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OMHSAS

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The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) invites individuals to participate in the Attitudes Towards Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Survey.

Prospective participants are individuals who provide clinical direction or clinical supervision to staff who occasionally provide behavioral or mental health services to children ages 0 through 8 and their families. See the memorandum for details.

To register as a participant and/or to learn more about the benefits of participating in the ARTIC Survey Study and about the Cross-Sector Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services Collaborative, please review the memorandum, which contains 2 registration links: one for a brief online Question & Answer Webinar, which will be held on August 17, 2021, from 1:00 pm–2:00 pm, and the other for enrolling as a survey participant. Questions regarding the Webinar can be directed here.

Thank you in advance for your interest. We hope you can participate, and we look forward to hearing from you. If you have any further questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Director Jim Sharp.

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As part of the ongoing intensive behavioral health services (IBHS) implementation, the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has released an updated IBHS frequently asked questions (FAQ) guide. This guide represents a composite of updated inquiries regarding the standards and will be updated as a companion piece to the implementation.

The RCPA Children’s IBHS Workgroup continues their work on standards and implementation values for our members and will convey their findings to the Children’s Division via alerts, infos, and regularly scheduled divisional meetings. Contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp with questions.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is positioned to advocate for federal relief funds to assist the behavioral health system in Pennsylvania throughout the public health emergency (PHE). We know that people are struggling and that the need for services will continue to grow; there are daily reports in the national news of increased suicides, increased calls to crisis services, and increased deaths by overdose.

OMHSAS is asking for valuable information to support their allocation requests. Please provide specific, measurable data to help support the need for dollars to aid the behavioral health system. A sample of metrics can be found in this OMHSAS correspondence.

This information will be most helpful if each data point is related to a certain service or population. OMHSAS is not currently looking to gather anecdotal information.

The turnaround time is very quick as responses are due on Friday, February 5, 2021. These responses should be sent via email to this contact.

If your RCPA policy director can be of assistance, please contact them directly.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has released updated Intensive Behavioral Health Service (IBHS) guidance bulletins. These bulletins are both effective beginning January 17, 2021; they provide information on the provision of one-to-one individual and applied behavior analysis (ABA) services in a licensed IBHS location as well as updates to the IBHS procedure codes. The full bulletins can be found below.

RCPA will be reviewing these bulletins along with the RCPA IBHS Work Group to develop any needed response or clarification. If you have any questions or concerns related to these bulletins, please reach out via email to this contact or RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has released guidance information confirming that OMHSAS programs are indeed in Phase 1A of Pennsylvania’s Interim Vaccination Plan for providers who are seeking to obtain vaccinations for their programs. While this particular response focuses on the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program as a pathway to vaccinations, we are recommending that providers seek all available options that include federally-qualified health centers (FQHC’s), hospital and regional health systems, and county boards of health.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) has made available a map of vaccine providers to assist your efforts. Please contact your RCPA policy director for any assistance you may need in your efforts. RCPA will continue to update its members on any changes in the plan.

OMHSAS Guidance

In order to facilitate vaccine distribution across Pennsylvania, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine signed an order on December 30, 2020 directing that at least ten percent of each vaccine shipment to hospitals, health systems, federally-qualified health centers, and pharmacies (collectively called “vaccine providers”) be designated for non-hospital affiliated health-care personnel who would otherwise be included in Phase 1A of Pennsylvania’s Interim Vaccination Plan, which was updated on Friday, January 8, 2021.

Health-care personnel as defined in Phase 1A include:

  • Physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, technicians, therapists, phlebotomists, emergency medical service personnel, direct support professionals (in-home and community-based services and adult day facilities), staff of long-term care facilities that have residents prioritized in 1A, staff in residential care providers serving children, pharmacists, clinical personnel in school settings or correctional facilities, and contractual staff working in but not employed by the health-care facility. People who are not involved in patient care but who could be exposed to COVID-19 through careers in dietary services, environmental services, laundry services, security, maintenance, facilities management, and other administrative services as defined in the Interim Vaccination Plan are also included.

Long-term care facility staff are considered health-care personnel above, and long-term care facility residents are also in Phase 1A. Long-term care facilities as defined in Phase 1A include:

  • Skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, assisted living facilities, private intermediate care facilities for individuals with developmental disabilities, community group homes, residential treatment facilities for adults, long-term structured residences, state veterans homes, state centers, private psychiatric hospitals, and state hospitals.

The Department of Health recently released a map of vaccine providers who can administer a COVID-19 vaccine to anyone covered by Phase 1A. Anyone covered under Phase 1A who has not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine can contact any of these providers to check availability and schedule their vaccination, but we encourage providers to contact sites and coordinate for their employees who are eligible. Employees should be prepared to show proof of employment. This map is being updated regularly, so please keep checking for new locations with vaccine supply and available appointments.

Long-term care facility staff and residents may be eligible for the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. The Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program is currently prioritizing skilled nursing facilities at this time. If your facility is enrolled in the program, CVS and Walgreens may have already reached out to schedule a vaccination date with you. However, if your facility has not already scheduled a vaccination date with CVS or Walgreens, you are encouraged to contact your local vaccine provider. The Department of Human Services (DHS) and Department of Health are also working together on additional solutions to expedite vaccine distribution to DHS-licensed facilities. Please keep track of who in your facility has already received a vaccine.

As vaccine supply is limited, it may take some time to find a vaccination provider and appointment. Thank you for your patience through this process, and most importantly, thank you for being united in our collective fight against COVID-19.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is committed to ensuring that children, youth, and young adults receive appropriate behavioral health services to meet their individual needs and that they do so in settings that provide the best opportunity for accomplishing their documented treatment goals.

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In an effort to streamline the flow of information between the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) and providers; provider associations; and consumer, family, and advocate representatives, OMHSAS will hold monthly webinars throughout 2021.

Starting in January 2021, the webinars for providers, provider associations, and consumer, family, and advocate representatives will take place on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm. They will begin on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. A separate webinar will be held with counties and county affiliates. We ask stakeholders to join in only one monthly meeting; they should choose the meeting that will best suits their interests.

OMHSAS will use this monthly time to provide general updates and discuss issues that meeting attendees will send to OMHSAS ahead of time. Recommendations for agenda topics can be submitted via email by the close of business on the second Tuesday of each month.

OMHSAS will send out email reminders for each monthly meeting. The first reminder will be sent out two weeks in advance to remind stakeholders to send in agenda topics; it will also contain webinar registration information. Another email reminder will be sent one week in advance of each meeting; it will contain only the webinar registration information.

Below are the dates and times for each provider, provider association, and consumer, family, and advocate representatives meeting in 2021:

OMHSAS is open to ideas and suggestions on how they can maximize the effectiveness of these meetings with the ultimate goal of meeting the needs of OMHSAS stakeholders and staff.

If you are not currently on the OMHSAS distribution list, please contact us here.

Please register for the OMHSAS Provider/Family Member Stakeholder Meeting on January 19, 2021 at 3:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time (EST).

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar.

 

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) released the following bulletins and companion documents outlining updated processes and procedures for Intensive Behavioral Health Services fee-for-service (IBHS FFS) prior authorization and provider IBHS attestation. The updated IBHS attestation bulletin extends the attestation process from October 19, 2020 until January 17, 2021. If a provider has already completed and submitted an IBHS attestation form prior to this new bulletin, no new submission is required.

Please see the following documents:

If you have any question, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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