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Mental Health

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Register Today for the Pennsylvania Technology Innovation Luncheon
Thursday, January 12, 2023
11:00 am – 2:00 pm ET
777 E Park Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17111

Eleos Health invites all RCPA behavioral health provider members to participate in this informational, in-person session.

Let’s give frontline providers more: 

Eleos Health’s motto is more care, less ops. Our proprietary technology digitizes behavioral health conversations, tracks evidence-based care and reduces documentation work for providers by over 50%. We’re dedicated to giving providers the ability to focus more of their time on what they do best – caring for their clients.

During this luncheon, you’ll join a select group of Pennsylvania behavioral health leaders to discuss how innovative technology can help solve top workforce challenges and improve care.

Speakers will include Susan Blue, CEO & President of Community Services Group (CSG), Josh Cantwell, COO of GRAND Mental Health in Oklahoma, and Andrew Schmitt, LCSW, Director of Outpatient Services of Gaudenzia, Inc., who will share how they approach technology decisions and why they chose Eleos as a valued partner.

GRAND’s efforts to tech-enable their providers were recently featured by the Philadelphia Citizen in the article “Ideas We Should Steal: A Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health Care.”

We’d love to have you join the conversation at this special event!

Attendees can expect to:

  • Discuss augmented intelligence technologies in behavioral health;
  • Identify new opportunities to address workforce challenges while also improving the client experience and care quality; and
  • Explore how Eleos Health CareOps Automation reduces admin work by 50%+.

Register here to participate.

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Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

Message from OPEN MINDS
Qualifacts & Woods Services Partner to Coordinate Care Across Primary Care, Behavioral, Residential & Community Services
December 15, 2022

Qualifacts is working with Woods System of Care to meet their expanding care needs, by integrating primary and specialty healthcare workflows from its InSync Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) platform with its CareLogic EHR platform. This open architecture and configurable solution will replace an existing-closed system being used by Woods today, and substantially improve the coordination of activities across systems and services, including external referrals.

Enhancement to the CareLogic EHR for Woods creates three major operational improvements:

  • It will enhance Woods Services’ deployment of a system of care by combining records from the numerous disciplines that are involved in the individual’s care into a “single-view” record of all relevant determinants of health.
  • It will enable medical, psychiatric, and behavioral care providers to streamline a plan of coordinated care.
  • It will allow Woods Services to more efficiently extract clinical data that allows the organization to follow trends and opportunities in a cohort of individuals.

By keeping information in one location, duplication of records can be avoided. More importantly, the data will help to show how the integrated care system in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the Woods System of Care, are saving the government millions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare.

According to a Woods Services representative, Woods Services initially identified the need for a records system that could be accessed by primary care, behavioral care, and residential services.

Qualifacts was uniquely positioned to leverage two of its leading EHR platforms to ensure Woods System of Care partners could easily support and coordinate across the full spectrum of services they provide. Woods Services expects to work closely with Qualifacts during rollout and anticipates significant savings through the partnership.

Woods System of Care/Woods Services is a non-profit, life cycle care management and advocacy organization for people with intellectual/developmental disability (I/DD), behavioral, child welfare, and brain trauma who have complex medical and behavioral health care needs. The organization was founded in 1913 in Pennsylvania and over time has grown to include six affiliates serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey: Abilities of Northwest Jersey; Allies, Inc.; Archway Programs; Legacy Treatment Services; Tabor Services; and Woods Community at Brian’s House. In total, the Woods System of Care/Woods Services serves more than 22,000 children and adults. Its service lines include comprehensive, and integrated health, education, housing, workforce, behavioral health, and case management services. Woods supports its affiliates by providing a population health management strategy, which includes the integration of primary and specialty medical care with behavioral health.

Qualifacts is a leading provider of behavioral health software and SaaS solutions for clinical productivity, compliance and state reporting, billing, and business intelligence. Its mission is to be an innovative and trusted technology and solutions partner, enabling exceptional outcomes for its customers and those they serve. Qualifacts’ comprehensive portfolio, including the CareLogic®, Credible™, and InSync® platforms, spans and serves the entire behavioral health, rehabilitative and human services market supporting non-profit Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) as well as for-profit large enterprise and small business providers. Qualifacts has a loyal customer base, with more than 2,400 customers representing 75,000 providers serving more than six million patients. Qualifacts was recognized in the 2022 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report as having the #1 and #2 ranked Behavioral Health EHR solutions, with its Credible and CareLogic platforms, respectively.

