PCPA, along with other stakeholders, met today with Joan Erney, Deputy Secretary of the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), to discuss the latest budget situation. Here is the good news and the bad news:The Good News:
- The legislature returns September 9 and will resume their work with the governor on the budget crisis.
- OMHSAS is working on a process by which enrollment in HealthChoices for D&A clients can be expedited. Ultimately, they will have a more efficient system for immediate enrollment, but until then if providers need someone expedited they will work it out on an individual basis. More information will follow soon. However, if you need to utilize this process immediately contact Lynn Cooper at PCPA.
- Stopgap funding letters for September went out from OMHSAS and the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs (BDAP).
- D&A children’s services under EPSDT are moving forward. Service descriptions are being developed.
- Work is being done to include more D&A services in the state plan, which will allow services like Partial Hospitalization and Non-Hospital Residential Services to be reimbursed by Medical Assistance.
The Bad News:
- Stopgap funds for October are impossible to predict right now.
- It appears that the legislature and the administration are no closer to a solution than they were before they left Harrisburg.
- Work has begun on the 2004/05 budgets and each Department has been asked to submit budgets that reflect a 3% cut.
Be sure to contact your legislator and make calls to the legislative leadership on September 9 to remind them once more that now that they are back in Harrisburg D&A funding needs restored immediately. PCPA will keep you posted. Thank you aain for all your hard work and perseverance.