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Medical Rehab

Pennsylvania is preparing for a major change in renewal processes for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) recipients.

Starting April 1, 2023, Pennsylvania is required by federal law to review Medicaid and CHIP recipients’ eligibility every year, which means that recipients must submit a renewal. While the Department of Human Services (DHS) still sent renewals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people were not disenrolled from Medicaid or CHIP because of a change in eligibility.

DHS encourages everyone to share the following information with Medicaid and CHIP recipients to help them stay informed about renewals.

What Should I Do Right Now?

The best thing that Medicaid and CHIP recipients can do right now to prepare for their renewal is to make sure that their contact information is up-to-date with DHS. By making sure that their information is current, recipients can receive timely updates about their renewal. They also can opt-in to receiving text and email alerts about their benefits.

  • Visit COMPASS and log into their My COMPASS Account.
  • Use the free myCOMPASS PA mobile app.
  • Call 877-395-8930 or 215-560-7226 (Philadelphia), Monday – Friday from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

Completing Medicaid and CHIP Renewals
Renewals should be completed when they are received, even if recipients receive them before April 1, 2023. Recipients will receive a renewal packet in the mail when it is time to renew their coverage. Information about their renewal will start to arrive 90 days before it is due. It is very important that renewal forms are completed and returned even if nothing has changed. Completing a renewal allows DHS to determine eligibility for MA or CHIP coverage. Coverage will continue for recipients who are still eligible.
There are a few ways for recipients to complete a renewal:

  • Complete the forms DHS sends and mail them back in the envelope included in the packet.
  • Drop completed forms off at the local county assistance office (CAO).
  • Complete the renewal online.
  • Complete the renewal over the phone by calling 866-550-4355.

What is Continuous Coverage?

Under the continuous coverage requirement, individuals covered by Medicaid and/or CHIP have been able to keep their health coverage even if they would have otherwise become ineligible for the program based on other factors.

Evaluating Eligibility

Once the continuous Medicaid and CHIP coverage requirement ends, recipients will have to complete a renewal to maintain their coverage as long as they are eligible.

Are You Ineligible for Coverage?

DHS will provide instructions on how to re-enroll or share options for coverage if individuals are no longer eligible. Options for free or low-cost health coverage are available online.

Get more information and resources at DHS’s website.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published resources to assist healthcare workers prepare for the end of the public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Included in these resources are a number of provider-specific fact sheets for information about COVID-19 PHE waivers and flexibilities; two specific documents included are the Long-Term Care Facilities and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities fact sheets.

Join Lydia Dawson, Erin Drummond, Marco Giordano, and Toni Pergolin as they present the Employee Engagement Symposium, moderated by Tine Hansen-Turton.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm EST
Virtual Event
Register Here

Description:

How do you promote workplace practices and cultures that lead to satisfied employees and improved business outcomes in the health and human services sectors? How do you draw on employees’ knowledge and ideas to improve and grow services? Our panelists will address these questions and share their best strategies for successful employee engagement. This symposium is moderated by Tine Hansen-Turton, President and CEO of RCPA member Woods Services.

Thriving Through Transformation Symposia Series:

This symposium is the second in a series of four symposia that stem from key themes in the newly released book Thriving Through Transformation: A Practical Guide to Creating Organizational Change in the Social Sector by Woods Services. For more about the book and the series, see below.

Visit here to purchase a paperback copy of the book.
Visit here to download the free digital version.

Learn more about the speakers, agenda, and registration details here.

Education and Rehabilitation: Maintaining Continuity Through Rehabilitation to School Re-Entry
Monday, March 13, 2023
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CST;
10:00 am – 11:00 am MST; 9:00 am – 10:00 am PST

Debbie South, MEd
Jodi Krause, MA, CBIS
Emily Frank, CBIS
Stephanie Volker, MS, CCC-SLP
Speaker/Panelist Bios:

Debbie South

Debbie South is a School Liaison Specialist with the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and a member of the multidisciplinary team in the Complex Brain Health and Wellness Clinic. For the past nine years, she has provided support and recommendations to families and school teams when planning patients’ return to school after hospitalization with inpatient rehabilitation. Prior to her liaison position with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Debbie taught science for 22 years in both the private and public school settings.

Debbie received both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in education from Xavier University, with a graduate certification from George Washington University in Brain Injury and Transition Services. She is currently obtaining her certificate as a Brain Injury Specialist through Brain Injury Association of America.

Jodi Krause

Bringing experience from teaching in both public and private schools, Jodi Krause joined Children’s Hospital Colorado in 2010 as a Learning Specialist in the Learning Services Clinic, where she provided educational evaluations and therapy for students with developmental reading disabilities. In 2011, she transitioned to the inpatient teaching team.

Collaborating with a rehab psychology colleague, Jodi created a new model for education on the rehabilitation unit. In 2012, they launched a multidisciplinary classroom experience to improve the return to school process for patients, families, and school teams. In 2017, she transitioned into her current role, where she sees patients in the Acquired Brain Injury Clinic alongside physicians, psychologists, and other members of the therapy team.

Emily Frank

Emily Frank currently serves as the Inpatient School Specialist for Rehabilitation at Children’s Hospital Colorado, bringing to the role her prior experience teaching in both public and charter schools. She leads a daily school group for the rehabilitation patients and supports the return to school process for patients, families, and school teams.

