives as appropriate.

RCPA will be hiring a BH policy analyst to support the new division.

“The new BH Division has the opportunity to capitalize on synergies where they exist while still maintaining discipline-specific focus on MH and SUD,” said RCPA President/CEO Richard Edley. “Rather than taking anything away from our mental health and substance use disorder members, we are really enhancing their membership.

“As we look at where the behavioral health field continues to move, integration of mental health and substance use disorder is a hallmark of the advancing field. RCPA will better position itself to support its provider members’ needs by structuring a BH Division that recognizes this evolution.”

Contact Division Directors Jim Sharp or Jason Snyder with questions.

Webinar
Sponsored by Streamline Healthcare Solutions, featuring Microsoft

Why EHR Infrastructure Matters: Streamline and Microsoft Discuss How Different Hosting & Deployment Options Impact Performance, Security, and Cost

Behavioral Health and Human Services organizations have a choice of hosting and deployment options when selecting an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, and which option they choose has a significant impact on performance, security, and cost. Join executives from Streamline Healthcare Solutions and Microsoft as they discuss the most common hosting and deployment options, including the SaaS model, single-tenant vs multi-tenant architecture, and cloud hosting.

Speakers:
Andy Pitman U.S. Director, Health and Human Services, Microsoft
Matt Chamberlain EVP of Sales and Marketing, Streamline Healthcare Solutions
Javed Husain, Co-Founder & CEO, Streamline Healthcare Solutions
Solome Tibebu, Founder & CEO, Going Digital: Behavioral Health Tech

Webinar Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CT
REGISTER HERE

First Nonprofit

Are You Leaving Employee Retention Tax Refund Money on the Table?
Your nonprofit may be eligible for up to $26,000 per employee, paid in the form of a refund by the IRS, if you had to partially or fully suspend operations due to government orders OR experienced a significant revenue decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic. RCPA has partnered with First Nonprofit to provide our members with an opportunity to determine if you are eligible and, if so, provide a reputable, vetted, and affordable service to assist you in filing. Take this five-question survey to find out if you are eligible.

Use this link for information about the Nonprofit Employee Retention Tax Refund.

Contact Cheryl Jones with any additional questions:
[email protected]
612-308-4283

Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash

Homeward Bound: Exploring Issues Faced by Justice-Involved Persons

The 30th Annual Forensic Rights and Treatment Conference, brought to us by Drexel University, will be presented this year with a spectacular online educational program addressing clinical, policy, and environmental issues that impact persons involved with the criminal justice system. RCPA highly recommends this engaging experience, and members can see further details, including registration, in the conference brochure.

The plenary sessions will address implicit bias, false confessions, Megan’s Law, and an overview of the pardons process. The workshops will offer skill-building sessions to use in your own settings. All sessions will be recorded, which will allow you to earn additional continuing education credits by viewing sessions at your convenience. The conference will be available to registrants until December 31, 2022, and you will be able to see all of the workshop offerings.

For more information contact Drexel via email or call 215-831-4055. If you have additional questions, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp or Carol Ferenz.

RCPA members will now receive a discount on services from Streamline. Streamline Healthcare Solutions is a trusted EHR and MCO solution partner in building innovative technology solutions for the human services and health care delivery marketspace. Developed specifically for this market, their cloud-based, single platform and intelligent technology is unlike any other. From value-based care to evidence-based practices to population health management, human services is changing, and the Streamline SmartCare Platform’s open architecture and sophisticated data integration & analytics enable human services organizations to meet tomorrow’s needs today.

For further information, please contact Streamline’s PA Regional Sales Manager Matt Mercer via email or 313-283-9456.

City & State PA is a premier multi-media news firm that dedicates its coverage to Pennsylvania’s state and local government, political, and advocacy news. City & State PA annually cite among their Power 100 rankings those in the nonprofit field for their achievements and contributions. This year, several RCPA members and stakeholder partners have been recognized for their efforts in their field and those they serve. Included in the list are:

  • Jill Bowen, Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services;
  • Colleen McNichol, President and CEO, Child Guidance Resource Center;
  • Marco Giordano, CEO, Resources for Human Development;
  • Mike Smith, President and CEO, Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania;
  • Gordon May, President and CEO, CONCERN 4 Kids;
  • Sherri Landis , Executive Director The Arc of Pa; and
  • Representative Frank Ferry Pa House of Representative 142nd Districts.

RCPA congratulates these members and partners for their recognition in this year’s Power 100 Nonprofit Leaders. You can view the full article here.

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Calendar Year 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule. The final rule includes several National Council and RCPA recommended priorities. These are wins for mental health and substance use care organizations that will help expand access to care by strengthening the workforce.

RCPA recommends members review this 2023 Physicians Fee Schedule Final Rule Summary for impacts on your agencies practice and/or policies.

Key Highlights:

  • Telehealth Flexibility Extensions: CMS is extending telehealth flexibilities implemented under the Public Health Emergency (PHE) for a 151-day period after the expiration of the PHE.
  • CMS is allowing behavioral health clinicians to offer services incident to a Medicare practitioner under general (rather than direct) supervision.
  • Licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists are now able to bill incident to Medicare practitioner for their services.
  • Medicare will allow opioid treatment programs to use telehealth to initiate treatment with buprenorphine for patients with opioid use disorder, continuing the flexibilities under the Ryan Haight Act of 2008.
  • CMS is also clarifying that opioid treatment programs can bill for opioid use disorder treatment services provided through mobile units, such as vans, in accordance with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) guidance.

The Final Rule, in alignment with the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2022, implements an extension of a number of flexibilities for a 151-day period after the expiration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), which is set to expire on January 11, 2023.

In the event of further extensions of the federal PHE, we will communicate this info to members. Under the current timeframe for PHE continuation, states must be notified by November 11, 2022.

We thank our members and Steering Committees for their guidance, recommendations, and support through the review process. If you have any questions, please contact your respective RCPA Policy Director.