The Pennsylvania State Data Center (PaSDC) invites presenters to participate in the 2025 Pennsylvania Data User Conference. This year’s event will be held on May 15, 2025, at Penn State Harrisburg in Middletown. The annual Data User Conference serves as Pennsylvania’s most comprehensive single-day forum for research and developments in demographic and socioeconomic data.

The PaSDC Data User Conference aims to educate its audience on demographic and socioeconomic research and policies affecting Pennsylvania. Past presentations have focused on research themes (e.g., aging, prison populations, labor force, and rural Pennsylvania), community development (e.g., case studies and community planning), innovations in technology (e.g., database and data visualization software), and other data-related topics.

Sessions at the conference are non-commercial and vendor neutral. Under no circumstance should a session be a direct promotion of an organization’s product, service, or monetary self-interest. The emphasis should be on the application of demographic and socioeconomic data, technology, and other timely topics.

Submission Details

Proposals will be accepted for team, individual, or panel presentations. To propose a session, please email the topic and a brief description or outline (maximum 250 words) to Jennifer Shultz (jjb131@psu.edu) by Wednesday, February 26, 2025. The PaSDC will notify all selected speakers by March 7, 2025.

Presentation Rules

Presentation proposals will be reviewed by the conference planning committee and selections will be made based upon desired topics, flow, educational value, and understanding of the content. All selected presentations will be published in conference material and online.

Agenda Schedule

All presentations will be on May 15, 2025. Conference organizers will set the time for each presentation to optimize the sequencing and flow of content and tracks. Sessions will end by 5:00 PM.

Speaker Benefits

The PaSDC does not pay fees or travel expenses for speakers. All speakers receive complimentary conference registration, including meals, and are featured in the conference publication and on the conference website. These benefits apply only to speaker(s) and do not extend to support staff or colleagues who may accompany them.

The Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (Rural MOMS) Program from HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), is open and accepting applications  for the program’s 4-year period of performance (September 30, 2025 – September 29, 2029).  HRSA award up to 3 cooperative agreements for up to $1,000,000 per year, to provide support to establish innovative, collaborative rural obstetric networks to improve maternity care and access to care in rural communities. Applications are due on April 22, 2025.

Rural MOMS funds networks that establish or continue collaborative improvement and innovative models that can provide long-term sustainable and financially viable service delivery to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. The work of these networks supports the goal of the program to improve maternal and infant health outcomes and access to and delivery of maternity and obstetrics care in rural areas and reduce preventable maternal mortality risks and decrease severe maternal morbidity in rural areas.

Eligible applicants include all domestic public or private, non-profit, or for-profit entity providing prenatal care, labor care, birthing, and postpartum care services in rural areas, frontier areas, or medically underserved areas, or to medically underserved populations or Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations.

A technical assistance webinar via Zoom is scheduled for applicants on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 2:00 pm Eastern.  If you are unable able to join the webinar, a recording will be made available later.

Examples of previously funded projects under this program are available at this link.  Applicants may also benefit from the availability of Evidence-Based Toolkits for Rural Community Health which are informed by previous program investments by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and the Rural Health Information Hub.

For more information about this funding opportunity, contact RMOMS@hrsa.gov

Helpful links:

• Notice of Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov
• Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program | HRSA
• Profiles of current and past Rural MOMS awardees:
  • RMOMS Awardee Directory – FY 2021 Cohort (PDF – 1 MB)
  • RMOMS Awardee Directory – FY 2022 Cohort (PDF – 1 MB)

With the changing of Presidential Administrations on Jan. 20, 2025, USDA Rural Development (RD) announced that our very own Jeremy Wilson will serve as the Acting State Director for the organization.

Wilson, 48, is a native of Tunkhannock, Pa., where he graduated high school in the Class of 1994.

“I am honored to serve as Pennsylvania’s Acting State Director again,” Wilson said. “I am thrilled to support our dedicated employees to fulfill our agency mission.”

Wilson was serving as the Deputy State Director for the department prior to the appointment.

Wilson has 27 years of experience with USDA Rural Development, including over 15 years in originating and servicing rural loan and grant programs, and the last 12 years in administration. Jeremy has worked in multiple field offices, administered multiple rural development programs, and has experience at the national level from agency details, task forces, and special projects.

Wilson earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Lebanon Valley College in 1998 and his Masters Degree in Public Administration from Shippensburg University in 2003. In addition, he is also a graduate, and current advisory board member, of the Pennsylvania Rural/Urban Leadership Program (RULE), which is a two-year intensive leadership course administered through the Pennsylvania State University.

CMS is adding four new documents to the No Surprises Act (NSA) toolkit to help assisters and advocates who work with consumers faced with surprise medical bills. The new resources include:

• A Quick Start Guide to help advocates quickly find the resources they need for a consumer’s situation;
• The No Surprises Act at a Glance, which gives a high level overview of the NSA’s consumer protections;
• A resource outlining the Key Responsibilities for Health Care Providers and Facilities Under the No Surprises Act; and
• A resource outlining the Key Responsibilities for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Issuers Under the No Surprises Act.

Altogether, the toolkit contains more than 20 individual resources and a PDF compilation of all the resources. It is posted at https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumer-advocate-toolkit.

Issuing Next Generation IT Solicitation and Launching OPTN Board Special Election Process with a New Nominating Committee Represent Major Advances in Historic Reform of Organ Transplant System

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced two key advances in the historic effort to improve the Nation’s organ transplant system and better serve the patients, families, donors and health care providers who make transplantation possible. HRSA is:

• Releasing a new solicitation to support the next generation of Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) technology infrastructure that is agile, resilient, interoperable, and user-friendly; and
• Launching the special election process for a new OPTN Board of Directors with the formation of a Transitional Nominating Committee, a critical step in HRSA’s commitment to strengthen OPTN governance, mitigate conflicts of interest, and establish independence.