OPEN MINDS last reported on Woods Services in the following articles:

OPEN MINDS last reported on Qualifacts in “Following InSync Acquisition, Qualifacts + Credible Rebrands As Qualifacts,” which published on March 25, 2022

For more information, contact:

  • Steve Kolesk, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Woods System of Care/Woods Services, Post Office Box 36, Langhorne, Pennsylvania 19047-0036; 215-750-4000; Email; Website
  • Roy Leitstein, Executive Vice President, Behavioral Health and President, and Chief Executive Officer, Legacy Treatment Services, 1289 Route 38 West, Suite 203, Hainesport, New Jersey 08036; 609-267-5656; Email; Website
  • Tine Hansen-Turton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Woods System of Care, Post Office Box 36, Langhorne, Pennsylvania 19047-0036; Email; Website
  • Eileen Fox, Manager of Clinical Systems, Woods Services, Post Office Box 36, Langhorne, Pennsylvania 19047-0036; Email; Website

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Join RCPA for a Membership Benefits webinar on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at 1:00 pm in order to orient yourself with all that an RCPA membership entails. This webinar will review the benefits that come with RCPA membership, including many that you may not be aware of. Those considering membership are also invited to become acquainted with the benefits.

Register here to attend this webinar. Items we will review include the below and much more:

  • Virtually meet the dedicated RCPA Policy Staff and RCPA lobbyists;
  • Discuss the 2023 Legislative and Administrative priorities;
  • Assess RCPA divisional committee and subcommittee meetings and what they offer;
  • Understand the additional standing RCPA committees and ad hoc meetings;
  • Discuss the RCPA member-only website;
  • Review exclusive yearly education and networking events; and
  • Evaluate other National Association memberships included with RCPA membership.

Visit the RCPA member benefits page or contact Tieanna Lloyd for more information. We look forward to your participation in this webinar.

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OMHSAS Approves RCPA Telehealth Extension Request
Deadline for Consent/Service Verification Compliance Now March 31, 2023

In an effort to assist provider members in their efforts toward consent and service verification compliance, RCPA requested an extension of the December 31, 2022, deadline. RCPA outlined ongoing challenges towards meeting these standards that included integrating new platforms into existing infrastructure, funding, training, and internal process changes.

Yesterday, we met with the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) to outline these concerns and review provider progress towards compliance. In response, OMHSAS has agreed to extend the date for meeting the consent and service verification standards to March 31, 2023. Funding concerns, especially in the middle of a budget year, were also discussed, and OMHSAS will make available funds to aid providers in implementing these practices.

As part of the RCPA Telehealth Work Group meeting at 10:00 am on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, we will be covering this and other telehealth topics on the agenda. These include our hope to conduct online polling on specific telehealth issues. You can register for the meeting here. Additionally, the second half of the meeting will feature OMHSAS Policy Director Jenna Mehnert Baker, who will provide updates, guidance, and a Q&A. We hope you are able to join us for this call, as your participation in the meeting will provide up-to-date information on your efforts and information that will assist RCPA in our collective endeavors.

We are grateful for the collaboration with OMHSAS and their willingness to extend the compliance timeframe. RCPA is committed to working with providers to ensure telehealth services remain a viable part of the service delivery continuum.

Please forward all questions you may have for OMHSAS to RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

Read the OMHSAS response from Dr. Dale Adair below:

The purpose of this communication is to address concerns expressed by RCPA specific to the impact of ending OMHSAS’ bulletin suspensions on 12/31/22. There appears to be a significant amount of concern about providers’ ability to have telehealth platforms in place by 01/01/2023. Just to clarify, at no point has OMHSAS stated that providers must have HIPAA-compliant platforms in place by January 2023? It is important to note that the Pennsylvania General Assembly has defined telebehavioral health to specifically include platforms. Act 76 of 2022 defined: “Telebehavioral health technology. (i) Any of the following:(i)  Real-time interactive audio and video communication using technology that conforms to industry-wide standards and is in compliance with Federal and State privacy and security laws.(ii)  Real-time interactive audio-only telecommunication, provided that the use of audio-only telecommunication technology is consistent with Federal and State laws, guidance and requirements.(2)  The term does not include technology solely using voicemail, electronic mail messages, facsimile transmissions or instant messaging, or a combination thereof.”

