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Substance Use Disorder

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s (PCCD) Office of Justice Programs has announced the following funding opportunities.

  1. Substance Abuse Education and Demand Reduction (SAEDR) Category 1 funds are now available for the implementation of new projects focused on the adult community. Funding is available to nonprofit organizations to provide evidence-based or research-based approaches to prevention, intervention, training, treatment, and education services to reduce substance use or to provide resources to assist families in accessing these services. The funding guidelines for this category provide the necessary information to complete this application.
  2. Substance Abuse Education and Demand Reduction (SAEDR) Category 2 and 3 funds are now available to support the implementation of strategies aimed at combating opioid/heroin overdoses in Pennsylvania communities. Under this solicitation, funds are being made available for new projects designed to educate the public about the dangers of substance use and/or reduce demand for these substances under the following two categories. The funding guidelines for these categories provide the necessary information to complete this application.
    • Category Two funds are intended to educate youth, caregivers of youth, and employers about the dangers of substance abuse and increase the awareness of the benefits of a drug-free Pennsylvania through media-related efforts that may include public service announcements, public awareness campaigns, and media literacy. Special consideration will be given to projects that focus on the use of opiates within the Commonwealth.
    • Category Three funds are intended to educate employers, unions, and employees about the dangers of substance use in the workplace and provide comprehensive drug-free workplace programs and technical resources for businesses, including, but not limited to, training for working parents to keep their children drug-free.

For questions, email PCCD with the specific funding opportunity in the subject line.

The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) will be holding their monthly Combined Stakeholder webinar on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, from 1:00 pm–2:00 pm.

Please register for the OMHSAS County/County Affiliate/Provider/Advocate Stakeholder Meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

In the meantime, if you have suggestions for agenda topics for January’s webinar, please submit them via email. If you have further questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.

Effective January 1, 2022, RCPA member TCV Community Services officially became an affiliate of RCPA member Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit behavioral health care providers serving 25,000 children and adults in 13 states.

Based in Allegheny County, TCV Community Services is a leading nonprofit provider of behavioral health treatment programs and supports focused on adults and adolescents struggling with intellectual, developmental, and addiction challenges.

“This partnership between two behavioral health leaders in Pennsylvania has the potential to transform care for individuals and families all across the Commonwealth,” said Richard S. Edley, PhD, President and CEO of the Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association (RCPA). “I am confident that with the expertise Devereux brings and the role TCV plays as a long-serving, trusted community provider, the behavioral health landscape just became that much stronger for individuals in need of effective, efficient, and high-quality behavioral health services.”

TCV will gain immediate access to Devereux’s national model of clinical best practices and evidence-based care. This relationship will help TVC continue to grow and advance its deeply rooted mission of serving Allegheny County’s most vulnerable communities.

The partnership with TCV will deepen Devereux’s behavioral health treatment practices and perspectives in niche areas, particularly drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation services, a specialty expertise of TCV, while expanding its reach into western Pennsylvania. Together, TCV and Devereux will be able to grow into more areas and better serve individuals and families in the Commonwealth and beyond.

Join us on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, at 10:00 am for an “ODP-Administered HCBS Waiver Rates Revisions and Impact Analysis Tool” webinar sponsored by RCPA, PAR, MAX, The Alliance of Community Service Providers, and The Arc of PA.

Speakers will be:

  • Richard S. Edley, PhD, President and CEO, RCPA
  • Chris Elliot, Vice President of Finance, Barber National Institute
  • Diane Conway, CEO, MAX
  • Sherri Landis, Executive Director, The Arc of Pennsylvania
  • Cherie Brummans, President & CEO, The Alliance of CSP
  • Mark Davis, President & CEO, CDI, PAR
  • Scott Spreat, Research Director, CDI, Woods Services

The DHS/ODP revised waiver rates will be presented. Participants will then be trained on an “Impact Analysis Tool” that was designed to help inform ID/A providers of the impact of the revised rates and will also inform organizations representing providers of HCBS services for their comments on the revised rates.

Please register for this Zoom webinar, which will be held on January 4, 2022, from 10:00 am–11:00 am. For more information, please view the flyer for the webinar. We look forward to seeing you there!

Image by photosforyou from Pixabay

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) is offering a webinar on the topic of the PA Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Savings Program on January 28, 2022, from 1:00 pm–2:00 pm. A PA ABLE account gives individuals with qualifying disabilities (eligible individuals) and their families and friends a tax-free way to save for disability-related expenses while maintaining government benefits. Federal and state law authorized the creation of PA ABLE accounts. The presentation will be given by a representative of the PA Treasury Department.

OLTL Service Coordinators, Direct Service Providers, CHC-MCO staff, and any individuals that work with employment are strongly encouraged to participate in this webinar, which will help you understand the PA ABLE Program and how it can benefit the OLTL participants you serve.

Please register for this event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Questions about the webinar should be directed to Edward M. Butler, OLTL, via email or at 717-214-3718.

The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has issued Bulletin 59-21-03, which pertains to the Home and Community-Based Settings (HCBS) Heightened Scrutiny process. Also included are the following bulletin attachments:

  • Attachment A: Final Rule Heightened Scrutiny checklist for Day Settings
  • Attachment B: Final Rule Heightened Scrutiny checklist for Employment Skills Development Settings
  • Attachment C: Final Rule Heightened scrutiny checklist for Residential Settings

OLTL is currently working to develop a training for providers on this topic and will host training sessions sometime in early 2022. Questions about the bulletin and/or the attachments should be sent via email. The bulletin is effective December 29, 2021.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released guidance on the Omnibus COVID-19 health care staff vaccination interim final rule that was published on November 5, 2021. The emergency regulation helps safeguard health care workers and the people they serve from COVID-19 and its variants for all individuals seeking care. This is done by imposing requirements regarding vaccinations for eligible staff at health care facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

This guidance provides important information on implementation as well as guidelines to assess and maintain compliance with the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for health care workers at facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.