HomeMy WebLinkAboutIDD Provider Meeting Minutes 05-20-22Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
Provider Meeting
Friday, May 20, 2022
MEETING MINUTES
Welcome & Introductions
This meeting was held via Google Meet. Marion Rowe confirmed which providers were
present prior to the beginning of the meeting.
Lori Young
Everyday Lives Conference
Providers can still sign up for the Everyday Lives Conference if they have not
done so already. The regional collaborative days for the conference are May
24th and 25th. The technology day for the conference is June 1st. Dual Diagnosis
days are scheduled for June 8th and June 9th. The employment day is scheduled
for June 16th.
Deeper Dive Training
Providers that signed up for the Deeper Dive Training on June 15th for the regional
collaborative should have received an email from Dave Maloney with the
Columbus Organization. Providers should inform Lori if they did not receive this
email. The email contains all the needed information to sign on to the training.
Lori can provide Dave Maloney’s contact information to providers who still wish
to sign up for the Deeper Drive Training.
Quality Assurance and Improvement Process (QA&I)
QA&I is going to start Cycle Two (2) Year One (1) on July 1, 2022. Providers should
start receiving emails, announcements, and information about a training starting
in June. Jessica Martin with the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) will be
leaving her position. She is the central region lead for QA&I. Lori will send any
questions from providers to the central office until her position is filled.
o It was asked what Master Provider Identifier (MPI) numbers would be
getting an onsite review. Lori believes it will be providers with MPI numbers
that end in zero (0), one (1), or two (2) but she has not received any
announcements about the NPI’s at this time.
Jane Cline
Residential Vacancies Online Tool ODP Announcement 22-036
The online tool can be used to report residential vacancies. It was announced at
the last meeting with ODP that hardly any residential providers are utilizing the
tool. The tool is for open vacancies that providers plan on filling. The online tool
replaces the statewide vacancy list that was sent to providers in the past. The old
link for providers to complete the survey about their vacancies is not working. A
new link to complete the surveys will be sent to providers in the next couple of
days. Jane reminded providers that any vacancy that they plan on having filled
in Franklin or Fulton County needs to be added to the Residential Vacancies
Online Tool.
Franklin County Assistance Office (CAO) Upcoming Changes
Jane received notification from the Franklin CAO that they will be transferring all
waiver enrollments to Indiana County. Keisha and Amber were the primary point
IDD Provider Meeting
people for waiver services including waiver enrollment, reauthorizations, and
waiver questions. They were always great to work with and helped fix any
problems with waivers. The state has decided that Franklin and Fulton Counties
will no longer be doing waiver enrollments for any programs or nursing home
enrollments. Indiana County will be doing all waiver enrollments for Franklin
County starting in the middle of July. Indiana County has six (6) case workers that
will be randomly assigned to the case. Reauthorization and recertification lists will
no longer be sent to IDD program specialists from the Franklin CAO. The waiver
enrollment process as it pertains to receiving PA 162 forms will now take much
longer. Bedford County will be the enrollment agency for Fulton County.
o A provider asked when the effective date for the change in the process
would be. Jane stated that some of the reauthorizations have already
started to be sent out by Indiana County. The whole process should be
transitioned over by the middle of July. Indiana County will be responsible
for waiver enrollments for five (5) counties.
Marion Rowe
Enterprise Incident Management (EIM) Reminders
ODP announced yesterday that providers no longer need to enter the brand
and vaccination dates when completing an incident report for a COVID positive
individual. The incident would need to indicate if the individual is fully
vaccinated. Reports for individuals in residential facilities would still need to
include the number of individuals in the home and any quarantine efforts to
prevent the spread.
Audrey Wicks with ODP continues to review all incident reports associated with
an individual that has had a fall. Providers must include any previous falls within
the last six (6) months in the report. Audrey is looking for any trends or any type of
risk mitigation strategies put in place to reduce further falls.
