Some Business Related Bits for a Friday

December 11, 2020

Remember FFCRA?  It prompted a number of “alphabet soup” posts back in April and was subsequently modified during the summer to require inclusion of administrative staff.  It is scheduled to expire on December 31st (back in April that seemed very far away and we were certain that we were going to be in a better place!).  There are some rumblings that Congress will extend it and some data to show that it does have a positive impact by getting sick staff to stay home.  The tax credit benefit does may the short term leave very palatable!

• For today, assume that it will end; get whatever communication to staff that may be necessary ready to go.  If it is extended, we will let you know!

The Governor issued new guidelines on Thursday, notably it may change mask wearing while at work, but is not likely to impact us as much as others.  It continues to be a challenge to balance our role as an employer with the concern that employees may engage in risky behavior while off duty. 

• We want to remind you one more time that there was language in the last budget that required hospitals to allow a designated support person to accompany an individual with a disability — details in the attached.  It adds more weight to the agreement that we had negotiated with VHHA earlier in the year!

There is an update today on the Behavioral Health Enhancement timeline; we will report on that next Friday, and last, but certainly not least, we are still waiting for the updated DD Waiver Rates for January which will include Group Home, Sponsored Residential and Group Day (the others will come along in July).