April 2017
April Edition at a Glance

In this month’s edition, you’ll learn more about a community initiative we're excited to be a part of, which focuses on how agencies in our community can work together to understand the issues associated with institutional racism, how it impacts staff and the individuals we serve, and how to eliminate it from our organizations.  

W e have a number of our staff attending the NYAPRS Executive Seminar as panelists and facilitators talking about a range of important topics, so we hope you'll read more below about their sessions.  We also include information about the latest updates on CFR, VAP, and the new federal Medicaid administration costing report date.   Additionally, you'll find links to webinars, events, project and program news, and other resources.

April is National Autism Awareness Month
Honoring Autism Awareness Month, the Community Technical Assistance Center of New York (CTAC) presents three webinars with national experts in the field of Autism to help expand knowledge and understanding of new research, tools and core competencies for caregivers and practitioners working with individuals with ASD throughout the life stages. Click here for more information on their series: Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Infancy to Young Adulthood.

Welcome New Board Members!

CCSI is extremely pleased to welcome three new members to our board of directors. 

Jeanne Casares – An accomplished Chief Information Officer and board advisor, Jeanne has over two decades of experience supporting technology, growth and business sustainability for the Rochester Institute of Technology and Paychex Corporation. Her expertise includes strategic planning, budgeting, change management, policy development, risk assessment and mitigation, business process improvement, PMO management, operations, organizational development, e-commerce, cyber security governance, executive mentoring and succession planning.

Eve Gotham, LCSW-R – An experienced clinician with a special focus on children’s behavioral health, Eve currently oversees Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS), School-Based Health, and Child and Youth Services for Rochester Regional Health System.  In that role, she provides clinical, operational, and fiscal leadership to programs that care for 4,000 individuals annually, including the Genesee Mental Health Center PROS, Evelyn Brandon PROS, Genesee Mental Health Center Child and Family Clinic, Home-Based Crisis Intervention, and 5 School-Based Health Centers providing primary care and behavioral health care located in the Rochester City School District. 

Margaret Russell –  Meg is a senior financial executive with over 20 years of experience in healthcare and not-for-profit administration, public accounting, SEC financial reporting, systems development and management.  Specific areas of expertise include:  not-for-profit administration, enterprise risk management, cash flow planning and forecasting, strategic planning, budgeting and modeling, compliance program development, KPI selection and organizational reporting, and business process assessment and re-design.  Meg is the Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer for Trillium Health, Inc.

We are excited about the significant expertise each of these new members brings to the CCSI board and know their input and guidance will be extremely helpful in shaping our continued development.    
CCSI Welcomes Our Newest Customer!

We are delighted to begin working with Lewis County Community Services.  Our financial services team will provide specialized financial management services as we support them as Local Governmental Unit (LGU) in their oversight and management of OMH, OASAS, and OPWDD programs. 



Cultural Competency and Health Literacy


Community Initiative to Address Structural Racism 
Last month, CCSI joined 29 community agencies who came together to participate in a two-day conference hosted by St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, Catholic Family Center and the YWCA.  The conference was focused on how agencies in our community can work together to understand the issues associated with institutional racism, how it impacts staff and the individuals we serve, and how to eliminate it from our organizations.  Dr. Ken Hardy , a consultant and therapist who has worked with organizations across the country on issues related to race, power and privilege led this two-day session, which laid the foundation for work that will continue through March 2018.  

It was a powerful two days and we are excited to be part of something so central to our values, to the work that we do, and to our community more broadly.  We’re also especially pleased that several of our colleagues from Monroe County DHS were able to join us for the session with Dr. Hardy.  The team that attended the initial two-day workshop will be regrouping to process what we experienced during our time together and to begin to identify next steps.  Stay tuned for updates as this work unfolds.  In the meantime, if you want to learn more about this important community initiative, St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center has created a website which houses a number of articles, videos and other resources available to organizations participating in this initiative.  
The PASS Program is Now Accepting Applications
Prevention, Access, Self-Empowerment and Support (PASS) is an innovative, curriculum-based, statewide prevention program that works with teens who experience challenges in their daily lives, or whose parents are seriously and persistently mentally ill. The program has positively impacted program participants' self-concepts, and their mentors, parents, and other individuals in their lives report seeing dramatic changes in them after participating in the program.  Click here to go the PASS program's webpage to watch video testimonials from PASS graduates, read more about the program, and access applications.


