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Tags Posts tagged with "Funding"

Funding

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry has the following grant opportunities that are currently available:

Pennsylvania Industry Partnership Program (IP) Grant:

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) announces the availability of approximately $4,000,000 in funding for the Pennsylvania Industry Partnership (IP) Program Grant awards. L&I will be supporting Industry Partnership Programming through the competitive award of grants of up to $250,000 to support Industry Partnerships across the commonwealth to improve economic growth, while preparing workers with training for their current positions and future advancement. Projects funded through Industry Partnership grants should identify workforce, education and training, and economic development gaps; coordinate regional needs to support industry needs; identify public and community resources to address industry-identified needs; and increase collaboration among businesses within a targeted industry sector. Eligible applicants include local workforce development boards, non-profit and non-governmental entities, community-based organizations, educational and post-secondary educational organizations, labor organizations, business associations, and economic development entities.

More information can be found here, including info on an upcoming bidder webinar on 10/6/22. The IP grants close on 10/28/22. If you have questions or concerns regarding this grant opportunity, please email L&I.

Schools-to-Work Program (STWP) Grant — Round 3:

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) announces the availability of approximately $2,500,000.00 of funding for the Schools-to-Work Program (STWP) Grant award(s). L&I will be establishing a STW Program through the competitive award of a grant(s) to a sponsor(s) in partnership with schools in the commonwealth to support the establishment or enhancement of a workforce development partnership between schools, employers, organizations, or associations to create pre-apprenticeship apprenticeship pathways. This NGA seeks applications to support this statewide initiative. Grant awards may not exceed $250,000.00.

L&I also has funding currently available for school-to-work program grants. The STWP grant closes on 10/12/22. If you have questions or concerns regarding this grant opportunity, please email L&I.

If you have further questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has announced the launch of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) Funding Reporting portal. The online portal will be available on September 30, 2022, for OLTL providers to submit costs associated with ARPA funding distributed in 2021 in order to comply with DHS reporting requirements.

Background: ARPA Funding Information 

In 2021, federal funding from ARPA was allocated by the General Assembly under Act 24 and enacted by Governor Wolf to provide funding to nursing facilities (NF), personal care homes (PCH), and assisted living residences (ALR). These ARPA funds should be used for COVID-19 relief for costs not otherwise reimbursed by federal, state, or other sources of funding.

In addition, ARPA provided a temporary 10 percent increase to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for certain Medicaid expenditures for home and community-based services (HCBS). The funding must be used to enhance, expand, or strengthen HCBS. OLTL outlined in its plan to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiatives to strengthen the workforce and assist Adult Day Services (ADS) providers. The OLTL ARPA plan directed funding to Personal Assistance Service (PAS), Community Integration (CI), and Residential Habilitation (Res Hab) providers to assist with recruitment and retention of direct care workers. The plan also directed additional funding to providers to strengthen ADS.

ARPA funding must be used for things such as sign-on bonuses, retention payments, COVID-19 related leave benefits and paid time off, vaccination incentives, and/or the purchase of personal protective equipment and testing supplies. Additionally, ADS providers can use the funding for retrofitting adult daily living centers, expenses to re-open the centers, and expenses to develop alternative models to provide ADS.

Additional detailed information about the distribution of the 2021 ARPA funding can be found on the DHS Long-Term Care Providers web page.

ARPA Funding Reporting Portal
Effective September 30, 2022, providers can access the portal and begin to report ARPA 2021 costs. Providers can access the portal through the Funding Portal Login web page. The first report due date will be November 30, 2022, and should reflect two reporting periods. Providers are required to submit reports in the portal on a bi-annual basis thereafter according to their exhaustion of the funds. Please reference the chart below.

Report Period 

Due Dates 

07/01/2021 – 12/31/2021

01/01/2022 – 06/30/2022

11/30/2022
07/01/2022 – 12/31/2022 2/28/2023
 01/01/2023 – 6/30/2023 8/30/2023
 07/01/2023 – 12/31/2023 2/28/2024

Providers must keep all documentation related to the costs reported in the final cost report for a minimum of five years.

