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Tags Posts tagged with "OLTL"

OLTL

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Due to a scheduling conflict with the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) participating in RCPA’s Brain Injury Committee meeting on October 26, 2022, OLTL has agreed to provide their update via a separate webcast. The update/webcast has been scheduled for November 16, 2022, at 11:00 am and will be led by Randy Nolen. The topics of discussion include:

  • Clarification of the role of the Service Coordinators and the process providers should use for reporting inaccuracies, etc. Providers are experiencing an increase of SCs telling families and providers that job functions are not their job, including not assisting participants, families/support persons, and providers with issues such as the participant needing a higher or lower level of care.
  • Updates on the next RFP for the CHC-MCOs.
  • Consideration of a bed hold provision and how this could help ease some financial strain for the BI providers. Is this something that can be included in the next RFP for the CHC-MCOs?
  • Possibility and consideration of having a BI Specialist within OLTL and the CHC-MCOs.
  • With only 25% of ARPA funds spent, is there a possibility of applying for more?
  • Status/update on the checklist that was shared in April 2022.
  • Updates on next steps from OLTL regarding CMS’ HCBS quality measure set.

Register to participate in this discussion here. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Dehoff.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has been sending reminders to personal care homes, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities regarding the benefits of Long-Term Care Resiliency Infrastructure Supports & Empowerment (LTC-RISE). Please see the latest reminder below:

Over the last several months, the LTC-RISE partners have been reaching out to skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, and assisted living facilities with various quality improvement projects funded by their partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). By completing a needs assessment with you at your facility, the LTC-RISE partner can work with you to identify and support areas of improvement that will strengthen your facility’s ability to respond to any future health crisis at no financial cost to you. Some of the areas they can assist with include infection prevention and control, emergency preparedness, facilitating staffing contracts, use of health technology, and more! Please see the letter for additional information on this initiative for personal care homes and assisted living facilities, as well as skilled nursing facilities.

Many of you have already taken advantage of the opportunity to participate in any or all of these programs, but for those of you who have not, I encourage you to reach out directly to your local LTC-RISE partner to find out about how to enroll and be included in this and future opportunities that may become available.  

Please go to the DOH LTC-RISE website to read more about this opportunity, see which region serves your facility based on county, and see contact information to find out more about enrolling with our LTC-Rise partners.

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On October 7, 2022, the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL)/Financial Management Services (FMS) conducted a stakeholder meeting. During the meeting, a PowerPoint presentation was reviewed. Going forward, these stakeholder meetings will take place on a quarterly basis. There will also be an FMS Advisory Group established. A link to the application to be considered for this group is included in the PowerPoint presentation (slide 23). They are still accepting applications if anyone is interested in this opportunity.

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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.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) will conduct a Financial Management Services (FMS) stakeholder webinar on October 7, 2022, from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm. This public meeting will be to discuss upcoming changes for the administration of FMS under the Community HealthChoices (CHC), OBRA Waiver, and Act 150 programs. Representatives from the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) and CHC Managed Care Organizations will be in attendance to discuss upcoming changes. Registration is required to participate in the webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

If you choose to use your phone to call in, please use the numbers below:

Dial in: (631) 992-3221
Access Code: 988871316#
Audio PIN: shown after joining the webinar

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Registration is now open for the October 4, 2022, Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Subcommittee meeting. The meeting will be held in person and will also offer participation via webinar. The meeting will take place at the PA Department of Education’s Honors Suite, 333 Market Street in Harrisburg, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.

Public comments will be taken after each presentation. Questions can be entered into the chat box during the presentations, and these questions will be asked at the end of each presentation. There will be an additional period at the end of the meeting for any additional public comments. If participants have any concerns about alternative methods for submitting questions or comments during a subcommittee meeting, including options when no internet access is available, please email DHS.

The Department of Human Services (DHS), Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) is using technology that allows individuals to participate in the webinar and listen through computer speakers instead of participating by dial-in. Dial-in will still be available if you do not choose to participate by webinar, but the number is no longer toll free.

To participate in the meeting via webinar, please register by visiting this link. We encourage those participating by webinar to register early. When registering, please verify that you entered your email address correctly. You will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar if you registered correctly.

Dial-In Number: (914) 614-3221
Access Code: 803310710#

Remote Captioning and Streaming Link

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ODP Announcement 22-100 is to announce the release of the Home and Community-Based Services Rule and Pennsylvania’s Statewide Transition plan webcast. The recording of this presentation is now available.

Pennsylvania’s Final Statewide Transition Plan and information about how to provide public comment, including during webinars specific to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Office of Developmental Programs, and Office of Long-Term Living, are available at the DHS website.