System Transformation
 
Center for Collaboration In Community Health Webinar Series

May Webinar - Essential Fiscal Business Practices in a World of Value Based Payment 
CCSI’s Center for Collaboration in Community Health is hosting a webinar series developed to share insight about approaches for succeeding in the new Medicaid Managed Care service delivery system. We invite you to join us! 

There are many changes taking place in the NYS Medicaid program, which have led to rapid and transformative changes for the behavioral health care treatment community.  Value Based Payment reform challenges the capabilities of even the best run behavioral health care agen­cies. Excellent clinical practice joined with strong business practices will be essential to be successful in this new environment. This webinar will have a brief reminder about the changes taking place, and what these changes mean to providers. Presenters will also give an overview of the Key Business Practice Competencies needed including:
  • Budget and Program Modeling
  • Operational Processes
  • Report Monitoring and Data Analysis
  • Financial Structure Assessment
  • Billing Requirements
  • Management Responsibilities
Presenters: 
James Monfort - Senior Consultant and Manager of financial Services | CCSI, The Center for Collaboration in Community Health

David Wawrzynek, MS, MBA - Senior Consultant | CCSI, The Center for Collaboration in Community Health

Date & Time: 
Monday, May 8, 2017  | 12:00pm–1:00pm
    To view any archived webinar, visit:
NYS Success Upcoming Webinar - Building on New York State Success: An Introduction to a New SAMHSA Grant for NYS
This one hour webinar will provide a brief review of the resources available to help inform and continue to build on System of Care efforts. An overview of upcoming workshops hosted via webinar and in-person events throughout NYS will also be discussed with dates and locations announced.

The majority of this webinar will be an introduction and discussion about NYS ACHIEVE, a new SAMHSA grant awarded to NYS, and how it will build on the efforts of NYS Success. NYS ACHIEVE (Advancing Care through Health Integration and Evidence-based Effort), will integrate evidence-based High Fidelity Wraparound (HFW) with NYS’s Medicaid Health Homes Serving Children (HHSC) program model for youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), ages 12 to 21 years. 

Date and time: Monday, May 8, 2017  11:00 am - noon


Trauma Informed Systems and Other Practice Transformations
CCSI at the NYAPRS Executive Seminar   

A number of our staff are currently attending the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) 13th Annual Executive Seminar. This year's focus is All Hands on Deck! Ensuring a Recovery Focus in the Changing Healthcare Environment.  The seminar hosts over 350 CEOs and senior professionals from behavioral health agencies across New York State, including policy makers from NYSOMH, NYSDOH and NYSOASAS.  NYAPRS is dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities or diagnoses, and those with trauma-related conditions by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights so that all people can participate freely in the opportunities of society.

CCSI's Director for the Center for Collaboration in Community Health, John D. Lee, facilitated the session Readiness for Success in the VBP Environment: Exploring New Strategies and Partnerships. Presenters talked about how providers are working together to best position New York's community organizations to expand as they ready to move toward managed care and a value based payments system.  Attendees also heard the latest information about how NYS set aside $20 million to assist local health care providers looking to expand/upgrade their facilities to expand services and improve access to care.

Adele Gorges, Executive Director of Health Homes of Upstate New York (HHUNY), will be participating on the panel - Health Homes: What's Happening, What's Needed. Presenters shared innovative strategies health homes and community organizations are implementing to shift towards greater engagement, better care coordination and improved outcomes for those who provide and use services in Health Homes, HARPS, and HCBS.

Lenora Reid-Rose, Director of Cultural Competency and Diversity Initiatives, facilitated the session - Embracing diversity, Advancing Health Equity. This session looked at strategies to address avoidable health inequities and health disparities, including a review of the major obstacles associated with socio-economic advantages and historical and contemporary injustices.

