Program (SNAP) funds to purchase groceries online through select retailers. This flexibility allows SNAP recipients to purchase groceries from home, which can help limit trips out of the home as Pennsylvania sees rising cases of COVD-19. Last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) launched the pilot program overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that allows SNAP recipients to purchase groceries online through participating retailers approved by the USDA.

“We are pleased that Pennsylvanians have the ability to purchase groceries online using their SNAP benefits, and we encourage any SNAP recipients to use online purchasing when possible to support social distancing and help keep themselves and their family safe from COVID-19,” said DHS Secretary Miller. “This pilot has been a success so far, and I would encourage retailers to reach out to Food and Nutrition Service to join this program to provide even more opportunities for Pennsylvanians to purchase groceries online using SNAP.”

The pilot program currently includes four approved retailers: Amazon, the Fresh Grocer, Shoprite, and Walmart, and since the program’s launch, these retailers saw about $6.5 million in online purchases by Pennsylvanians. Retailers that are interested in participating in this program must contact the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and review the requirements. Retailers that do not wish to join the pilot program can still offer delivery or pick-up flexibility options for SNAP recipients by using mobile EBT processing equipment that would allow customers to pay with SNAP when groceries are delivered or picked up. Farmers’ markets may be able to receive this processing equipment at no cost through a grant opportunity provided by DHS. Online grocery transactions made up only 1.5 percent of total SNAP purchases during the month of June, equating to nearly 87,000 total online food transactions. Walmart (63 percent) and Amazon (29 percent) had the majority of the purchases, while ShopRite and Fresh Grocer experienced transaction activity of over half a million dollars combined.

Only eligible food items normally paid for by SNAP may be purchased from these retailers online with SNAP benefits. Delivery fees, driver tips, and other associated charges may not be paid for with SNAP benefits. This initiative does not include the ability to transact Cash Assistance benefits using the EBT card; therefore, individuals will need to use another method of payment, such as a pre-paid debit card, to cover non-allowable fees. More information on the online program, including a list of locations of participating retailers, can be found here.

Applications for SNAP and other public assistance programs can be submitted online at COMPASS. Those who prefer to submit paper documentation can print the application from the website or request an application by phone at 1-800-692-7462 and mail it to their local County Assistance Office (CAO) or place it in a CAO’s secure drop box, if available. While CAOs remain closed, work processing applications, determining eligibility, and issuing benefits continues. Clients should use COMPASS or the MyCOMPASS PA mobile app to submit necessary updates to their case files while CAOs are closed.

For more information about food assistance resources for people around Pennsylvania impacted by COVID-19 and the accompanying economic insecurity, visit the PA Department of Agriculture Food Security Page.

This week, ARC published a collection of research papers and commentary in The Journal of Appalachian Health about substance use disorder and recovery-to-work efforts in Appalachia. The articles described the process, findings, and insights from ARC’s Substance Abuse Advisory Council (SAAC). Two accompanying commentary pieces offers perspective on how organizations and economic development entities can help combat Appalachia’s opioid epidemic in a way that saves lives, strengthens communities, and bolsters economic growth in the Region.

To read ARC’s articles:

Responding to Appalachian Voices: Steps in Developing Substance-Use Recovery Ecosystems, authored by Bruce Behringer, SAAC Moderator

Listening to Voices in Appalachia: Gathering Wisdom from the Field About Substance-Abuse Recovery Ecosystems, authored by Bruce Behringer, SAAC Moderator

To read ARC’s commentaries:

Perspective on Substance-Abuse Recovery Ecosystem from the Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair, authored by Tim Thomas, Federal Co-Chairman at ARC.

Appalachian Regional Commission Recovery Ecosystem Background and Overview, authored by Kostas Skordas, Director of Research and Evaluation at ARC and Andrew Howard, Chief of Staff at ARC.

CDC recently updated their interim guidance for the Discontinuation of Isolation for Persons With COVID-19 Not in Healthcare Settings. This updated guidance recommends using symptom-based criteria instead of a test-based strategy, except in certain circumstances, to determine when to end home isolation of persons with COVID-19.

As part of the unprecedented efforts taken by the Trump Administration, President Trump announced several new CMS initiatives designed to protect nursing home residents from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“From the moment the threat of this virus materialized, the Trump Administration has placed a priority on protecting nursing home residents,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “Today’s multi-pronged intervention represents the latest efforts in fulfilling that unwavering commitment. As caseloads continue to increase in areas around the country, it has never been more important that nursing homes have what they need to maintain a sturdy defense against the virus. These measures will help them do exactly that.”