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On August 22, 2022, the Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the availability of Pennsylvania’s Final Statewide Transition Plan (STP) for the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Rule for a 30-day public comment period. The announcement contained plans for DHS to record a presentation providing a general overview of the HCBS Rule and Pennsylvania’s Final Statewide Transition Plan to prepare stakeholders for public comment. The recording of this presentation is now available on the Home and Community-Based Services Statewide Transition Plan web page.

Pennsylvania’s Final Statewide Transition Plan and information about how to provide public comment, including during webinars specific to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Office of Developmental Programs, and Office of Long-Term Living, are also available on the HCBS STP web page.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has released a communication that provides clarification to Act 150 Service Coordination entities on the Act 150 to Community HealthChoices (CHC) Waiver Transfer procedure. This procedure outlines the steps the Act 150 Service Coordinator (SC) should take once the participant has been confirmed nursing facility clinically eligible (NFCE), and a financial eligibility determination is needed to confirm if the participant is to transfer to the CHC Waiver.

As detailed in the Act 150 Guidelines, the reevaluation process is to be conducted at least once each year within 365 days of the first level of care determination and each subsequent year.

Additional questions should be sent to OLTL’s Division of Fee for Service Operations electronically.

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The Department of Human Services (DHS) announced they will be accepting comments on Pennsylvania’s Final Statewide Transition Plan (STP) for Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). This plan applies to Medicaid Waivers under the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL), Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), and Office of Child Development & Early Learning (OCDEL). The notice is below and includes additional information about upcoming webinars.

HCBS Settings Rule – Background

CMS published the HCBS Rule, which amends the Medicaid regulations for HCBS waivers under section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act. The HCBS Rule supports enhanced quality of programs and services and adds protections for individuals receiving services. The HCBS Rule reflects CMS’ intent to ensure all individuals receiving services and supports through Medicaid waivers have full access to the benefits of community living, including receiving services in the most integrated setting. The HCBS Rule includes a provision requiring states to develop a transition plan to ensure that services will meet federal requirements by March 2023.

Statewide Transition Plan

The Department received initial approval of its STP on August 30, 2016, which can be accessed at the Department’s HCBS Stakeholder Waiver and Planning Team web page.

To receive final approval of Pennsylvania’s STP, the Department is required to complete the following remaining steps and submit an updated STP with this information included:

  • Complete a thorough, comprehensive site-specific assessment of all HCBS settings, implement necessary strategies for validating the assessment results, and include the outcomes of this assessment within the STP;
  • Draft remediation strategies and a corresponding timeline that will resolve issues that the site-specific settings assessment process and subsequent validation strategies uncovered by the end of the HCBS rule transition period (March 17, 2023);
  • Outline a detailed plan for identifying settings that are presumed to have institutional characteristics, including qualities that isolate HCBS beneficiaries, as well as the proposed process for evaluating these settings and preparing for submission to CMS for review under heightened scrutiny;
  • Develop a process for communicating with beneficiaries that are currently receiving services in settings that the state has determined cannot or will not come into compliance with the HCBS settings rule by March 17, 2023; and
  • Establish ongoing monitoring and quality assurance processes that will ensure all settings providing HCBS continue to remain fully compliant with the rule in the future.

This information is included in Pennsylvania’s Final STP for public comment. A presentation providing a general overview of the HCBS Rule and Pennsylvania’s Final STP will be recorded by the Department and posted by the end of August to prepare stakeholders for public comment. Information about where to access the presentation will be published when it is available.

As outlined in the public comment section below, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), and Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) will each hold webinars to go over information in Pennsylvania’s STP that is specific to their waivers and programs. Public comment will be accepted during each of these webinars.

Public Comment

Pennsylvania’s Final STP is available for a 30-day public comment period at the Department’s HCBS STP web page. Comments will be accepted no later than 11:59 pm on September 22, 2022. Stakeholders may provide public comment through one of the following methods:

  1. Electronic comments submitted via email
    1. Stakeholders are asked to use the subject header “PA Final STP” and submit comments to this mailbox.
  2. Written comments submitted via mail
    1. Mailing address: Department of Human Services, Office of the Secretary, P. O. Box 2675, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2675.
  3. Verbal and written comments during public comment webinars
    1. The following dates and times below are for stakeholders to participate in the public comment webinars:
      1. Webinar Specific to STP Information for OCDEL
        September 12, 2022
        9:00 am – 10:00 am
        Please register for the webinar via email.
      2. Webinars Specific to STP Information for ODP
        September 8, 2022
        10:00 am – 12:00 pm
        Please register for the webinar.
        September 12, 2022
        1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
        Please register for the webinar.
      3. Webinar Specific to STP Information for OLTL
        September 15, 2022
        2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
        Please register for the webinar.

When submitting electronic or written comments, it is recommended that you include the following information:

  • The page number or Appendix where the information you are commenting on is located; and
  • Which office (OCDEL, ODP, or OLTL) the comment applies to, if applicable.
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