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Brain Injury

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Part 1: Navigating Evidence: Finding and Synthesizing Literature for Evidence-Based Practices
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CDT;
12:00 pm – 1:00 MDT; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PDT
Register Here

Part 2: Making Evidence-Based Practices Work: Strategies and Outcomes
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CDT;
12:00 pm – 1:00 MDT; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PDT
Register Here

Michael Peterson, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist and Clinical Transformation Specialist

Speaker Bio:
Michael works as a Clinical Transformation Specialist, where he focuses his efforts as part of a Clinical Transformation team to promote a culture of evidence-based practice at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota. Michael is also a speech-language pathologist with 12 years of clinical experience working with children and adults with childhood-onset conditions. He applies his clinical experience and advanced training in knowledge translation and implementation science to partner with and guide clinical staff to bridge the gap between evidence and clinical practice.

Objectives: At the end of these sessions, the learner will:

Part 1: Navigating Evidence: Finding and Synthesizing Literature for Evidence-Based Practices

  • Describe how to search for literature using PICOT questions
  • Identify resources to support appraisal of relevant papers
  • State the purpose of synthesis tables in supporting evidence-based practice decisions
  • Describe how to use synthesis tables to make evidence-based practice recommendations

Part 2: Making Evidence-Based Practices Work: Strategies and Outcomes

  • Describe how frameworks guide implementation of EBP
  • State how barriers and facilitators influence implementation of EBP
  • Describe implementation strategies
  • List different kinds of outcomes to monitor implementation of EBP

Audience: This webinar is intended for all interested members of the rehabilitation team.

Level: Intermediate

Certificate of Attendance: Certificates of attendance are available for all attendees. No CEs are provided for this course.

Medicare binary sign concept illustration design over black

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced two days of interactive training webinars that will cover Medicare basics. The webinars will be offered on April 16 and 17, 2024, from 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm. Attendees can attend one or both days, and space is limited. CEUs will not be offered. The topics for the webinars include:

Day 1 — Medicare enrollment and eligibility; SSA and CMS roles and responsibilities; cost and coverage under Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance); why enrolling on time is important; and an overview of Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policies.

Day 2 — Medicare drug coverage (Part D); Medicare Advantage Plans; coordination of benefits; how to detect and report suspected Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse; and different resources to help you find answers to Medicare policy and coverage questions.

To register for these events, visit the CMS National Training Program website. The webinars will be recorded and posted to the NTP website. To view the recordings, visit here.

The next Long-Term Services and Supports Subcommittee (LTSS) meeting has been scheduled for May 8, 2024, as a hybrid event, with both in-person and webinar with remote streaming options available to attendees. The meeting will be held from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Honors Suite, 1st Floor, at 333 Market Street Tower, Harrisburg, PA.

Register for the webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

With close to 400 members, the priorities of RCPA leadership are to maintain the quality standards of membership communication, along with advocacy at the state and federal levels. To continue to serve our members effectively and efficiently, it has become imperative that RCPA leadership include a Chief Operating Officer (COO) position. We are pleased to announce that RCPA policy staff member Jim Sharp will start as the COO — and remain Director of Mental Health — effective Monday, April 8, 2024.

Jim has been with RCPA for five years. He has more than 35 years of cross-systems advocacy with organizational and strategic planning experience. He previously worked for RCPA member Merakey, and has served in several key positions, including Chief Juvenile Probation Officer at the Philadelphia Family Court, Admissions Director at George Junior Republic, and he began his career at Montgomery County Juvenile Probation. He holds a Master of Administration, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Shippensburg University.

This COO role will provide management, leadership, and vision to ensure that RCPA continues to meet its short-term and long-term goals and objectives, by creating policies and a company culture that strengthens operational efficiency and quality of services. Jim Sharp demonstrates a depth of knowledge regarding RCPA’s mission, vision, and values. Please join me in congratulating Jim in his new role.

The Inglis Impact Accelerator is dedicated to fostering a more accessible and inclusive world by investing in entrepreneurs within, and allies to, the disability community with disruptive ideas and business ventures.

To that end, RCPA member Inglis is looking for six businesses to participate in a 15-week virtual program that concludes with a virtual pitch event. The program includes interactive webinars, workshops, and both one-on-one and group coaching sessions about refining and testing business ideas, attracting and engaging customers, optimizing sales funnels, and more.

Each business that successfully completes the program and pitches at the virtual pitch event will receive a $5,000 cash prize provided by Highmark Wholecare.

Eligibility requirements:

  • Founder must reside in Pennsylvania.
  • Founder will ideally have identified a target market and created a minimum viable product/service or prototype.
  • The program does not require a legal business entity to apply, but we are seeking businesses that plan to file in the near future if they haven’t already.
  • Our rigorous selection process will prioritize ideas in three core areas — housing accessibility, assistive technology, and innovative healthcare models, as well as founders who identify as having a disability.
  • At least one member of the founding team should expect to spend a minimum of 4-6 hours per week participating in programming and dedicated work efforts for the duration of the 15-week program.

If you know any founders whom you think might be interested in participating in the program, please share the flyer and link to apply.

If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.

The meeting documents from the March 7, 2024, Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Subcommittee meeting are now available. These documents include the transcript and PowerPoint presentations. You can view the documents below:

The next LTSS Subcommittee meeting is scheduled for April 3, 2024, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm in the PA Department of Education’s Honors Suite at 333 Market St. in Harrisburg, PA. The option to participate via webinar is also an option. The agenda for the April meeting is here.

To participate in the meeting via webinar, please register here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you plan to participate via phone, the dial-in number is: (213) 929-4212; PIN: 914 913 021#.

The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has announced that they will be presenting a six-session webinar series that will focus on housing issues. The live, interactive webinars will be conducted from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm in April and May and will focus on the following topics:

2024 OLTL Spring Housing Series Curriculum

  • April 2: Understanding Housing Nuances in Pennsylvania
  • April 9: Recommended Relationships to Have in the Housing Sector
  • April 16: Fair Housing and Landlord/Tenant Issues with the Housing Equality Center of PA
  • April 23: OFF
  • April 30: Types of Housing Funding Sources
  • May 7: Keeping Participants Housed with Landlord Engagement Techniques AND Housing Information Resources to be Aware of
  • May 14: Assistive Technology and Housing with the PA Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF)

Target Audience

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

Important Information

The information covered in this webinar series will be similar to the information covered in the 2023 OLTL spring and fall housing webinars (except for an added session on assistive technology). Since the information is similar, if you attended the 2023 housing webinars, you do not need to attend this series unless you wish to refresh your knowledge on the topic, participate in a session that you missed, or participate in the new assistive technology session.

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

The content in each webinar builds on prior content. Participants will get the most out of the series by taking all of the webinars.

To participate in the webinars, registration is available here.