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Mental Health

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To address Pennsylvania’s high maternal mortality rate, the Commonwealth, through a partnership with Governor Shapiro’s office and the Departments of Health, Human Services, Drug and Alcohol Programs, and Insurance, is developing a statewide Maternal Health Strategic Plan. Interested stakeholders are invited to share their opinion through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Maternal Health Strategic Plan survey, which will remain open through November 4.

The vision for Pennsylvania’s Maternal Health Strategic Plan is a Pennsylvania where every pregnant and birthing person has easy access to high-quality perinatal, birth, and postpartum care that is person-centered, comprehensive, equitable, and affordable and that results in healthy outcomes and long-term good health and well-being.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) announced the availability of $9 million in funding to expand or enhance recovery support services for individuals in recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD).

DDAP will award approximately six grants of up to $1.5 million each. Applicants must have at least two years of experience as of July 1, 2024, in providing recovery support services and be able to demonstrate the capacity to provide those services to individuals in recovery from OUD and other concurrent SUDs.

DDAP is placing a focus on health equity as a part of this grant opportunity. Based on a variety of criteria from the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s 2022 overdose death data, DDAP will select two grantees located in Philadelphia, two grantees located in Allegheny County, and two grantees from the remaining 19 qualifying counties located within Pennsylvania with a crude death rate higher than the state average.

Funding for these grants is provided through the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) State Opioid Response (SOR) IV grant program. The SOR program aims to help reduce unmet treatment needs and opioid-related overdose deaths nationwide through state-by-state allocations.

Read the full press release.

You can send questions electronically regarding the grants and the application process.

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This week, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) submitted a final rule regarding virtual prescribing of controlled substances to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Though the final rule is not yet publicly available, the OMB registry posting, titled “Third Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications,” suggests an extension is coming that will go beyond the current expiration date of December 31, 2024.

Without a new rule or extension of the current flexibility beyond December 31, virtual prescribing of controlled substances without a prior in-person evaluation would no longer be allowed.

DEA received more than 38,000 public comments following its proposed rule in February 2023 for telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances. Subsequently, the telehealth flexibilities were extended to the current December 31, 2024, expiration date.

RCPA will continue to monitor progress on the final rule and communicate the details of the final rule once it is made public.

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The Office of Developmental Programs has shared this important announcement from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) related to possible exposure to an individual positive for measles.

On October 11, the Pennsylvania DOH was notified by the New Jersey DOH that Pennsylvania residents could have been exposed to measles.

The New Jersey Health Department’s confirmed measles case is a resident of Monmouth County who presented with measles following recent international travel. The individual developed a rash and was subsequently confirmed to have measles via positive measles PCR results. He visited several healthcare facilities and public venues while infectious for measles.

DOH notes that anyone who visited the following New Jersey locations during the specified dates and times may have been exposed and should contact a health care provider immediately to discuss potential exposure and risk of developing the illness.

  • Location: Livoti’s Old World Market, 200 Mounts Corner Drive, Freehold, NJ 07728;
    Date & Time: September 30, 2024, between 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
  • Location: El Rancho Mexican Restaurant, 28 W Main Street, Freehold, NJ 07728;
    Date & Time: October 1, 2024, between 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm
  • Location: International Longshoreman Association Strike, Elizabeth Chassis Depot, 1510 S. Bay Avenue, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, and the area near the “Welcome to Elizabeth Terminal;”
    Date & Time: October 1-3, 2024, all day
  • Location: Atlantic Health Immediate Care, 479 Route 520, Suite A103, Marlboro, NJ 07746;
    Date & Time: October 6, 2024, between 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
  • Location: Jersey Shore University Medical Center – Emergency Department, 1945 NJ-33, Neptune City, NJ 07753;
    Date & Time: October 7, 2024, between 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Potentially exposed individuals, if infected, could develop symptoms as late as October 29, 2024.

When to Suspect Measles

Consider measles as a diagnosis in anyone with a febrile rash illness lasting three days or more, a temperature of 101ºF (38.3ºC) or higher, and clinically compatible symptoms (cough, coryza, and/or conjunctivitis), particularly if the patient was potentially exposed to a case of measles or has recently traveled to an area with an on-going measles outbreak and are not fully vaccinated.

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RCPA staff and Conference Committee members are grateful to all of our attendees, speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors for a great experience at the Hershey Lodge this past September. We are happy to report that we had 800 people in attendance throughout the week!

Participants were able to hear from over 150 speakers, and RCPA was able to record many of the workshops as well as the keynote and plenary sessions. The recordings are available to attendees who previously registered for the conference in the mobile app. For those who are interested in earning CEs, you can earn over 110 credits!

We were honored to host 86 exhibit booths in our Connections Hall, representing a variety of services and products from pharmacy initiatives to technology, furniture to HR services, insurance and electronic health record systems to education, and so much more.

Our conference in 2025 will be held in September once again! We ask you to save the date — the 2025 RCPA Conference will be held September 9 – 12, 2025.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lancaster, PA, October 10, 2024 – Community Services Group (CSG), a leading provider of mental health and intellectual disability services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Melissa Jones as Vice President of Mental Health Services and Aimee Tsikitas, LCSW, as Vice President of Mental Health Treatment Services. Melissa and Aimee will both be joining the Executive Leadership Team. Jim Martin has also been promoted to the newly created Chief of Clinical Innovation within Mental Health Treatment Services [read full release].

 

Melissa Jones
Jim Martin
Aimee Tsikitas

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Fortifying the Future: Data Privacy & Security in Behavioral Health AI
Tuesday, October 22 at 2:00 pm ET

Registration Link

In the behavioral health world, few things are more intimate and private than a provider’s conversation with a client.

Keeping those sessions secure—and complying with always-evolving government regulations and ethics concerns — is a top priority for behavioral health organizations looking to implement an AI tool.

On October 22 at 2 11 am PT / 2pm ET, join Eleos Health for a 1-hour virtual discussion on “Fortifying the Future: Data Privacy & Security in Behavioral Health AI.”

Facilitated by Eleos Health’s VP of Customer Success Nisheeta Setlur, attendees will hear from behavioral health AI experts Raz Karmi, CISO of Eleos, and Rony Gadiwalla CIO of GRAND Mental Health, as they break down:

  • Which existing and emerging security regulations and best practices apply to behavioral health organizations—and their AI vendor partners.
  • How to navigate key AI security, compliance, and ethical concerns in a behavioral health setting.
  • What steps orgs must take to protect sensitive client information from AI-specific threats.
  • How Eleos accounts for all of the above in our industry-leading AI platform.

Register here and secure your spot. If you can’t make it live, we will send you a recording to watch at your leisure.

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Image by Dirk Wouters from Pixabay

The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has submitted to the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) IRRC No. 3417 — Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (14-555) regulations for the first phase of the promulgation process.

At this time, the regulations will be open for the submission of public comments from November 2, 2024, to December 1, 2024. The IRRC will review these comments and work with OMHSAS on developing responses as well as any potential language changes.

This process for regulation development with stakeholders began in 2019, and RCPA and its members have been active partners with the OMHSAS Children’s Bureau in the ongoing process through forums and work group meetings. The RCPA Residential Services Work Group completed a cursory review of a PRFT regulation presentation by OMHSAS in July and will begin working on developing a full response to the regulations.

RCPA will be connecting with these members this week to schedule the PRTF Regulatory Review Team that will support our recommendations to the current draft. If any member is interested in participating in the review group, please contact RCPA COO and MH Director Jim Sharp.

The regulations can be view at the links below.

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