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Advocacy Alert

Do you believe older adults and individuals with disabilities should have easier access to mental health services? (We certainly do).

 

Currently, marriage and family therapists and licensed mental health counselors are not eligible Medicare providers, despite the important role they play in delivering treatment, recovery, and prevention services.

 

However, there is new legislation to change that – and it needs your support!

 

On March 18, Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) reintroduced the Mental Health Access Improvement Act (S. 828). This legislation would allow marriage and family therapists and licensed mental health counselors to participate in the Medicare program, dramatically expanding access to care for older adults and individuals with disabilities.

 

This simple change would immediately increase patients’ access to needed care, particularly in underserved communities, rural areas, and areas with a mental health workforce shortage.

 

Will you take two minutes today to urge your Senators to cosponsor the Mental Health Access Improvement Act? 

Thank you to those of you who already took action to ask your Representatives to cosponsor the House version.

Sincerely,

Chuck Ingoglia
President and CEO
National Council for Behavioral Health

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Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

Governor Wolf announced his intention yesterday to nominate Meg Snead to be the next Secretary of the Department of Human Services (DHS). RCPA President/CEO Richard Edley remarked, “With Ms. Snead’s broad, extensive background in the human services community, we are confident that positive change will continue, in our mutual goals towards serving the most vulnerable residents of our Commonwealth. RCPA has worked with Ms. Snead in the past on several key issues and we look forward to continuing this collaboration with her in this new role as Secretary.” View the official press release.

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Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller has announced that she is vacating her position at the end of April, to pursue an opportunity out of state. Governor Wolf has also made public his plan to nominate Meg Snead, Secretary of Policy and Planning, to assume these responsibilities. RCPA President/CEO Richard Edley notes, “RCPA is extremely grateful to Secretary Miller for all of her hard work on behalf of the human service providers and those individuals they serve in the Commonwealth. She will be missed, and we wish her the best in her new endeavor.” View the official press release here.

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RCPA Urges State to Dedicate $750 Million in Federal Aid for One-Time Payment to Health and Human Service Providers

*View Press Release and Resources Below*

Funding would offset decades of chronic underfunding, added challenges of delivering services during pandemic

HARRISBURG, March 22, 2021 — The Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA) wants the commonwealth to give health and human service providers a one-time cash infusion of at least $750 million using federal aid, plus additional federal matching funds, to mitigate decades of chronic underfunding and address additional challenges that have arisen during the pandemic.

“To put it plainly, the safety net for our health and human services system is nearly disintegrated,” said RCPA President and CEO Richard S. Edley, PhD. “Our providers have faced chronic underfunding for some 20 years, and that financial pressure is now coupled with increased costs to provide critical services during the pandemic, associated staffing shortages, and increased service demand.

“The time to get dollars to the health and human services system is now,” he said.

Pennsylvania will receive $13.5 billion in stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to support state and county programs. The ARP also contains $12.667 billion in Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) dollars, with a 10 percent increase in the HCBS Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP).

The state should provide $750 million through ARP to support health and human service providers that deliver adult/children’s mental health, drug and alcohol, intellectual and developmental disabilities, brain injury, medical rehabilitation, juvenile justice, physical disabilities and aging services. Additionally, the full applicable increase in FMAP should be directed to providers and represents several hundred million additional available dollars.

RCPA is postponing its request for an annual rate increase to the health and human service line items in the state’s 2021-22 General Fund budget in return for the direct one-time cash infusion to help providers cover costs incurred because of COVID-19, recruit and train workers to address a critical staff shortage, offer wage increases/bonuses and benefits to employees, make or backfill costs to program infrastructure changes, and address other challenges.

Behavioral health has faced a pattern of chronic underfunding for more than 20 years, including a full 10 percent cut in the state’s 2012-13 budget that has never been fully restored. Lack of funding has destabilized the safety net mental health system, leading to a reduction of mental health hospital beds, reductions to community housing and residential programs, closure of outpatient programs, and more.

New rate-setting and policy changes advanced by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) are putting at risk services that the intellectual and developmental disability community relies on daily for support and assistance. Some programs are facing the possibility of shutting down or changing eligibility requirements to accept only individuals who require less intensive services.

RCPA members who provide drug and alcohol, brain injury, medical rehabilitation, juvenile justice, physical disabilities and aging services have also experienced chronic underfunding and increased regulatory oversight and administrative expense, and major changes to the way treatment is provided in the commonwealth is particularly affecting service delivery.

On top of all this chronic underfunding, health and human service providers are now faced with providing services to vulnerable individuals during a pandemic. Providers are now required to provide personal protection equipment (PPEs) to employees, increased sanitation efforts, facility modifications to ensure safe distancing, equipment and technology for telehealth services, and testing of patients for COVID-19. The need for mental health services is on the rise because of the pandemic. Additionally, providers are fighting to maintain adequate staffing levels.

“The human services workforce crisis existed pre-pandemic; it has now reached new, almost insurmountable, hurdles,” Edley said. “We have to do all we can to ensure these programs finally get the funding they need to meet these rising challenges before the crises become unmanageable.”

