Contact Your Legislator/Local Paper Opposing Elimination of BH Carve Out
Governor Wolf’s Press Release on Warm Hand-Offs
Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs: Wolf administration holds regional summit on warm hand-offs for opioid overdose survivors.
Text of March 20 press release.
Summits bring together stakeholders to strengthen direct pathway to treatment for opioid overdose survivors.
Ivyland, PA – As Governor Tom Wolf today signed the sixth renewal of his opioid disaster declaration, officials from his administration kicked off a series of regional summits to address warm hand-offs for opioid overdose survivors. The event was held at Spring Hill – The Manor in Ivyland, Bucks County.
The summits bring together stakeholders from state and local governments, the drug and alcohol treatment landscape, and health systems to address best practices and implementation roadblocks in providing a warm hand-off to patients treated for an opioid overdose. Eight summits will take place at locations across the state during March and April.
“Over the past year thousands of lives have been saved through warm hand-off programs,” said Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Jennifer Smith. “We know this is a key component in strengthening the drug and alcohol landscape throughout Pennsylvania. These summits are designed to fully equip counties who may be struggling to implement their programs with the tools and knowledge to have successful warm hand-off programs. In turn, helping to save our neighbors and loved ones.”
Today, warm hand-off programs at various levels of implementation exist around the commonwealth. Since January 2017, more than 5,000 individuals have been directly referred to treatment as part of the warm hand-off concept. Counties with successful implementations are seeing a success rate of 90 percent of overdose survivors directly admitted into drug and alcohol treatment following an overdose.
“Once we revive someone who has overdosed with naloxone, it is essential that we get those people into treatment,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Warm handoff programs allow our medical providers and our drug treatment providers to ensure that someone with the disease of addiction gets the help they need. Treatment works and recovery is possible for those battling substance use disorder.”
In February 2017, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), Department of Health, and Pennsylvania chapter of the College of Emergency Physicians released a clinical pathway designed to create an easy transition from care for an opioid overdose to treatment for an opioid use disorder. As part of an update in the 2015–2020 grant agreement between DDAP and local Single County Authorities (SCA), SCAs are now required to establish a warm hand-off policy locally.
Representatives from the departments of Drug and Alcohol Programs, Health, Human Services, and Insurance will participate in each of the eight summits:
- Philadelphia (March 21)
- Johnstown (March 27)
- Pittsburgh (March 28)
- York (April 4)
- Wilkes-Barre (April 11)
- Williamsport (April 16)
- Erie (April 17)
For more information about the warm hand-off summits and the clinical pathway, visit ddap.pa.gov
Media contact: Rachel Kostelac, 717.547.3314
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Further questions may be directed to Jack Phillips
DHS Enterprise Licensing System
RCPA President/CEO Richard Edley Quoted in Article on Opioid Crisis
We Need to Hear from YOU!
The Behavioral Health and Economics Network (BHECON) is an initiative launched by The National Council for Behavioral Health. BHECON was created to unite diverse stakeholders to identify, examine, and advance policy reform to strengthen states’ mental health delivery systems.
RCPA receives funding from BHECON to support efforts that represent and advance RCPA Mental Health and Drug & Alcohol providers’ policy reform needs. RCPA is part of a cohort of states that include Missouri, Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The BHECON team worked with RCPA staff to develop a survey to begin collecting vital information on factors and issues that impact Pennsylvania’s mental health and drug & alcohol workforce and capacity. Please take a moment to complete this survey.
Your responses will provide us with preliminary data to support our discussions and much needed focus on the challenges faced by health and human services providers across the Commonwealth.
For more information about BHECON and to catch up on Pennsylvania-specific information, please visit the website.
Ready or Not, Value-Based Payment Has Arrived
New School Based Behavioral Health Opportunity
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency is now accepting applications to participate in in a pilot program, the Opioid Misuse Prevention Project (OMPP). The program is a new initiative targeting early, upstream prevention to reduce the risk factors that lead to substance misuse in general and opioids, in particular.
