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Policy Areas

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) sent members of the OMHSAS Planning Council’s Children’s Committee the draft Training and Supervision Requirements for Therapeutic Staff Support (TSS) Workers bulletin, noting that the document is being distributed for public comment. Public comment on this bulletin is being accepted until Monday, January 11, 2016. RCPA has requested an extension of the period for stakeholder review and comment, given the extremely short time allotted by OMHSAS. OMHSAS is asking that comments be submitted via email.

RCPA will submit comments and will inform members if the time period for review and comment is extended by OMHSAS. In addition to sending your comments to OMHSAS, please also forward them to Connell O’Brien, director, RCPA Children’s Division.

DHS and PDA Invite Brain Injury Providers to Meet With MCOs Interested in Community HealthChoices

The Departments of Human Services (DHS) and Aging are continuing to develop Community HealthChoices (CHC), Pennsylvania’s plan for managed long-term services and supports. The success of CHC will be determined by a number of factors, including the relationships between future managed care organizations (MCOs) and existing providers. It is extremely important to continue the conversation with MCOs and Pennsylvania’s experienced providers, to successfully transform the fee-for-service system to managed care.

An invitation has been extended to RCPA’s Brain Injury Committee members to participate in an upcoming MCO meet and greet session, exclusively for brain injury providers. As a part of this invitation, we were asked to establish a panel and presentation, as well as participate in a facilitated discussion with the MCOs. Because of the importance of this meeting, please plan on sending at least one representative from your organization to this event. We have also been asked to submit questions we may have for the MCOs prior to the meeting date.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 14 from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Hilton Harrisburg, 1 North 2nd Street. This will be a working lunch meeting (boxed lunches will be provided to registered attendees). Registration/RSVP is required.

Please respond to Melissa Dehoff if you will be attending. Responses are due no later than Monday, January 11, so the list of attendees can be provided prior to the meeting and the appropriate number of lunches ordered.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has released her “Plan to Support Children, Youth, and Adults Living with Autism and Their Families.” This autism initiative would include screening, diagnosis, treatment, services, support for families and caregivers, and an increase in research funding.

The plan was released on January 5, with a conference call featuring state Senator Bob Casey, who is a member of the Congressional Autism Caucus. He emphasized the daily challenges for individuals with autism and their families:

  • The need for tools and supports to help lead a full life;
  • Implementation by each state of the ABLE Act to offer funding options for enhancing daily living;
  • Development of a study on autism in adults; and
  • Development of an awareness campaign to emphasize the need for early screening and interventions.

As previously reported, the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is conducting work groups to develop recommendations for the development of youth-young adult peer support services and for youth-young adult psychiatric rehabilitation services. RCPA is participating in both work groups through the involvement of the Directors of the Children’s Division and the Mental Health Division. In January, RCPA will be scheduling a focused conference call with members providing Medicaid-funded peer support service, psychiatric rehabilitation services, and adolescent-young adult mental health services. The purpose of the conference call will be to review the status of the OMHSAS work groups and to gather input from the field with regard to service design, the development of service, supervision and program description standards/regulatory changes, and to better understand the operational and clinical care, cost, and compliance implications for these services.

The Bureau of Autism Services (BAS) is conducting a preliminary survey to help inform the design of services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are transitioning out of high school, including those who may have had justice intersections or psychiatric hospitalizations. This survey is designed to be completed by professionals with or without experience supporting individuals with ASD ages 18-25. BAS is asking for feedback on both surveys by Friday, January 1.

BAS has developed two versions of this survey; one for individuals and families, and another to be completed by professionals. The professionals survey can be completed here. Any questions about these surveys can be directed to the Bureau of Autism Services via email.