About the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA):
With well over 350 members, the majority of who serve 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, drug and alcohol, intellectual and developmental disabilities, children’s, brain injury, medical rehabilitation, and physical disabilities and aging services, through all settings and levels of care. Visit www.paproviders.org for more information.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sharon Militello
P: 717-364-3280

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By Robert Swift, Staff Writer, Capitolwire

HARRISBURG (March 17) – A clearer picture is emerging of what Pennsylvania can anticipate in federal aid under the newly enacted American Rescue Plan (ARP).

The $1.9 trillion spending plan signed by President Biden last week is the third round of relief from Washington since the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the nation one year ago.

The Commonwealth and local governments stand to receive billions of federal dollars that can be spent for various purposes during a three-year period.

Schools and higher education institutions in Pennsylvania are due to receive large chunks of federal aid. So are private businesses in Pennsylvania struggling to recover from the accompanying economic recession.

ARP provides aid to individuals and families in the form of recovery rebates and tax credits for children and dependent care assistance and continuing unemployment compensation.

The broad aid categories under ARP include transportation, housing, child care, health and human services which includes COVID-19 vaccination programs, agriculture, food and nutrition and veterans’ affairs, according to an analysis by the House Democratic Appropriations Committee (HDAC).

There are also big programs for which Pennsylvania’s aid share hasn’t been calculated yet: Medicare, Nursing facilities and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Gov. Tom Wolf highlighted ARP’s impact for families and individuals in Pennsylvania when the plan passed Congress.

“It will provide direct payments to more than 5.5 million households,” said Wolf. “It will provide $671 million in emergency rental assistance. It will extend federal unemployment insurance benefits that will help more than 400,000 Pennsylvanians make ends meet.”

ARP will provide nearly $7.3 billion in direct aid to state government for such purposes as recouping revenue losses due to fighting the pandemic, extra pay for essential workers and water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.

The issue of ARP aid surfaced Wednesday as the House Appropriations Committee approved two shell bills, House Bill 935 and House Bill 936, to serve as vehicles for the Fiscal Year 2021-22 state budget.

House Appropriations Majority Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York, said the goal is to get the new federal dollars out as soon as possible as part of the next budget.

“This is a historic opportunity, said Appropriations Minority Chairman Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery. “We should be smart in looking at it.”

Bradford suggested giving priority to addressing inequities in education, long-term care for senior citizens, the hourly minimum wage and poverty exemptions for the state personal income tax.

Saylor responded that discussions about ARP aid have to take into account large amounts of unauthorized overspending by the state Department of Human Services in the current budget.

The Senate Appropriations Committee had rescheduled its state budget hearings to run later in March and April in order to account for the coming aid from Washington.

The plan’s impact will be discussed during the hearing for Budget Secretary Jen Swails scheduled for April 22, said appropriations panel executive director John Guyer.

Under ARP, the direct aid to local governments in the Keystone State totals $6.1 billion. Direct local aid was missing from the first two federal COVID relief packages enacted last year. The state’s 67 counties will split an estimated $3 billion from that pot.

“The American Rescue Plan offers counties the flexibility to address a range of local needs, from covering increased expenditures related to the pandemic, to replacing lost revenues, to providing further assistance within their communities, to investing in infrastructure such as broadband,” said Lisa Schaefer, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

“This is a significant amount of money,” said Rick Schuettler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Municipal League.

Schuettler said it can be used to make up for lost revenue, undertake water, sewer and broadband infrastructure projects and helping local businesses hurt by the pandemic.

The League plans to provide guidance to municipalities outlining best practices for spending the money coming from Washington.

Under ARP, Pennsylvania elementary and secondary schools will receive an estimated $5 billion for use through September 2023. There is aid for private schools, special education students and homeless students.

ARP is placing greater emphasis on addressing learning loss and remedial education needs due to the pandemic and students’ academic, social and emotional needs, according to the HDAC analysis.

This translates in about $900 million going to school districts and charter schools to address learning loss as well as aid for summer enrichment and afterschool programs and $109 million dedicated for special education.

“[ARP] provides dedicated education funding that will help schools make in-person instruction as safe as it can be, while intensifying support and instruction for students who have experienced delayed learning,” said Chris Lilienthal, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Lilienthal added that ARP will ensure schools don’t have to resort to layoffs of educators because of a decline in local tax revenue collections and other pandemic impacts.

Higher education institutions in Pennsylvania stand to receive $1.3 billion in direct federal aid.

“The System is projected to receive a total of $219 million,” said David Pidgeon, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. “Of that, half is to go to students for emergency aid and the other half can be used by the universities to address COVID needs.”

Businesses will receive aid in a number of categories: economic disaster loans, restaurant revitalization grants, grants to “shuttered venues” and economic adjustment assistance. The Pennsylvania share of business aid has yet to be determined.

Under the umbrella category of health and human services, Pennsylvania is to receive $1.2 billion for child care programs, $34 million for Head Start, $5.7 million for family violence prevention, $46 million for a community mental health services block grant, $47 million for a substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant and $260 million for low-income energy assistance.

In transportation, Pennsylvania will receive $1.25 billion in federal transit administration grants.

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Today, Xavier Becerra was confirmed, with a narrow approval (50-49), as the new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Becerra, currently serving as California’s Attorney General, was also a former member of Congress. He will play a part in the Biden Administration’s  plans to create a Medicare-like public health care option, health care reform, and take on a major role with HHS helping to facilitate COVD-19 vaccinations and testing efforts. Read more.

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