The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), in collaboration with the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), will be hosting a webinar on September 9 from 9:00 am – 11:00 am to support counties in their use of annual Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) funds. This webinar will include an overview of IECMH, organizations that host IECMH-related conferences, summits, and/or trainings that are preapproved for reimbursement, and instruction for counties on how to submit an IECMH funding request that is not preapproved.

See the Program Flyer for additional details.

MEETING REGISTRATION:

Please register for the IECMH Funding Webinar on September 9, 2022, 9:00 am EDT. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Call-in Number: 415-655-0052
Access Code: 733418631#

For questions regarding the webinar, please contact Amy Kabiru or RCPA Children’s Policy Director Jim Sharp.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

RCPA is pleased to announce that Gaudenzia CEO Dale Klatzker has been appointed to the Behavioral Health Commission for Adult Mental Health.

The commission was created in the recently passed fiscal code as part of Pennsylvania’s fiscal year 2022/23 budget. Language in the law specifically directed the commission to include as a member, among others, “A recognized subject matter expert in the treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders from a list of recommendations compiled by the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association with experience in behavioral health matters.” Gov. Wolf selected Klatzker from among a list of RCPA member behavioral health experts provided by the association.

A leader in behavioral health care for more than 35 years, Klatzker was appointed CEO of Gaudenzia, Inc. in March 2019. Gaudenzia operates substance use disorder (SUD) and co-occurring mental health (MH) programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Established in Philadelphia in 1968, Gaudenzia, Inc. is Pennsylvania’s largest non-profit provider of treatment for SUD and co-occurring disorders.

Before joining Gaudenzia, Klatzker held roles as senior consultant and chief clinical officer for The Margolin Group, as well as senior vice president, Population Health Management, for Care New England. Previous to those roles, he was president and CEO of The Providence Center (TPC) and was at the forefront of establishing programs that integrate primary and behavioral health care through community partnerships and strategic consumer-focused programming. Through his leadership, TPC became a national model for integrated care in community mental health settings.

Klatzker has been both locally and nationally recognized for his leadership and innovative contributions to the field. He has served as board chair of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, chair of Mental Health Corporations of America, fellow for the Rhode Island Foundation Fellows Program, associate clinical professor at Alpert Medical School at Brown University, adjunct professor of psychology at Johnson and Wales University, and adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences and Education at Colby-Sawyer College. He also served on the Rhode Island Healthcare Reform Commission, Community Healthcare Providers Leadership Council, and numerous other commissions and committees.  He received his PhD from the Brandeis University Heller School and his MSW from Boston University.

Reporting to the Department of Human Services, the commission is to be comprised of 24 individuals from various state agencies or areas of specialty, as well as legislative appointees. The commission is charged with issuing a report of recommended funding allocations to the following areas. This funding will come from $100 million of federal American Rescue Plan funds.

  • Delivery of services by telemedicine;
  • Behavioral health rates, network adequacy, and mental health payment parity;
  • Workforce development and retention;
  • Expansion of certified peer support specialist services and peer-run services;
  • Development and provision of crisis services;
  • Integration of behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment;
  • Cultural competencies when providing behavioral health care;
  • Impact of social determinants of health on behavioral health;
  • Intersection of behavioral health and the criminal justice system; and
  • Integrating care that can deliver timely psychiatric care in a primary care setting.

ODP Announcement 22-088 reports that ODP is seeking public comment on the proposed initiatives specific to programs and services for individuals with an intellectual disability and/or autism (ID/A) for which ARPA funds will be used.

ARPA provides a temporary 10% increase to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for certain Medicaid expenditures for home and community-based services (HCBS). The funding must be used to enhance, expand, or strengthen HCBS beyond what is available under Medicaid programs, including ODP’s waivers.

ODP is proposing additional initiatives in the following areas:

  • Data Management Enhancements;
  • Targeted Program Recovery; and
  • Expansion Supplemental Payments.

Interested persons are invited to submit written comments regarding the proposed ODP ARPA initiatives. Comments should be addressed to: Department of Human Services, Office of Developmental Programs, Division of Provider Assistance and Rate Setting, 4th Floor, 625 Forster Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120.

Comments may also be submitted to the Department via email using the subject header “ODP ARPA Initiatives.” Comments received by 11:59 pm on August 19, 2022, will be reviewed and considered for final implementation.