One of CCSI's Senior Consultants in the Center for Collaboration in Community Health, David Wawrzynek, participated on the panel - Using Outcome Data and Information for Decision Making. He and other panelists talked about how the state will include recovery-focused outcomes in the mix and how agencies have focused their efforts on organizing and collecting data and processing information for decision making to best position their services in an integrated behavioral health performance system.
Lockport Police Undergo Crisis Intervention Training
Interactions between police and people with mental health issues can be dangerous for all parties involved, so in an effort to avoid these negative outcomes, and get people with mental illness into treatment rather than incarceration, the Lockport Police Department had 11 officers undergo Crisis Intervention Team training.
The training, developed by clinical psychologist Dr. Don Kamin, teaches officers how to de-escalate situations involving individuals with mental illness.   The program teaches communication skills and stresses setting a deliberate pace during these interactions. By slowing down, officers can take the time to understand what issues the person is facing, express empathy to their problems and ultimately calm them down.  Click here to read more in Lockport's Union-Sun & Journal.  
   

Financial Services and Fiscal Business Practices








New Federal Medicaid Administration Costing Report Date 

NYS has added a new submission date for the January – March 2017 Reporting period.  We are almost caught up!  

FYI – calculations of quarterly payment have not been shared at this time.    


Consolidated Fiscal Report (CFR) Update

Providers should be in the process of completing the CFR or have completed it. Here are some general reminders:

  1. If you are a full CFR filer, you need auditor review and certification. Some Full CFR providers are NOT required to have auditor certification, but a Financial Statement Review, if they meet certain requirements. (See CFR manual Section 2.0, page 2.1 for details)
  2. If you are an Abbreviated filer, you are required to submit Financial Statements. (along with Full Filers)
  3. You are required to use the Ratio Value Method of distributing Administrative costs.  OMH does allow alternative methods on the claiming schedules based upon an OMH approved method that must remain consistent year to year. (see CFR manual Section 22, page 22.1)
  4. CFR is due June 1st.  Failure to meet this deadline will result in permanent penalties and sanctions.  Adhere to your county due dates to allow proper time for review and approval.

Lastly, any submission of financials and forms must use the NYS naming conventions as part of the submission process.  (see CFR manual Section 2, page 2.11)    


Vital Access provider (VAP) Update  

The Vital Access Provider program has been extended to March 31, 2019.  This extension of the grant along with the Federal reduction of funding may promote VAP Grant budget changes.   If VAP providers wish to revise the current Budgets, we have been told to submit the Q1 2017 report by April 30th first and reach out to the VAP staff to discuss budget revisions in May.  


Social Determinants of Health
CLC Team Leads Poverty Simulation With University of Rochester Medical Students

CCSI's Cultural and Linguistic Competence team conducted a poverty simulation at the University of Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry for 120 second-year medical students. Students and faculty said that they felt that the experience brought about an awareness of the impact of poverty as a social determinant of health. 

The poverty simulation is a highly interactive experience designed to help participants begin to understand what a typical low-income family experiences trying to survive from month to month. In the simulation, participants assume the roles of family members in poverty.  Volunteers play the roles of service providers and other community resources (e.g., bank, employer, grocery, Department of Social Services, landlord, school, child care, and law enforcement, etc.).  Click here to learn more.

Center for Collaboration In Community Health Webinar Series

April Webinar -  Connecting the Dots: Caring for a Loved One with Mental Health Issues

This webinar provided an overview of how to coordinate sustainable supports for an individual with mental health issues, as well as help webinar attendees gain an understanding of government benefits and services and how to maximize them.

Presenter: 
James Traylor, CLU, ChFC, ChSNC
President, Upstate Special Needs Planning 
Want to hear more?  If you haven’t yet had the chance, we hope you’ll check out our Facebook page for more CCSI news and resources.  
CCSI's Operating Principles

Excellence in Customer Service  |  Collaboration  |   Integrity  |  Innovation    
Community Connectedness  |  Diversity and Inclusion