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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMH Provider Meeting Minutes 09-10-21Mental Health Provider Meeting Friday, September 10, 2021 MH 1 9/10/21 MEETING MINUTES Welcome & Introduction This meeting was held via Google Meet. Jim Gilbert confirmed which providers were in attendance prior to the beginning of the meeting. Provider Announcements & Updates ≠ AHEDD – Sarah Marshall AHEDD is still seeing a lot of individuals in the community. A lot of individuals are getting jobs. AHEDD is looking to hire a new employment specialist. There has been some interest in the position from candidates. Sarah has been conducting interviews for the position. ≠ Laurel Life – Jim on behalf of Dee Santiago Laurel Life has a minimal waitlist for Family Based and Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS). The Phoenix Drive and Browns Mill outpatient offices are working through the waitlist. ≠ Occupational Services, Inc. (OSI) – Gabby Snider OSI is accepting new referrals for the vocational rehab program, employment services, and the Supporting Individuals Transitioning to Employment Success (SITES) program. Referrals can be made by the supports coordinator (SC). OSI is in desperate need of job coaches for the Community Participation Supports program. Information about the job coach positions is available on Indeed. ≠ New Visions – Craig Cordell The New Visions clubhouse is now open. Precautions are being taken with the opening of the clubhouse. There haven’t been any issues due to a resurgence of COVID. ≠ Mental Health Association (MHA) – Larissa Jacobson MHA is hiring call specialists and peer specialists. The Community Support group is still taking place on Tuesdays. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ+) Thrive group meets every fourth Sunday of the month. The Moving Forward group for individuals on probation, or were previously on probation, meets on Fridays. The Suicide Prevention Coalition has just started in Fulton County. ≠ Keystone Human Services – Caitlin Newcomer Keystone Human Services is still looking for staff for the Forensic Specialized Community Residence (SCR). Interviews are being scheduled. There haven’t been very many applicants for the positions. Two (2) applications have been received for the overnight staff positions. Assessments for referrals are being worked on for the Forensic SCR. ≠ TrueNorth Wellness Services – Kara Anderson TrueNorth currently has open positions including a therapist, crisis intervention specialist, and peer support specialist. ≠ Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) – Karen Johnston HCP is hiring but the positions are not related to mental health services. The Chambersburg School District is requesting postvention staff support services. Mental Health Provider Meeting MH 2 9/10/21 ≠ Pennsylvania Counseling Services (PCS) – Janelle Ward PCS is hiring for the Critical Time Intervention (CTI) and outpatient programs. PCS has hired some new therapists since the last meeting. New clients that have PerformCare are currently being accepted. Not as many clients with private insurance are being accepted due to the lower amount of licensed therapists. ≠ WellSpan Behavioral Health – Steven Petrosky WellSpan is facing the same staffing issues as other providers. There is a lot of health care fatigue on the part of caregivers and staff. Behavioral health is not experiencing a reduction in services for inpatient or outpatient. Adolescent inpatient referrals have been increasing which typically happens when school begins. COVID numbers have been increasing in the Chambersburg area. WellSpan is willing to help support any vaccination efforts in Franklin County. Standing Agenda Items ≠ Tuscarora Manage Care Alliance (TMCA) Update – Jessica Lawson and Jim on behalf of Gen Harper Jessica is the new Planning and Development Director for TMCA. TMCA is waiting on a couple of reinvestment plans to be approved by the state. Jessica is currently working on the community based care management coordination that is required by the state. Jim, on behalf of Gen Harper, announced that the September 13th stakeholder meeting has been cancelled due to a last minute scheduling conflict. Gen will send out an email with the updated stakeholder meeting date once it has been determined. ≠ PerformCare Update – Brian Gannon A provider training regarding the latest teleheath bulletin took place on September 9, 2021. Information from the meeting will be sent out to the group. ≠ Community Resource Spotlight: Franklin County Area Agency on Aging(AAA) – Halee Crist Halee provided an overview of the services and resources provided by the Franklin County Area Agency on Aging. Mission Statement The Franklin County Area Agency on Aging provides a planned program of supportive services to those sixty years of age and older, intended to optimize independence, promote consumer choice, and enhance quality of life. Information and Referral Department Information and Referral is the first department that individuals are connected to when transferred from the receptionist. The goal is to connect callers to different available resources in the community. The services could include collecting referrals from hospitals and doctor’s offices, talking to a loved one about concerns, and gathering information in order to better help the individual. AAA assists with the completion of certain forms and applications, such as PACE/PACEnet applications, Welfare benefits, Property Tax/Rent Rebate Programs, and fruit and vegetables vouchers. Mental Health Provider Meeting MH 3 9/10/21 Person Centered Counseling The program is through PA Link to Aging and Disability Resources. The program is based on a “No