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RCPA has signed onto a letter to Congressional leaders of the Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance, along with 244 other signatories, outlining the need for parity in addiction and mental health care under Medicare.
As the President’s 2023 Budget and Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan report has highlighted, Medicare is not subject to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act). As a result, Medicare beneficiaries do not have coverage of or access to the full range of mental health and substance use disorder benefits they need, and often lose access to treatment they were receiving prior to becoming eligible for Medicare. Although Congress has eliminated disparate financial requirements for Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare still imposes both quantitative (e.g. 190-day lifetime limitation on psychiatric hospital care) and non-quantitative treatment limitations that would violate the Parity Act. Applying the Parity Act to Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D is the critical next step to make mental health and substance use disorder services available and accessible to the millions of Medicare beneficiaries in need of treatment.
Read the full letter here.
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) will be presenting a live, interactive webinar series on housing issues. This five-session series will be offered twice (see schedule below). The webinars will include targeted content, including question and answer (Q&A) sessions with housing experts and OLTL staff. Each session is scheduled for 90 minutes to allow for interaction and Q&A segments.
The webinar series targets Service Coordinators, Managed Care Organizations, and Service Coordination Entity support staff who assist program participants in securing and maintaining affordable, accessible housing. This series builds on information already provided in the Online Housing Training Modules and the Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania (SDHP)/Inglis’s Prepared Renter Program (PREP) curriculum.
This series of webinars is designed to be taken in order. The content in each session builds on prior content. Participants will get the most out of the program by taking all the sessions in order. Although individuals are not required to complete the sessions in order, to keep the sessions focused, the webinar leader may opt to table questions that were covered in prior sessions.
The series will be presented twice:
2022 OLTL Housing Series Curriculum
Webinar 1: Understanding and Navigating Housing Nuances
Webinar 2: Recommended Relationships and Resources in the Housing Sector
Webinar 3: Funding Sources and Clarifying Affordability Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Webinar 4: Legal Issues Related to Housing
Webinar 5: Keeping Participants Housed and Landlord Engagement Techniques
To register for the Housing Webinar Series, please go to the OLTL Housing Webinars registration page.
The Council on Brain Injury (CoBI) released the following information regarding a free webinar they will be offering through their clinical forum series on brain injury and substance misuse that will feature opioid misuse. The webinar is scheduled for July 12, 2022, from 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm. Details are below.
CoBI Clinical Forum Series presents: Brain Injury and Substance Misuse, Featuring Opioid Misuse: Practical Implications for Brain Injury Providers (A Webinar)
A Presentation and Discussion With Monica Vaccaro
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 | 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm | Webinar
Monica Vaccaro is the Director of Programs for the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania (BIAPA), providing oversight and direction to multiple programs, including the Brain Injury Resource Line, NeuroResource Facilitation, Brain Injury and Opioids Training, and the BrainSTEPS School Re-Entry Program. In addition to her role with BIAPA, she is a Research Associate at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, with a particular interest in interventions for common effects of brain injury, including anger management, depression, and goal setting.
This session is intended for a professional audience. There is no cost to attend.
Questions? Please contact MJ Schmidt.
The RCPA Conference 2022, Together, is committed to being held in-person this year at the Hershey Lodge October 11 – 14, 2022. We will not be offering a virtual option; however, our plan is to record sessions for registrants to access after the conference in order to take advantage of over 60 sessions that will take place live.
We are excited to announce keynote speakers Dick Finnegan, speaker, author, & CEO of C-Suite Analytics, on “Cutting Turnover 20% and More During ‘The Great Resignation,’” as well as Deborah Riddick, Principal Consultant at Alternative Frame LLC, where she works with clients across the country providing policy analyses, engagement strategies, and health equity trainings.
Hear from our national partners Chuck Ingoglia from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and Gabriel Sedor of ANCOR for updates on the current federal landscape. Meg Snead and Jen Smith will share PA perspectives, and returning conference favorite Mike Cohen will close out the conference with a return of “Dear Helga,” who has many new experiences to share.
Each day will be packed with informational sessions from peers and experts in the field. Topics include recruiting and retaining talented employees, value-based payments, managed care organizations’ focus on Social Determinants of Health, use of technology in providing services, the importance of data, leadership skills, trauma-informed care and supervision, telehealth considerations, effective advocacy with legislators and others, supporting people with various challenging needs, guardianship laws, and more. A full schedule will be released with registration information soon.
We are also grateful to our early sponsors and exhibitors! Thank you for showing your support for our 2022 Conference!
There are still many sponsorship opportunities as well as available exhibitor spaces! Please contact Carol Ferenz to discuss possibilities.
We look forward to seeing you all Together this October!