Ten sites will receive five years of funding to implement a public health campaign and two evidence-based programs – Lifeskills Training (LST) and Strengthening Families 10-14 (SFP) – to middle school/junior high school youth and their families. Applications are due in PCCD’s eGrants system November 15, 2018. To learn more, watch a 20-minute video about the rationale, core components, and how to apply for OMPDD funding, and visit the Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter) website for additional application support materials.
About the Program
This evidence-based prevention response to Pennsylvania’s opioid epidemic relies on a combination of LifeSkills Training (LST) and Strengthening Families 10-14 (SFP). LST is a middle-school drug education and prevention program offered universally in the classroom; SFP is a family management and parenting skill development program offered to families with youth ages 10 to 14. When offered in conjunction with each other, these programs have been shown to reduce the abuse of prescription pills by youth into their mid-twenties.
Pilot Program Implementation
- The pilot version of the project will be implemented in 10 school districts in the Commonwealth.
- Participating sites will be selected through a competitive process and will require a partnership between the school district, a local non-profit agency, and the Single County Authority.
The EPISCenter at Penn State University will coordinate technical assistance to ensure successful implementation.
Urgent: Contact Your State Representative on SB 780 – Telemedicine Bill
RCPA has been collaborating with the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) and other statewide health care associations on Senate Bill 780 (SB 780). SB 780 establishes the Telemedicine Act, which will authorize health care providers to use telemedicine and require insurers to provide coverage and reimbursement for its use (a detailed summary of the bill can be found here).
Currently, SB 780 is in jeopardy. The bill, which was unanimously approved by two Senate committees, the full Senate, and the House Professional Licensure Committee, could die before a House vote is taken. The Insurance Federation is strongly advocating against the bill with rank and file members and leadership. They assert the bill provides opportunities for fraud and lower quality of care.
Between today and the weekend, it is imperative that supporters of this bill contact their House members directly and ask them to “Tell House Speaker Mike Turzai to bring the bill up for a vote in the House without amendment on Monday, October 1.” This is our final opportunity to secure passage of a bill that will expand access to health care for all Pennsylvanians by requiring insurers to pay for telemedicine services if they pay for the same service in person.
If the bill is not voted in the House, we will have to introduce a new bill during 2019, the beginning of a new legislative session, ending nearly two years of advocacy on this critical issue.
Again, between today and the weekend, it is imperative that supporters of the bill contact House members directly and ask them to “Tell House Speaker Mike Turzai to bring the bill up for a vote without amendment in the House on Monday, October 1.”
Here are the top talking points to support the main message:
- We want consistency in payment from insurers (We are not directing how to negotiate rates);
- 38 states have some type of law requiring this coverage;
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said more must be done to expand payment for telemedicine services and lessen restriction for patient access;
- The bill will ensure greater access for primary and specialty care;
- Fewer people will have to travel if they are isolated, older, or without transportation (especially in rural and urban areas);
- It will expand the reach of care to people with opioid use disorder and behavioral health needs;
- It will help providers manage patients’ chronic conditions and avoid hospital admissions or readmissions;
- It will help schools address physical and behavioral health issues; and
- Help caregivers of elderly or seriously ill patients.
There are already protections in place to ensure appropriate care is provided through telemedicine. Providers are governed by state licensing boards, follow a medical code of ethics, and there are strong insurance fraud laws in place to protect against such behavior.
Questions, contact RCPA Director of Government Affairs Jack Phillips.
OMHSAS Hosting VBP Webinar
Richard Edley on PA Newsmakers Talks Opioid Crisis and Provider Payments
Richard Edley, RCPA President and CEO, joins host Terry Madonna on PA Newsmakers for an update on provider payments, and combating the heroin epidemic (Starts at 12:18). Visit @PANewsmakers on Twitter.
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