Wrong Door Approach.” It is designed to help locate information for the individual even if the office they contacted doesn’t directly deal with the request. This could include warm transfers to the appropriate office, locating and emailing forms to the individual, and form completion. Individuals must be sixty (60) years or older for Person Centered Counseling services. Person Centered Counseling’s main goal is to help individuals identify resources and assist with the decision making process. Individuals can receive short term case management if they have at least two (2) needs. OPTIONS Program The OPTIONS program provides individuals who are at least sixty (60) years of age, within Franklin County, and who meet specific criteria, access to services and resources in their home. The primary concern for providing hands on assistance is personal care. Individuals receive assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, and incontinence supplies. There is a donation closet for unopened incontinence supplies in the Aging office. Assistance is offered to individuals who need to be set up with a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) unit within a certain income bracket. Medication management is offered for individuals who need assistance with putting pills in pill boxes. The OPTIONS program helps provide funding for the Elder Day adult day center. Home Delivered Meals are available for individuals who can’t drive or access reliable transportation. The meals are either delivered hot or frozen depending on the location of the individual. Volunteers deliver the meals to individuals. Individual’s must be agreeable to services, must be primarily in need of personal care services, at least sixty (60) years of age, and provide proof of all forms of income. Senior Activity Centers Senior centers are located in the following locations throughout Franklin County: Chambersburg, Upper Strasburg, Greencastle, Tuscarora, Fort Loudon, Waynesboro, Mont Alto, and Path Valley. The senior centers offer a way for individuals to get a hot meal Monday through Friday. It also provides an opportunity for individuals to get involved in arts and crafts, social activities, and recreational activities. Volunteers are the backbone of the senior centers. Each senior center has a monthly newsletter that can be provided to individuals upon request. Pennsylvania Education and Decision Making Insight (PA MEDI) Apprise changed to PA MEDI as of July 1, 2021. It is a program designed to help individuals new to Medicare or who have questions about their supplemental plans. Medicare is hard for individuals to navigate on their own. Volunteers provide counseling for individuals on the Medicare process, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and their Medicare prescription drug plan. A premium is taken out of social security to pay for Medicare. The amount could be anywhere from $300 to $450 a month depending on the individual’s situation. PA MEDI and the County Assistance Office offer programs to help pay the Medicare Premiums. Individual’s needing services should contact AAA to schedule an appointment for PA MEDI. Due to the limited number of volunteers, callers may need to leave a message with callback information. Mental Health Provider Meeting MH 4 9/10/21 Caregiver Support Program The program is designed to specifically support the caregiver. Caregivers receive assistance for financial reimbursement. A lot of people are under the misconception that they will be paid to be the caregiver for a loved one. The program will help with financial reimbursement if paying out of pocket for the care provided to the loved one. Training, education, and benefit counseling resources are available to the caregiver through the program. Other services provided include reimbursement for home modifications and medications not covered by insurance. Grandparent Program The Grandparent Program is part of the Caregiver Support Program. A lot of grandparents are raising their grandchildren for a variety of reasons. The Grandparent program reimburses the grandparent’s expenses for sports, sport equipment, school uniforms, and extracurricular activities. The receipts for the expenses can be submitted for reimbursement. The grandparent needs to be at least fifty-five (55) years old to qualify for the program. The grandchild receiving support from their grandparent must be seventeen (17) years old or younger. Proof of all income sources would need to be submitted due to being an income based program. Receipts would need to be submitted monthly for reimbursement of costs associated with raising a grandchild. The parent can’t be living in the home with the child. The grandparent is not required to legally adopt the child to qualify for reimbursement. Protective Services Abuse and neglect occurs frequently with older adults in the community. Halee has been trained as a reporter to take Protective Services calls. If anyone suspects that an older adult is being abused, please report the concerns to a hotline. Protective Services helps individuals with their safety if they are unable to obtain services for their own physical or mental health. Individuals must be incapacitated, have no responsible caretaker, and be an imminent danger to a person or property to receive services. Abuse is not something that can always be seen. Protective Services staff can take reports, investigate, and take necessary action depending on the situation. Individuals can contact the Protective Services hotline at 1-800-642-6990. The hotline is a twenty-four (24) on-call service. Please direct questions about any of the programs directly to Halee Crist. ≠ Provider Spotlight: Kidz Therapy Zone – Allison Klimowicz Jim announced