A couple of providers in Franklin County should have received an email from
Marion about ODP requesting additional information for incident reports that
were not entered in the system. ODP is reviewing medical assistance (MA) claims
coded as emergency room (ER) visits or hospitalizations and cross referencing
the claim date to see if there is a corresponding incident report in EIM or the
Home and Community Services Information System (HCSIS). If there is not a
corresponding incident report, ODP is emailing Administrative Entities (AE) to
follow up with providers about the related claim date. Providers will need to
enter an incident report and provide information/corrective action for why it
was entered per the bulletin. There were six (6) reports recently sent to Marion
from ODP. Most of the reports were from 2019 and one (1) from 2020. Marion
gives the provider a deadline to respond with the incident number or an
explanation of why it does not need to be entered. This information is then
forwarded to ODP. It is unclear how long this process will continue but ODP has
stacks of MA claims to review.
o Tony Fisher stated that the two (2) that FCS received would not be
incident reports under the new incident management bulletin. Marion
informed Tony that an incident report would need to be entered even if
the incident category has changed. It would not need to be entered if it
IDD Provider Meeting
was not a reportable incident. Marion will make sure to include supports
coordinators (SC) in the email correspondences with providers moving
forward.
Incident reports related to behavioral intervention or serious illness should
include a degree of a timeline. For example, an incident report for an
individual admitted to the hospital due to illness should include a description
of any actions taken by the staff or provider prior to the hospital admission to
ensure the health and safety of the individual. Behavioral intervention reports
should include a description of the steps taken by the provider prior to
reaching this level.
ODP Announcement 21-083 will be included with the minutes. This
announcement pertains to neglect incidents. Neglect incidents are related
to when the individual is at risk and their health and safety is in jeopardy.
Providers need to determine if the individual is at actual risk or if it is a general
complaint from a staff member that should be handled internally. The
announcement was mentioned at a previous meeting during a discussion
about backup plans and best practices. The purpose was to ensure services
are provided at the frequency and duration that the individual needs. It
would determine if the individual was put at risk due to the service not being
provided. The information would need to be included in the individual
support plan (ISP). The backup plan included in the ISP could be referred to
when determining if a neglect report is needed.
Meetings Moving Forward
Marion wanted to know if providers would like to have face to face meetings or
play by ear based on COVID numbers going forward. A few providers noted that
they would like to have in-person meetings. Marion stated that the next meeting
format will be determined a few weeks out from the meeting date. The COVID
numbers will be taken into consideration when determining the meeting format.
Shanna Golden and Matt Yingling
Supports Coordination Organization (SCO) Updates
Laekhan Hull has left her position with Service Access and Management (SAM).
Carrie Biggs will be filling the vacancy. Carrie Keebaugh will be leaving SAM.
SAM will be hiring for an SC predominantly in Franklin County. Cathy Morales left
her position as regional director. Kristen Benway will be the new regional director
starting May 23, 2020.
Fiscal year renewals are currently being worked on. The needed information has
been received from most residential providers. The information includes the “with
day” service units projected for the year. The purpose is to make sure everyone is
staying within the established budgets based on frequency and duration of the
current year. Cap exceptions that aren’t supposed to be there can’t be
exhausted. Marion asked providers to reach out to the SC’s if they are looking for
an authorization or they didn’t receive all their authorizations on July 1st to get it
corrected right away.
IDD Provider Meeting
Katie Freeman
Health Care Quality Unit (HCQU) Updates
There are two (2) upcoming webinars. The first webinar will be held on May 24,
2022 from 10:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. It is a social media 101 training regarding
social media and internet safety. Emily Corbin is scheduled to speak during the
webinar. Emily’s sister was an IDD individual who worked for the Advocacy
Alliance. She met someone online who ended up killing her. Emily has turned this
tragedy into an opportunity to educate people on how to stay safe online. The
flier was included with the agenda with the Zoom link. No registration is needed
for the webinar and anyone can attend. The second webinar will be held on
June 15, 2022 starting at 12:00 P.M. It is a nutrition webinar that will include
nutrition information as well as a cooking demonstration by the Giant
Company’s nutritionist. Katie will make sure the flier is sent out to providers.
The HCQU is back to working with individuals out in the community. Providers can
contact the HCQU if there is a situation where an individual would require in-
person services.
Reports
Friendly reminders of due dates for our Base funded providers
(See Procedure Statement MHIDDEI-416)
o June 30th – Audited Financial Report for Calendar Year ended 12/31.
o July 10th – Audit Engagement/Extension Letter for FY ending June 30th
o July 31st – Progress Report on Outcomes in Appendix A
o August 15th – Quarterly Report of Expenditures (April – June)
– Property Purchased/Property Leased (FY ending June 30th)
– Fixed Assets Purchased with IDD Funds (FY ending June 30th)
If you have any fiscal questions, please contact Ashley McCartney
(almccartney@franklincountypa.gov).
