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The Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Subcommittee meeting convened on February 5, 2025. During the meeting, a number of presentations were given. In addition to the presentations, the February meeting agenda and the meeting transcript from the January 8, 2025, LTSS Subcommittee meeting were provided.

Members should take time to review the PowerPoint presentations from the meeting:

The meeting transcript is available here.

The next LTSS Subcommittee meeting is scheduled for March 7, 2025, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm and will be held via webinar and remote streaming.

To participate in the meeting via webinar, please register here.
If calling into the meeting, the dial-in information is: 1 (562) 247-8422; Access Code: 145-307-305#

Photo by Tai's Captures on Unsplash

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) has released an updated Respiratory Virus Outbreak Toolkit for Long-Term Care Facilities, including Personal Care Homes and Assisted Living Residences.

The updated toolkit was developed to provide recommendations for facilities before and during a respiratory virus outbreak. This toolkit covers many respiratory viruses, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19, adenovirus, and more. While this toolkit does include information about COVID-19, a more detailed toolkit for LTCFs specific to COVID-19 can be found here. This toolkit replaces the previous Influenza Outbreak Toolkit for Long-Term Care Facilities.

DOH is in the process of updating the poster required by the Influenza Awareness Act. In the meantime, providers are encouraged to continue to use the 2023-2024 Poster.

Questions about this communication should be sent electronically.

Two announcements regarding fall/winter 2024 training programs were recently released for personal care home (PCH) and assisted living residence (ALR) administrators. Both training programs are free of charge and may be counted toward the annual administrator training requirement.

The training programs include:

If you would like to participate in these online training programs, please visit the above links as well as their respective announcements to register for the courses. You need only to register for one session for each course. Please read the training announcement in full before registering to ensure you can meet the participation requirements.

Please only register for a session if you are sure you will be able to attend. Participation is limited. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants.

If you have any questions or if you require assistance with registration, please email the PCH Admin inbox.

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Temple University has announced free online training options that have been approved to meet personal care home (PCH) annual training requirements. There are two spring 2024 training sessions with various dates to choose from. To learn more about the training sessions and to register, visit the following links:

Participation is limited for each course. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants. If you have any questions about these trainings or if you require assistance with registration, please email PCH Administration.

A Joint Statement of Policy was released in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 13, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the State Board of Nursing, and the Department of Human Services (DHS) regarding the application of Pennsylvania’s partial implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act. The partial implantation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act (2021 Act 68) allows Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) who hold current multistate licenses from other compact states to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without obtaining a license from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, so long as the licensee’s principal place of residence is not in this Commonwealth.

What does this mean for Personal Care Homes (PCH) and Assisted Living Residences (ALR)?

The Joint Statement of Policy clarification on the partial implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact Act means that PCH/ALR providers may consider a RN or LPN with a multistate license who does not have their principal place of residence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be equivalent to a RN or LPN who holds licensure through the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. Any reference to “Registered Nurse,” “RN,” “Licensed Practical Nurse,” “LPN,” or “nurse” in 55. PA Code Chapter 2600 and 55. PA Code Chapter 2800 and their corresponding Regulatory Compliance Guides (RCG) may be interpreted to include eligible multistate licensed nurses, regardless of whether or not the regulation specifically indicates that licensure is required by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.

All other statutory and regulatory requirements continue to apply. All nurses being utilized in PCH/ALR settings must be able to provide services at the physical location if their job description, facility policies and procedures, and/or resident needs require direct resident assessment, evaluation, or treatment.

Visit here for more information on multi-state nurse licensure, including identification of states participating in the compact. Questions about this communication may be directed via email.

Temple University Harrisburg will be offering some no-cost training options that are approved to meet Personal Care Home (PCH) and Assisted Living Residence (ALR) Administrator annual training requirements. The training sessions that will be offered in the fall include:

Interested individuals need only to register for one session for each topic. Please read the training announcements in full before registering to ensure you can meet the participation requirements.

Please only register for these sessions if you are sure you will be able to complete them, as participation is limited for each course. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants.

If you have any questions about these trainings or if you require assistance with registration, you can email Temple University. If you would like information about additional trainings available for PCH and ALR administrators, please contact the Bureau of Human Services Licensing Operator Support Hotline via email.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) issued a communication regarding a delay in the distribution of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding allocated to Personal Care Homes (PCH) and Assisted Living Residences (ALR) by Act 54 of 2022.

As of 2/6/2023, approximately 50 percent of the Act 54 payments for PCH and ALR had been processed by OLTL, and approximately 25 percent of the total facilities for which form submissions have been received have been fully processed and paid by the Treasury. DHS anticipates that it may take until the end of March 2023 for the remaining 50 percent of payments to be processed and finalized. Providers are asked to please be patient while the remaining payments are processed. If your facility is anticipating serious negative consequences from the delay of your payment, please email.

Visit here for information on the exact breakdown of the $26,767,000 of available Act 54 funding for PCH and ALR.

Please remember that Act 54 of 2022 requires the ARPA funding to be obligated by December 31, 2024, and spent by December 31, 2026, or returned to the Commonwealth. Additionally, these funds must be used for COVID-19 related expenses. Providers must keep documentation to prove that these funds were used for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic in case of an audit. Any person or entity accepting an ARPA payment agrees to provide documentation to the Department of Human Services (DHS) upon request for purposes of determining compliance with Act 54 requirements. Instructions on expenditure reporting will be provided at a later date.

DHS recommends that providers consult their accountants or attorneys for further clarification on acceptable uses of ARPA funding. DHS encourages providers to review guidance for eligible expenditures on the US Department of the Treasury website in their Compliance and Reporting Guidance.

If your facility has not submitted an Act 54 Facility Acceptance Form, you may still do so. Do not submit this form if your facility has previously applied for this funding.

Other questions about this information may be directed via email.

Temple University Harrisburg is offering free online training sessions that are approved to meet the Personal Care Home (PCH) and Assisted Living Residence (ALR) Administrator annual training requirements.

The training sessions are entitled:

You need only to register for one session for each topic. Please read the training announcements in full before registering to ensure you can meet the participation requirements. Please only register for these sessions if you are sure you will be able to complete them.

Participation is limited for each course. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants.

You can email Temple University any questions you have about these trainings or if you require assistance with registration. If you would like information about additional trainings available for PCH and ALR administrators, please contact the Bureau of Human Services Licensing Operator Support Hotline.

On an annual basis, the Bureau of Human Services Licensing (BHSL) provides approximately 500 hours of training for Personal Care Home (PCH) and Assisted Living Residence (ALR) administrators and staff. In order to help maximize the impact of BHSL’s training programs, members are requested to complete a ten question survey. Survey results will be kept anonymous and will be used to shape their training programs in 2023 and beyond.

This survey is intended only for administrators and staff of a licensed PCH/ALR. The survey is optional; however, your participation is strongly encouraged. The survey will be available until February 28, 2023.

Questions should be directed via email.