Wolf Administration Elaborates on Data Driven Reopening Standard
EVV Public Meeting Update
PPE Order through Provision – Time Sensitive
COVID-19 Resources for Individuals with Disabilities
A group of medical students at the University of Pittsburgh, along with physicians, autism advocacy staff, and medical students across the country created the attached COVID19 resource and symptom guide for individuals on the autism spectrum and/or with ID. We are working on sharing it with any and all community groups. The guide was created to distill the CDC guidelines to a reading level and to be visually informative and accessible to all individuals. We hope this guide can be of use to your staff, clients, and families. Additionally, these are available in a Spanish version.
Gov. Wolf: Mental Health Support is Vital and Available Amid Strain of COVID-19 Pandemic
A Message to DSPs from Secretary Teresa Miller
Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services, Teresa Miller, would like to thank all direct support professionals for their dedication during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Watch the personal address here
Relias Webinar: innovaTEL Telepsychiatry Shares Telemental Health Best Practices
As telemental health expands across the country in response to COVID-19, behavioral health providers are having to rapidly train up and transition staff with limited or little experience in delivering services remotely.
We’ve partnered with innovaTEL Telepsychiatry (also a National Council strategic partner) on the upcoming webinar, Ask the Experts: innovaTEL Telepsychiatry Shares Telemental Health Best Practices, to give you:
- Best practices for offering telemental health services at your organization/practice
- Tips to prepare you and your staff as you move to telemental health
- Ways to engage new and established clients when meeting virtually
Join us on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET to hear from the experts and ask your questions on offering telemental health services.
Register for the Webinar
Also, check out our telemental health resource page for free training courses on telehealth.
OVR Order of Selection Update
Dear Stakeholders,
As you know all too well, the COVID-19 mitigation efforts have resulted in disruption to our daily lives. However, OVR’s core mission remains the same, and OVR staff are dedicated to partnering with our vendor community and working through the challenges to serve as many individuals as possible. Despite all the uncertainty in the world, the staff at OVR are working tirelessly to provide services virtually to the people that depend on us the most and create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
OVR is pleased to inform you of positive news regarding customers who are on OVR’s Order of Selection (OOS) wait list. On May 1, 2020, we will begin processing an estimated 4,500 customers off the wait list with priority given to eligible customers who have been on the wait list the longest. We will continuously reevaluate opportunities to move additional cases off the wait list into the future. For additional information, please refer to OVR’s Order of Selection web page.
Sincerely,
Shannon Austin
Executive Director, OVR
Reminder: EVV Public Meeting Friday, April 24, 2020
This is a reminder of the upcoming Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) public meeting scheduled for Friday, April 24, 2020, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. During the public meeting, we will provide EVV implementation updates, a walk-through of the steps involved in the Alternate EVV certification process, and address some of the frequently asked questions since the last public meeting. Due to technology constraints, questions and answers will not be done in the usual format during this meeting. The questions will be collected by chat during the meeting and answers will be provided in a follow-up communication through the Listserv as well as posted to the Department of Human Services (DHS) EVV website.
To register online, please use this link. Please register before April 24 at 1:00 pm. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Further public meeting dates have been scheduled and posted to the DHS EVV website.
Any questions about this communication can be sent via email.
Innovative Practice Solutions for Crisis Services During The Pandemic Emergency
All Mental Health Service Providers Will Benefit From This Timely Information
Crisis services have urgent needs. A survey of over 350 crisis service providers showed that the crisis system is experiencing severe challenges. Crisis delivery must be treated with heightened consideration. The study showed that staffing and employee health concerns were paramount as were protective equipment for people in the field. Sustainability was a key concern.
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