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Policy Areas

The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has announced that they will be presenting a live, interactive, six-session webinar series on housing issues.

The webinars will be held every Wednesday, beginning May 24, 2023, through June 28, 2023, from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm. They will include targeted content and question and answer sessions with housing experts and staff from OLTL.

The information covered in this webinar series will be similar to the information covered in the 2022 OLTL housing webinar series.

This webinar series builds on information already provided in the Online Housing Training Modules and the Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania (SDHP)/Inglis’s Prepared Renter Program (PREP) curriculum.

This series of webinars is designed to be taken in order. The content in each session builds on prior content. Participants will get the most out of the program by taking all of the sessions in order. Although individuals are not required to complete the sessions in order, to keep the sessions focused, the webinar leader may opt to table questions that were covered in prior sessions.

The target audience for this webinar series is Service Coordinators (SC), Managed Care Organizations (MCO), and Service Coordination Entity (SCE) support staff who assist program participants in securing and maintaining affordable, accessible housing through Home and Community-Based Services. Additional target audiences for these webinars includes individuals and organizations who provide long-term services and supports for older Pennsylvanians and people with physical disabilities.

2023 OLTL Housing Series Curriculum

Webinar 1: Understanding Housing Nuances in Pennsylvania

  • 12 Housing Sector Nuances to Be Aware Of

Webinar 2: Recommended Relationships to Have in the Housing Sector

  • 6 Key Partnerships to Cultivate

Webinar 3: Types of Housing Funding Sources

  • 6 Kinds of Funding Sources to Be Aware Of

Webinar 4: Fair Housing with the Housing Equality Center of PA

  • Reasonable Accommodations & Modifications
  • Fair Housing Law

Webinar 5: Keeping Participants Housed with Landlord Engagement Techniques

  • 6 Key Concepts to Understand in Keeping Participants Housed

Webinar 6: Top 7 Housing Information Resources to be Aware Of

  • Housing Resources

Registration is available.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) wishes to create awareness of a recent announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommending consumers, health care providers, and facilities not use certain surgical N95 respirators manufactured by O&M Halyard, and to use caution with certain surgical masks and pediatric face masks manufactured by O&M Halyard. For access to additional details, please visitFDA Safety Communication: O&M Halyard Surgical N95 Respirators, Surgical Masks, and Pediatric Face Masks.”

If this creates a hardship to a provider, please reach out to Douglas Trahey electronically.

On April 17, the 17th Annual EIFLE Awards were presented to 13 recipients during the Annual Conference on Financial Education (ACFE). The judges presented the awards to individuals and organizations for their distinguished accomplishments in developing, implementing, and promoting successful financial literacy education worldwide [read full article].

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting the 2023 Virtual Quality Conference. The conference, Building Resilient Communities: Having an Equitable Foundation for Quality Healthcare, will be held on May 1–3, 2023 and will focus on improving quality, equity, and innovation.

Leaders in the health care space will explore and educate how advocates, providers, researchers, and champions in health care quality improvement can develop and spread solutions to address America’s most pervasive health system challenges. To view the agenda and additional information, as well as to register, use this link.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

ODP would like to remind Enterprise Incident Management (EIM) users of an upcoming change to the EIM system relating to the identification of targets. Effective Monday, May 1, 2023, when the selection in the “Target Relationship to the Individual” drop down is Another Individual or Provider Staff Member, the format of the target identifier must be as follows: the first two initials of the first name, first two initials of the last name, and last four digits of the SSN. All initials must be capitalized and there can be no spaces, dashes, or other characters between the initials and the digits. For example: AOBR1234.

The requirement to identify targets using this format has been in effect since the publication of Bulletin 00-21-02 Incident Management.pdf (pa.gov). Please see pages 15–16 of this Bulletin for information on identifying targets. Previously, the system allowed for targets to be identified with a variety of formats. This change was announced in the HCSIS Release 90.15 Newsletter on March 31, 2023. HCSIS Release Newsletters can be found under the HCSIS Communique link in the HCSIS Learning Management System (LMS). For targeted technical assistance or questions, please contact your ODP Regional Office or send inquiries via email.