';
Ensure your community is healthy before they interact, with virtual AI-verified temperature and symptom checks. Learn more about how the Fever Free app is the safest, most efficient, and cost effective solution for organizations of any type and size. Stay in compliance with your workplace health screening protocols while giving your community back its peace of mind. This webinar will cover a real-time demonstration about how the app works, tons of Q&A, and an RCPA member testimonial!
Register here to participate.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is recognizing National Rural Health Day today to applaud the many contributions of rural communities and address the unique challenges that they face in accessing and delivering healthcare services. To celebrate, we are highlighting ways that we are working with rural leaders and our partners to increase access to critical healthcare across rural America. Learn more below.
USDA Leadership Discusses Rural Healthcare:
Real Stories of Small Towns Undergoing Big Changes:
Do you need help accessing rural healthcare funding opportunities?
For more information about National Rural Health Day, visit this webpage.
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) will be holding a second webinar on December 1, 2020 from 9:00 am – 11:00 am to provide information on the Act 24 cost reports and give agencies providing personal assistance, residential habilitation, and adult day services a chance to ask questions. Personal care homes and assisted living residences are also invited to attend. The first webinar, scheduled for November 20, 2020, reached capacity, demonstrating the interest in this topic. As a result, OLTL has scheduled another webinar to provide an opportunity for providers to participate.
The due date for the final report is December 21, 2020. No interim report is due for non-nursing facility providers.
Members interested in participating in this webinar must register as soon as possible as there is again a maximum capacity of 500 participants per webinar. Please limit attendance to no more than two individuals per organization. The session will be recorded, and the recording and material covered during the webinar will be made available online.
The Excel reporting template is provided for reference. Questions regarding Act 24 reporting can be sent here.
On Tuesday, State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced additional “targeted efforts” to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, most of the “efforts”, the department acknowledged, still come down to people choosing to do what the department is telling them to do.
Acute care hospitals were sent a memo from Levine outlining expectations to care for Pennsylvanians who need care. However, those expectations seem to be no different from those under which the state’s health care systems have been operating since the spring.
Anyone who visits from another state or returns to Pennsylvania from another state is required to have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to entering the state. If they can’t or won’t get a test, they are required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Pennsylvania, which is an upgrade from the recommendation put in place in early July that these actions be taken if traveling from or returning from states with a high number of virus cases. Still, Levine noted that it is mostly up to the individual to self-quarantine since the state can’t stop every person at the border to demand a test report and then watch each individual who should be under quarantine for 14 days.
Dr. Levine also announced a “strengthened” masking requirement – Pennsylvania already has a mask-wearing mandate – that now includes masking indoors when away from home and even masking in your own home if there are people present who are not members of your household. This mandate is recommended regardless of social distancing (being six feet apart). This is an order that is, again, only as good as the voluntary compliance of individuals.
Finally, Dr. Levine recommended that colleges and universities implement a testing plan for when students return to campus following the holidays.
“We must remain united in stopping COVID-19,” said Dr. Levine, who later, when asked about the possibility of more stringent mitigation efforts, said she can’t predict the future, but there are currently no plans to go back to the closures of the spring.
Source: Capitolwire.com, November 18, 2020
Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for Personal Care Services (PCS) Bulletin 07-20-04, 54-20-04, 59-20-04,00-20-03 outlines compliance requirements when manual edits are required to correct EVV visit data. The bulletin includes the following language addressing documentation for manual corrections:
The intent of this requirement is to ensure that providers are prepared to provide physical documentation (hard copy) of the reason for manual corrections if requested during an on-site audit. Providers have flexibility in how to implement this requirement as long as physical documentation can be provided upon request. This statement does not dictate that providers must use paper time sheets; however, that is one option to satisfy this requirement. If documentation is kept electronically, such as in the provider’s EVV system, providers must be capable of producing hard copies of this documentation as requested.
Questions on the bulletin or this bulletin clarification should be directed here.