Round Table/Provider Updates
Occupational Services, Inc. – Keith Bowers
The Supporting Individuals Transitioning to Employment Success (SITES) program
at OSI has a good opportunity for shared IDD clients. The SITES program has been
open for several years but only to mental health individuals. OSI is going to open
the program two (2) days a week to IDD individuals. The SITES program teaches
career skills, life skills and social skills. The program will be available two (2) days a
week for three (3) hours a day (8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) to IDD individuals. The
goal of the program is to get individuals back out into the work place or out to
the workplace for the first time. The program has been a great success with MH
individuals. Every individual who has graduated from the program is still actively
employed to date. OSI will be able to take three (3) individuals a day. Beginning
in July, OSI will be looking for six (6) individuals for the IDD SITES program. It is a
non-paid program. Individuals will not get paid to participate in the program but
the efforts they put in will help them succeed in the long run. Individuals do have
to have transportation to get to the program and must be willing to make a six
(6) month commitment to the program.
IDD Provider Meeting
If anyone is interested, open enrollment begins in July. Referrals should be sent to
Gabby Snider at OSI Redwood. There is a specific mark on the referral form
about being interested in the SITES program. Once the referral is received, an
initial interview is set up with each individual to find out who they are, what their
interests are, and what their goals are. From there is step 2 - a trial day. The
individuals will come to the existing day program so they can get a feel of it,
meet other people and see how OSI does things. There is then a determination
made whether they are ready to join the program or not. If they are ready to
join, OSI would invite them to start the program in September. If there is more
work needed in the meantime, a determination will be given for that as well so
individuals know what they need to work on to come into our program.
The program is available for new or existing individuals of OSI. All they have to do
is make sure they have a SC from SAM to get the referral started.
The ARC of Franklin and Fulton Counties – Lorrie Miller
The ARC is excited to share that they are starting socials back up. The first one is
an Ice Cream Social on June 16th at Norlo Park from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Antietam Dairy will be there. There is also a commitment from Civitan Club to
provide volunteers. The ARC’s newsletter have gone out and signs up are
available. Anyone is welcome!
The ARC is going to try to get their social recreation program started. They
currently have a driver but still need an aid. The ARC is looking at possibly two (2)
activities at the end of June then starting the program back up full time in July.
Volunteers of America (VOA) – Jane Merolla
VOA has an accessible vehicle available in Franklin County with some ridership
opportunities. VOA is available to help any individuals needing transportation to
their programs.
Keystone Human Services – Don Hill
Keystone is making a lot of progress filling staff vacancies. As a result, they are
starting to look for referrals. They will hopefully be able to get those vacancies
filled shortly.
Person Directed Supports (PDS) – Rachel Travis
PDS had a group of individuals attend a prom event “Among the Stars” at the
Foursquare Church. The event was outside of “Night to Shine.” Great event!
Staffing is still struggle for PDS. They were able to raise wages for direct support
professionals (DSP) and front line management.
AHEDD – Sarah Guyer-Marshall
AHEDD is finishing up transitioning students for the Transition to Adult Life Success
(TALS) program. AHEDD is going to try to partner closer with the Office of
Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) to present information to the schools. There is
confusion between their program and the services through TALS. A meeting is
IDD Provider Meeting
being set up with OVR and AHEDD to discuss details and present a clearer
picture of what the services are like so teachers understand how to refer and
who should be referred. AHEDD is working on trying to educate everyone to
increase referrals and to get as many students services as they can.
PA Health Management – Nicole Fleet
Hiring has been a struggle for PA Health Management. They are currently trying
to get DPS hired.
Family Care Services (FCS) – Tony Fisher
Staffing issues are occurring at FCS as well. They are trying to find more families to
provide services.
Tony mentioned the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) supplemental payments
that are available. If providers have not applied, he encourages them to take a
look. There are training funds available that expire on June 30th. There are funds
for technology and also for hiring and retention. Tony asked if anyone has been
denied or questioned on how they will spend the money on the training funds for
those the four (4) competencies listed. Marion noted that most feedback is
about what providers are utilizing the funds for. The counties are removed from
the ARPA funds so information does not get sent to them nor can they provide
direction in regards to the funds.
Tony noted that the draft 6500 regulatory compliance guide (RCG) is out. It has
been in draft form for a long time. There is a 6400 RCG but this does not apply to
LifeSharing. ODP will be using the 6500 RCG during upcoming licensing which will
allow for feedback.
Upcoming Trainings
See attached HCQU trainings
Next Provider Meeting
Friday, August 19, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
2022 Provider Meeting Schedule
August 19th November 18th
Minutes by Larry Reed