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Tags Posts tagged with "Guidance"

Guidance

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) shares ODPANN 23-046: Infection Control Procedures and Mitigating the Spread of Infectious Diseases with an NICC Team Consulting Flyer and Mission Statement. This announcement has two purposes:

  • First, to draw attention to the revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) describing how to determine if a facility should be considered a healthcare or a non-healthcare congregate setting.
  • The second purpose is to provide updated guidance to providers of the Office of Developmental Programs’ (ODP) home and community-based services (HCBS) and Private Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability (ICF/IDs) for development of policies related to infection control procedures.

Please review the announcement and attachments for further information and detail.

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On Thursday, May 25, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted updated information to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) website. Included in this updated information is the Review Choice Demonstration for Rehabilitation Facility Services Operational Guide and the IRF RCD Process Flowchart. The flowchart is also contained as an appendix in the operational guide.

The Operational Guide provides additional detail on the processes for IRFs impacted by the RCD. The IRF RCD is expected to begin in Alabama on August 21, 2023. The next phase of the rollout has not been shared yet; however, Pennsylvania is expected to be one of the next states to be impacted.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) recently shared a One Page Reference for Supports Coordination (SC) Billing for Cross-Systems Meetings. The reference document was developed to help Supports Coordinators in determining when to bill for a multi-agency meeting. If the SC facilitates the meeting, it is a billable activity. If the SC is not the facilitator of the meeting but provides information about resources or ODP services in order to better serve the individual and their support needs for more than 15 minutes, they can bill for the time that they were providing information.

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The Bureau of Human Services Licensing (BHSL) within the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has issued the following guidance on the lifting of regulatory suspensions for Personal Care Homes (PCHs) and Assisted Living Residences (ALRs):

On July 1, 2022, the suspension of various regulatory provisions under the state disaster emergency declaration was extended to October 31, 2022. On November 1, 2022, the remaining regulatory suspensions expired, and the full regulatory requirements of 55. PA Code Chapter 2600 (Personal Care Homes) and 55. PA Code Chapter 2800 (Assisted Living Residences) were reinstated.

While most of these regulatory requirements required compliance beginning immediately on November 1, 2022, certain regulatory suspensions included 90-day grace periods designed to allow facilities to fully comply with the regulations. That 90-day period will come to an end on January 30, 2023. Facilities are expected to be able to demonstrate compliance with these regulations beginning January 31, 2023.

A guidance document for Personal Care Homes and Assisted Living Residences includes a list of all applicable regulations that were suspended under the emergency declaration, the dates and details of the suspensions, and clarification on what providers can expect when compliance is being measured in their facilities.

Please note that compliance with annual training requirements is dependent on the 12-month training year for Direct Care Staff and Administrators, as determined by the licensed entity. Training requirements for training years that ended between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, are required to be in compliance by January 31, 2023. If a training year began in 2022 but does not end until 2023, that training year is incomplete and compliance cannot be measured until after the conclusion of the training year.

Please also note that for administrator training years ending in 2023, all 24 hours of administrator training may be completed online, provided that at least 12 of those hours are formatted as a live training (e.g., Zoom, Teams, etc.). A maximum of 12 hours of online asynchronous or pre-recorded trainings are permitted.

Questions about this announcement and the guidance document can be directed via email.

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ODP Announcement 22-111 reminds providers that any regulation that requires completion of 24 hours of training related to job skills and knowledge each year, as well as any regulations that require the provision of training that encompasses the six areas required by regulation, are in full effect. Providers must comply with these requirements.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) recognizes that providers may still be struggling to meet the 24-hour training requirements due to the prevalence of infectious or communicable diseases and continued workforce insufficiency; as such, the following guidance will be applied for training years that end in calendar year 2023:

  • Any training provided that is specific to the mitigation of risk related to infectious and communicable disease may be counted towards the 24-hour training requirements required by regulation. Such training includes, but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Social distancing;
    • Personal protective equipment use (donning, doffing, fit testing);
    • Contact tracing and notifications;
    • Mask, face covering, or face shield use;
    • Cleaning and disinfection practices;
    • Screening for signs and symptoms of infectious disease;
    • Reporting procedures related to signs and symptoms of infectious disease;
    • Notification processes due to infectious reportable infectious disease;
    • Characteristics and methods of transmission of infectious disease;
    • COVID-19 transmission risk by pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals;
    • Safe and healthy work practices and infection control measures;
    • Supporting individuals to engage in mask wearing, social distancing, etc.;
    • Vaccine safety, efficacy, and access;
    • Set up and use of technology in providing remote service delivery or supporting individuals to connect with friends and family;
    • Remote monitoring;
    • Use of the Supports Coordinator Check-In for Well-Being Tool;
    • Engaging in meaningful conversations during check-ins;
    • SC Individual transition guide;
    • Transition discussion and resources video; and
    • Reviewing Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state or local guidelines and trends.
  • Any component of a department-approved Medication Administration Course.

Licensed Providers may self-assess regulatory compliance using ODP’s Inspection Scoresheets or Provider Self-Assessment Forms. If a provider identifies areas of noncompliance while completing a self-assessment, provided those noncompliance areas have been corrected, licensing staff will not identify those areas as noncompliant. Violations identified and subsequently corrected through the self-assessment process will not be cited on a Licensing Inspection Summary.

Please contact the appropriate ODP Regional Program Office or the Department’s Regulatory Administration Unit with any questions about this guidance.

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