OMHSAS Memorandum dated February 18, 2021, that temporarily suspended portions of bulletins and other guidance documents, stated that “verbal consent must be documented at the time of service, and providers are strongly encouraged to obtain electronic signatures when possible.” This language allowed verbal consent without a second witness during the public health emergency. At that time, OMHSAS also stressed the need for providers to acquire platforms capable of securing electronic signatures. Given OMHSAS’ previous recommendation, providers have had nearly two years to secure a platform capable of securing electronic signatures for consent and service verification. DHS is intending to provide a funding opportunity for providers per the approved HCBS spending plan. OMHSAS continues to look for additional ways to support compliance with the expectations of the Pennsylvania Act 69 of 1999 (Electronic Transactions Act).

It remains imperative for all entities delivering MA funded behavioral health services to have policies in place to capture consent in a way that creates an auditable trail. There are multiple ways that providers of telebehavioral health can meet this requirement including messages typed into the chat box of an audiovisual platform, email, text messaging, USPS mail and two-person verification of a verbal consent secured over the phone. Given the options available to providers and the fact that since 02/2021 OMHSAS has stressed the importance of developing appropriate systems to capture electronic signatures, OMHSAS asks that providers meet federal and state expectations. Understanding the challenges providers are experiencing, OMHSAS will extend the bulletin suspension specific to consent to treat, service verifications and treatment plans only that is scheduled to end on 12/31/2022 until 3/31/23. Effective on April 1, 2023, providers are expected to capture consent to treat, service verifications and approval of treatment plans in a manner that creates an auditable file and in accordance with the timelines expected within regulation. While we understand the operational challenges, waiving the requirement that consent and service verification are secured in a manner that would withstand an audit any longer than three additional months is simply not possible. We believe the definition created in Act 76 serves to govern the delivery of telebehavioral health in the Commonwealth moving forward.

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On behalf of the RCPA IBHS Providers and the children and families of Pennsylvania, RCPA has requested the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) to reopen for review Regulation #14-546: Intensive Behavioral Health Services, based on section 8.1 of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P.S. § 745.8a).

The premise of our recommendations addresses the challenges and barriers IBHS providers have faced in creating the staffing infrastructures and meeting the burdensome operational protocols for regulatory compliance. The overreaching nature of the regulations, coupled with the impact of the pandemic, has caused great strain on an already depleted behavioral health workforce. These system stressors limit the ability to provide vital, quality services to children and families. Due to the prohibition for the use of waiting lists, it is difficult to capture the true number of children and families going without these essential services. We contend there are thousands of children across the Commonwealth with unmet treatment needs and written orders for IBHS services who await care.

The current lack of access to care is a result of the workforce crisis and operational requirements of implementing the regulations. We feel these access issues and children waiting for services are compelling reasons, in the interest of the public, to merit a review of the regulations.

The COVID-19 DHS regulatory flexibilities provided initial relief for providers, and OMHSAS continues to offer waivers to agencies experiencing critical staffing shortages. Providers are grateful for these temporary solutions; however, these waivers do not address the long-term impacts of the current regulatory requirements. Providers continue to struggle to hire qualified staff and contend with burdensome operational requirements, many of which negatively contribute to the efficiency of care delivery.

The expressed purpose of the IBHS regulations was to ensure access to quality care in a consistent and efficient manner. Conversely, the result has been a labyrinth of regulatory and operational interpretations, differentiated reimbursement for the same services, and a human services workforce crisis with no upcoming relief.

RCPA would like to thank the members of the RCPA IBHS Steering Committee for their commitment to conduct the review and the Commission for their willingness to consider this request. We believe these recommendations, if implemented, can address the barriers identified without compromising the original vision for high-quality services and broad access to care.

At last correspondence, the IRRC is in receipt of the recommendations. We will be providing a copy to the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), as requested by the Commission. We will continue to keep members apprised of the review process. If you have further questions, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

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