New Funding:

HHS will devote $5 billion of the Provider Relief Fund authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to Medicare-certified long term care facilities and state veterans’ homes (“nursing homes”), to build nursing home skills and enhance nursing homes’ response to COVID-19, including enhanced infection control. This funding could be used to address critical needs in nursing homes including hiring additional staff, implementing infection control “mentorship” programs with subject matter experts, increasing testing, and providing additional services, such as technology so residents can connect with their families if they are not able to visit. Nursing homes must participate in the Nursing Home COVID-19 Training (described below) to be qualified to receive this funding. This new funding is in addition to the $4.9 billion previously announced to offset revenue losses and assist nursing homes with additional costs related to responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency and the shipments of personal protective equipment provided to nursing homes by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Enhanced Testing:

Building on the initiative HHS announced last week, in which rapid point-of-care diagnostic testing devices will be distributed to nursing homes, and the new funding from the Provider Relief Fund, CMS will begin requiring, rather than recommending, that all nursing homes in states with a 5% positivity rate or greater test all nursing home staff each week. This new staff testing requirement will enhance efforts to keep the virus from entering and spreading through nursing homes by identifying asymptomatic carriers.

More than 15,000 testing devices will be deployed over the next few months to help support this mandate, with over 600 devices shipping this week. Funds from the Provider Relief Fund can also be used to pay for additional testing of visitors.

Additional Technical Assistance & Support:

The Trump administration recently deployed federal Task Force Strike Teams to provide onsite technical assistance and education to nursing homes experiencing outbreaks in an effort to help reduce transmission and the risk of COVID-19 spread among residents. The first deployments took place in 18 nursing homes in Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas between July 18 and July 20.  The Task Force Strike Teams are composed of clinicians and public health service officials from CMS, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

The Task Force Strike Teams went into nursing homes based on data they reported to the CDC that indicated an increase in COVID-19 cases. The teams focused on the four key areas of support, including keeping COVID-19 out of facilities, detecting COVID-19 cases quickly, preventing virus transmission, and managing staff. The goal was to determine what immediate actions nursing homes needed to take to help reduce the spread and risk of COVID-19 among residents, and to better understand what federal, state, and local resources nursing homes need to ensure the health and safety of their residents. CMS and its partners plan to use what is learned on the ground to determine remote education and other critical needs to support nursing homes and mitigate future outbreaks.

In addition, CMS, in partnership with the CDC, is rolling out an online, self-paced, on-demand Nursing Home COVID-19 Training focused on infection control and best practices. The training being offered has 23 educational modules and a scenario-based learning modules that include materials on cohorting strategies and using telehealth in nursing homes to assist facilities as they continue to work to mitigate the virus spread in their facilities. This program supplements training already underway to better equip nursing homes to contain and stop the spread of COVID-19. The training is a requirement for nursing homes to receive the additional funding from the Provider Relief Fund Program.

The training will be available to all 15,400 nursing homes nationwide along with specialized technical assistance to nursing homes who have been found to have infection prevention deficiencies in their most recent CMS inspection and had recent COVID-19 cases based upon their data submissions to CDC. A certificate of completion is offered and recognition badges can be downloaded for nursing homes to display on their website.

Weekly Data on High Risk Nursing Homes:

Early on during this pandemic, CMS required nursing homes to inform residents, their families and representatives of COVID-19 cases in their nursing homes. Starting in May, CMS and CDC began collecting weekly data on each nursing home including their number of COVID-19 cases. Now that this data collection process has matured, the White House and CMS will release a list of nursing homes with an increase in cases that will be sent to states each week as part of the weekly Governor’s report to ensure states have the information needed to target their support to the highest risk nursing homes.

This announcement builds on the unprecedented and aggressive actions CMS has taken to address the impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

See the full text of this excerpted CMS Press Release (issued July 22), including a list of actions CMS took to address the impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

By April Simpson

“As the COVID-19 pandemic battered large, metropolitan areas this spring, rural hospitals prepared to be next on the frontlines. But in order to ready their facilities for a potential surge in patients, those small hospitals had to forgo many of their most profitable operations. Months later, a few rural hospitals are fighting outbreaks. But others have empty beds, further threatening their viability in an era of shrinking health care options for people living in rural communities.” Read the full article here.

By Rob Brown

Selling a company to its employees could be a way to preserve small town and rural businesses with generations of tradition behind them. Rob Brown from Business Ownership Solutions has some advice on how to do it. Read more

By Liz Carey

Although the federal government dedicated significant funds to support rural hospitals during the pandemic, some struggle with murky spending rules and fear having to pay it back after the crisis is over. Read more

By Bill Bishop

Using the White House Coronavirus Task Force definition, the Daily Yonder found that 32% of rural counties and 41% of metropolitan counties should be enacting more stringent measures to control the spread of Covid-19. Read more

The Pennsylvania Psychiatric Leadership Council (PPLC) is hosting a variety of free support groups for nurses, doctors and front-line workers impacted by COVID-19 and looking to connect with other professionals. The purpose of these groups is to provide free emotional support, encouragement and compassionate self-care to those of you working with this pandemic daily. Please note that this is not free therapy and is to serve as support only.