that the presentation would be rescheduled for a future provider meeting. County Announcements/Information ≠ Psychiatric Admissions Reporting Overview (handout): Comparing April – June 2021 with April – June 2020 The handout was sent out with the meeting agenda. There were no questions about the handout. If anyone has any questions, please contact Jim. ≠ Reports due since our last MH Provider Meeting:  Audit engagement/extension letter (Fiscal Year ending June 30th)  Audited financial report (calendar year ending December 31st)  Progress report on outcomes in Appendix A Mental Health Provider Meeting MH 5 9/10/21  Quarterly report of Expenditures (April-June)  Salary Review (for Fiscal Year ending June 30th)  Property purchased/property leased report (Fiscal Year ending June 30th)  Fixed assets purchased with MH/IDD/EI funds (Fiscal Year ending June 30th) ≠ Reports due prior to our next MH Provider Meeting:  Quarterly report of Expenditures (July-September)  MCR Report – Program Funded Providers only (September 30th) o We are awaiting the annual written guidance from the State. Once this is received, the report template and additional information will be distributed to the respective providers. ≠ Information from MH/IDD/EI – Cori Seilhamer Respite services for children are being offered every third Friday at Kidz Therapy Zone. Families can register online or call Kidz Therapy Zone to schedule a respite slot. Children must be potty trained to take part in the respite services. Children up to the age of eighteen (18) years old can participate in the respite services. There are fifteen (15) slots available per respite session. Cori and Allison Klimowicz have been working on securing a location for respite services in Waynesboro. Provider staff can still complete the courses offered through PESI. There has been a lot of good feedback about the Compassion Fatigue and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) courses. Continuing education units are offered for completion of the DBT course. Cori will email the link to the courses to anyone who is interested. Cori asked providers to contact the MH/IDD/EI office in order to continue the conversation about how to deal with staffing shortages. o Karen Johnston asked Cori about a short video clip that could be presented to three (3) schools in the Chambersburg School District. The schools have requested presentations dealing with postvention. Cori is going to check on available resources for the presentation. Erin Nye Erin sent an email to providers about the telehealth waiver. The required County Letter of Support for Mental Health Intensive Case Management and Outpatient Psychiatric Services should be sent to Stacey Brookens and carbon copied (Cc’d) to Erin. Providers need to clearly state the service that they would like a waiver for. The request should include if it is for audio only or due to a signature being unable to be attained. Erin or Stacey will reach out if there are any additional questions after reviewing the waiver requests. The MH fiscal officer position is still open and is posted at this time. Please reach out to Erin, Stacey, Cori, or Jim with information about potential candidates. Any individuals interested in the position can reach out directly to Human Resources (HR) for more information. Jim Gilbert Cori, Jim, and Erin visited a crisis respite residential program near Bloomsburg, PA in July. The respite program is operated by Columbia Montour Snyder Union (CMSU). The Path Home is a three (3) bed facility in a country setting. The purpose is to divert individuals from needing to go inpatient. Referrals can be made by case management, therapists, and Mental Health Provider Meeting MH 6 9/10/21 from schools in the area. The individuals can stay five (5) to seven (7) days. A requirement to enter the facility is having a residence to return to after they leave. Once the individual leaves, there is an option to call the program anytime due to being staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day. Jim plans on a second visit to the home in October. The goal is to eventually have a similar program in Franklin County if funds are available. The Path Home is the only licensed program of this nature in Pennsylvania. Jim announced that Tracy Radtke has resigned and will be moving on to another position. Kim Lucas The County mental health office is aware of what’s going on in and around the community. MH staff are looking at trends and resources to determine how best to serve the community. Kim and Nancy Furman from Service Access & Management (SAM) are planning a children’s provider meeting in the future. It will be called the Children’s Resources Roundtable. The first meeting will be held virtually on October 22, 2021. The goal is to provide available resources to help when working with families. o Karen Johnston asked if the meeting would take place regularly. Kim confirmed that the plan is to hold the meeting quarterly. Karen recommended that the four (4) annual provider meetings focus on a different special population. Jim made note of the suggestion. The County is aware of the issue with waitlists due to staffing shortages. Meetings have been taking place to discuss ways the County could assist providers with hiring staff. Kim receives a lot of information about webinars. Jim adds the information to the weekly Sharing Resources Network (SRN). The SRN is a great source of information. Providers can reach out to Jim if they have anything they would like to have added to the SRN email. The meeting was adjourned. Next Meeting: Friday, December 10, 2021 starting at 10:00 a.m. Meeting format is to be determined. 2022 Meetings: March 11th June 10th September 9th December 9th Minutes by Larry Reed