“Modernizing the organ transplant system to better serve the more than 100,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list has been one of HRSA’s top priorities in the Biden-Harris Administration,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “With bipartisan leaders in Congress, we have worked to reform this lifesaving system to ensure that it meets the highest standards for performance, transparency, and accountability. Americans on the organ waitlist deserve no less. We look forward to the progress to come in the months and years ahead as HRSA continues to implement the bipartisan Securing the U.S. OPTN Act.”

The new solicitation released today will enable HRSA to modernize OPTN IT systems and build on the OPTN modernization awards announced in September 2024. As a Multiple Award Blanket Purchase Agreement, it will allow HRSA to engage with experienced vendors to develop key pieces of the modern OPTN IT system in a timely and efficient manner. The solicitation is posted on the General Services Administration e-Buy platform and announced on SAM.gov.

A transitional nominating committee will support the Special Election for a new OPTN Board of Directors, which in partnership with HRSA oversees organ allocation policy and membership standards. In forming the Transitional Nominating Committee, HRSA solicited public input, engaged with community members, and sought input from board governance and organizational leadership experts. The nominating committee will publicly solicit candidates for the board, develop a slate of board candidates for a vote by OPTN members, and select a date in spring 2025 for the special election. Members of the Transitional Nominating Committee will not be eligible to serve on the new OPTN Board of Directors. The committee is temporary and will be dissolved once the Special Election is completed.

The nominating committee includes individuals with extensive clinical transplant expertise, patients with transplant experience, leaders with extensive board governance expertise and ethics experts. For the full list of the Transitional Nominating Committee, see HRSA’s OPTN Modernization Initiative webpage.

Together, these actions build on HRSA’s ongoing efforts to improve the transplant system for those on the waitlist by bolstering OPTN performance, transparency, and accountability including:

• Securing passage of the bipartisan Securing the U.S. OPTN Act to modernize the system for the first time in four decades.
• Working with Congress to receive a significant increase in congressional appropriations to support this critical modernization work.
• Transitioning from a single OPTN vendor to multiple vendors with distinct expertise to better support OPTN operations to reflect the comprehensive skills needed to manage this critical network.
• Separating the OPTN Board of Directors from the OPTN contractor to remedy potential conflicts and for the first time in 40 years, ensure that the OPTN Board of Directors is independent rather than one-and-the-same as the corporate boards of the vendor.
• Addressing “pre-waitlist” inequities in the transplant waitlist process and reducing variation in organ procurement practices.

Learn more about the OPTN Modernization Initiative.

The Rural Program of All-Inclusive for the Elderly (PACE) Planning and Development, a new program from HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), is open and accepting applications for the program’s 4-year period of performance (September 30, 2025 – September 29, 2029).  HRSA will make up to 4 awards, up to $500,000 per year, to provide resources to assist with the development of an initial Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) PACE program serving HRSA-designated rural areas or to expand an existing certified CMS PACE programs into HRSA-designated rural areas through PACE service area expansion.  The goal of the program aims to improve access to, and delivery of, comprehensive and sustainable medical and social services for adults 55 and older living in rural areas.

Eligible applicants include all domestic public and private, nonprofit, or for-profit, entities with demonstrated experience serving, or the capacity to serve, rural underserved populations.

​CMS PACE is a model of care that helps people meet their health care needs in the community instead of going to a nursing home or other care facility. PACE provides, and are financially responsible for, all health care services their enrollees. This includes providing care management to enrollees at a PACE center organization that serves as a central hub for adult day care services where enrollees can receive primary care, therapy, meals, recreation, and socialization.  According to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services 2023 policy brief, the start-up and application process to become a certified PACE provider with CMS may present some challenges in rural areas.

A technical assistance webinar via Zoom is scheduled for applicants on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 2:30 pm Eastern.  If you are unable able to join the webinar, a recording will be made available later.

Apply by April 17, 2025.

For more information about this funding opportunity, contact RuralPACE@hrsa.gov

Helpful links:

• Notice of Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov
• CMS PACE page
• National PACE Association

In December, the PPC Board of Directors approved our 2025-26 Policy Roadmap that aligns with our organizational mission to improve the health, education, and well-being of children and youth in the commonwealth.

Ensuring each child living in Pennsylvania can reach their full potential means that PPC is committed to policy choices that improve maternal and child well-being, advance racial equity and support families disproportionately impacted by poverty.

Our work to advance equitable policy solutions and prioritize the well-being of Pennsylvania children and families remains as important as ever because we can’t achieve our goals if any child is left behind.

Learn more about our priorities in these five policy areas:

• Child Welfare: Ensure each child in Pennsylvania has the opportunity to grow up in a home where they are safe and protected from abuse and neglect.
• Early Care and Education: Ensure each child in Pennsylvania has the opportunity to participate in affordable and accessible high-quality early care and education, including infant and toddler child care and pre-kindergarten education.
• Home Visiting: Ensure each child in Pennsylvania has the opportunity to grow up in a stable and healthy home environment.
• K-12 Education: Ensure each child in Pennsylvania has the opportunity for an adequate and equitable high-quality public education.
• Perinatal and Child Health: Ensure each parent and child in Pennsylvania can access affordable, quality health care.

View the new Policy Roadmap here.