Emily joined Children’s Hospital Colorado team in 2018, gaining valuable training and experience working in the rehabilitation classroom. She developed an understanding of the learning needs of children with brain injuries and the long-term impact on their return to school. She provided education support for children with rehabilitation needs as well as those served in the Center for Cancer Care and Blood Disorders Specialty areas. In 2021, she transitioned into her current role as the Inpatient School Specialist for Rehab and took over the inpatient classroom.

Stephanie Volker

Stephanie Volker is speech/language pathologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in the Division of Speech Language Pathology, specializing in providing cognitive-communication rehabilitation to children and adolescents with impairments due to acquired brain injury (ABI) or chronic conditions.

Stephanie was instrumental in creating and developing Cincinnati Children’s Outpatient Neuro-rehabilitation Team: a family-centered, collaborative, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for children and adolescents who have sustained an ABI. She serves as an expert clinical leader and mentor to clinicians on her teams. Stephanie lectures on a variety of topics related to ABI and cognitive-communication rehabilitation for the adult and pediatric populations at the local, state, and national levels.

Stephanie received her Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology at Miami University in 1994 and 1995 respectively, and achieved Certified Brain Injury Specialist Certification in 2005.

Objectives: At the end of this session, the learner will:

  • Understand key stakeholder perspectives regarding the school re-entry process for students with acquired brain injuries​;
  • Review models, approaches, processes, and protocols of 2 different multidisciplinary rehab school programs in pediatric institutions (inpatient and outpatient);
  • Identify practical strategies for rehab professionals when interfacing with school districts/education partners; and
  • Discuss the importance of ongoing collaboration among stakeholders and with other institutions to support all children to ensure the best outcomes following an acquired brain injury.

Audience: This webinar is intended for all members of the rehabilitation team, including medical staff, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, licensed psychologists, mental health professionals, and other interested professionals.

Level: Intermediate

Certificate of Attendance: Certificates of attendance are available for all attendees. No CEs are provided for this course.

Registration: Registration is complimentary for members of IPRC/RCPA. Registration fee for non-members is $179. Not a member yet? Consider joining today. Multiple registrations per organization are permitted.

REGISTER

House Republican Appropriations Chairman Seth Grove will lead a roundtable discussion with Medicaid (MA) Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) on February 7, 2023, at 10:00 am.

Committee Chairman Grove will be joined by House members and the following testifiers:

  • Emily Katz, Executive Director of PAMCO;
  • Joanne McFall, Market President of Keystone First;
  • Matthew Hurford, President/CEO of Community Care Behavioral Health;
  • James Schuster, Chief Medical Officer of UPMC Insurance Services Division;
  • Jack Carroll, Executive Director of Cumberland-Perry Drug & Alcohol Commission;
  • John Koehn, Market President of Community HealthChoices, AmeriHealth Caritas;
  • Justin Davis, Plan President/CEO of PA Health & Wellness; and
  • Brendan Harris, Vice President of Community HealthChoices, UPMC Health Plan.

The hearing will be held in Room 60 East Wing, Main Capitol, State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg. The hearing will also be streamed live.

Hole torn in a dollar bill with medicaid text

Because of the continuous coverage requirement, states were able to use additional money from the federal government during the federal public health emergency (PHE) for health care programs like Medicaid if they kept people covered. Therefore, Pennsylvanians did not lose their Medicaid/Medical Assistance (MA) or CHIP coverage if their income changed or they did not complete a renewal during the PHE.

However, starting April 1, 2023, Pennsylvania and other states will have to start disenrolling people if households are ineligible for MA at the time of their renewal or do not complete their renewal. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) will have to return to normal renewal processing procedures for Pennsylvanians enrolled in MA and the CHIP. Renewals will be completed over 12 months. Everyone with MA or CHIP coverage will need to submit a renewal to see if they are still eligible.

In Pennsylvania, approximately 3.5 million people rely on Medicaid. Last year, it was estimated that about 500,000 of those would lose coverage when the continuous coverage requirement ended, creating access issues for individuals and exacerbating financial challenges for providers.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has created an online resource, including a stakeholder toolkit as well as a guide on how to become a helper, that provides resources for groups like providers to communicate ways for Pennsylvanians who receive MA or CHIP coverage to continue their coverage.

Greenspace Health has their next educational panel in the calendar, focused on a topic relevant to all of you — the value of therapeutic alliance. Dr. Brent Mallinckrodt, co-author of the 18-item “Brief Revised Working Alliance Inventory” (BR-WAI), will share the importance of the client-clinician relationship, the three vital components of a strong therapeutic alliance, and how to best use the BR-WAI in practice. To round out the conversation will be Emily Miller, a Master’s Level Psychotherapist and National Clinical Counselor from Pinebrook Family Answers in Pennsylvania, speaking on her experience of using the BR-WAI in practice and the impact it’s had on her clients’ outcomes.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn more about one of the most important predictors of positive symptom change for people in care: the working alliance.

Register here: How To Measure and Improve Therapeutic Alliance — February 23 at 1:00 pm EST.


Watch this short video for highlights from the last educational panel hosted by Greenspace Health, featuring the Yale Measurement-Based Care Collaborative!