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Authors Posts by Jack Phillips

Jack Phillips

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Mr. Phillips is responsible to assist the association with health policy, which primarily includes member communication and advocacy with the Governor’s office, General Assembly, and state regulatory agencies. Mr. Phillips was most recently at the Pennsylvania Department of State as Director of Legislative Affairs.

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The National Council for Behavioral Health has drafted a document outlining Medicaid funding in Pennsylvania for mental health and drug and alcohol services. The document provides pertinent information regarding how much money Pennsylvania receives in Medicaid funding and how Medicaid expansion has helped the state’s economy and allowed more individuals to receive health care benefits. Please contact Jack Phillips, RCPA Director of Government Affairs, with questions.

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On Monday, March 13, the House Health Committee will hold a meeting at 9:30 am in Room 205, Ryan Office Building to vote on HB478, which is sponsored by Rep. Tina Pickett (R – Bradford). The bill aims to assist outpatient psychiatric clinics to meet the growing demand and address the shortage of psychiatric time we are facing in Pennsylvania by changing the number of hours of psychiatric supervision required for each staff member per week. Additionally, the bill will allow licensed prescribing professionals to work within their scope of practice as is the case in the physical health care arena.  RCPA requests members to contact legislators that serve on the House Health Committee, and ask them to vote YES to move the bill out of committee.

The following legislators serve on the House Health Committee:

Republicans
Matt Baker, Chair
Kristen Hill
Aaron Bernstein
Alexander Charlton
Becky Corbin
Eli Evankovich
Frank Farry
Aaron Kaufer
Dawn Keefer
Harry Lewis
Paul Schemul
Todd Stephens
Jesse Topper
Judy Ward
Martina White
David Zimmerman

Democrats
Flo Fabrizio, Chair
Mary Jo Daley
Vanessa Brown
Mike Schlossberg
Kevin Boyle
Jason Dawkins
Pam DeLissio
Ed Gainey
Stephen Kinsey
Gerald Mullery

For your convenience, you can find the above legislators’ contact information here. Questions, contact Jack Phillips, RCPA Director of Government Affairs.

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RCPA released the following statement to the media following
Governor Wolf’s 2017/18 budget address:

HARRISBURG (February 7, 2017) — In today’s budget address, Governor Wolf outlined his proposal to consolidate four existing departments into one new, unified Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services (PA-HHS). RCPA applauds the governor’s commitment to restructuring state government and how the Commonwealth delivers services to Pennsylvania’s aging population, as well as Pennsylvanians with intellectual and physical disabilities, mental health, and substance use disorders.  According to RCPA’s President and CEO Richard S Edley, “RCPA is eager to partner with the governor and his staff on this monumental transformation of state government. RCPA’s diverse membership is generally supportive of the governor’s proposal to create a new Department of Health and Human Services. Our members and staff look forward to providing information and recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly regarding areas relating to unfunded mandates, duplication of services, and modernizing and streamlining the regulatory process.”

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Media contact:   Sharon Militello, RCPA Director of Communications
(717) 364-3280 •  smilitello@paproviders.org

About the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA):
With more than 300 members serving well over 1 million Pennsylvanians annually, Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA) is among the largest and most diverse state health and human services trade associations in the nation. RCPA provider members offer mental health, substance use, intellectual and developmental disabilities, brain injury, residential, and rehabilitation services for children, adolescents, and adults through all settings and levels of care. Visit www.paproviders.org for more information.

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Message from Richard Edley, RCPA President & CEO:

On January 19, 2017, RCPA sent out an announcement urging individuals to contact the governor’s office regarding the concerns over the proposed ODP Medicaid waiver amendments, specifically related to Chapter 2390 licensed vocational facilities and Chapter 2380 licensed adult training facilities. I am pleased to say that this is NOT a necessary step at this time.

I have spoken directly with Nancy Thaler, Deputy Secretary of the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), and she has notified me that ODP will hold a meeting of all day/vocational providers in early March to review questions, concerns, and the entire process. This is similar to the recent meeting ODP had with all residential providers.

This is in addition to the upcoming three day (01/31 – 02/02) work group of stakeholders being held by ODP to review the proposed regulations and the comments received. I will be representing RCPA and we will have several provider and other member representatives also in attendance.

In light of these meetings and the proposed process, it would be more appropriate to enter in that discussion and suspend direct calls to the governor’s office. While we have concerns, ODP has assured us that there will be a forum and mechanism to voice these concerns and to have a more constructive discussion.

If you have any questions, please contact me. RCPA will certainly provide an update after the conclusion of these meetings.

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