Quick Reference Guide on Treatment vs Recovery Budget Items

A Big “Happy Holidays” to all you SOR Grant stakeholders out there!!! I hope your 2020 is……

Well……it is what it is.

Onto more pleasant topics. Patrick, Mike and I are always trying to come up with little ways to make life simpler and easier for our grant recipients.

A query we often get from CSB management compiling funding requests is “does this item fall under treatment or recovery?” It’s an important question since SOR funding utilization is separated into three different “pots” of money:* treatment, recovery and prevention (which is managed by the Office of Behavioral Health and Wellness). In reporting to SAMHSA, accurately tracking treatment spending and recovery spending is vital. That’s why we’ll occasionally come back to you and say “do you mind moving these budget items under the correct headings?

To keep everyone on the same page with what goes where, we have (well, actually OMNI has) created this handy dandy guide.

Take a look!

So, if in developing a SOR funding request, you find yourself pondering what items go under which heading, don’t fret. Just check the guide.

If you have any questions, or a budget item that doesn’t seem to fit into any of these, of course you’re welcome to email, call or text us to get clarity.

*Not literal pots of money. We do not have vessels of cash sitting around.

SOR II Quarterly Treatment and Recovery Reporting Surveys: Instruction Guide & Website Page

We are writing to share important updates related to the SOR II Quarterly Treatment and Recovery Reporting Surveys. We have created a resource page dedicated to the SOR II Quarterly Treatment and Recovery Reporting Surveys. Quarterly Survey information will be posted throughout the year on this resource page. This page includes a short instruction guide that the SOR team created to provide an overview of survey basics and guidance. This guide covers:

• Survey basics: What are these surveys? Why do we complete them? Who should complete them? When do we complete them? How do we complete them?

• Specific guidance on survey questions: Includes specific survey questions that will be asked at every quarter, in order to allow your CSB to prepare for the reporting of specific datapoints, as well as accompanying instructions and guidance on what should be included in each survey question.

Please click here to view this instruction guide on our Quarterly Treatment and Recovery Reporting Survey website page. This page will be updated with quarterly survey PDFs as the surveys come out over the next year. The SOR II Quarter 1 Survey will be sent out in early January. Please reach out to the OMNI SOR team if you have any questions in the meantime. Thank you!

Recovery Housing Questions

DBHDS is looking for some info on how CSBs collaborate with recovery housing organizations. Please fill out this short survey (less than 5 minutes) by December 15 to help inform them. If you have further questions, please reach out to the SOR grant management team:

• Mike Zohab - mike.zohab@dbhds.virginia.gov

• Angela Weight - angela.weight@dbhds.virginia.gov

• Patrick Wessells - patrick.wessells@dbhds.virginia.gov

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZDWYZ8C

OMNI Offices Closed from December 24-January 3

Greetings! This is to alert you that OMNI will be officially closed from December 24th through January 3rd, reopening on Monday, January 4th. We are closing our office so that our staff can enjoy the end of the year and re-energize for 2021. We hope you can find some time to do the same!

Our entire team will be unavailable for project-related support during the closure dates. Any emails or voice mail messages will be reviewed and responded to as soon as possible starting January 4th. Please note that the GPRA online surveys and all resources on our website will still be available during this time, but you will not receive updated tracking sheets in your Dropbox folder.

Please let the OMNI team know if you have any questions about our closure or anticipate any concerns. Though our official closure is from the 24th to the 3rd, please try to wrap up TA requests by Monday, December 21st so we can get you the info you need before our closure.

Wishing you a happy and healthy end of 2020 and a bright start to 2021!

Sincerely,

SOR Support Team

Richmond Ambulance Authority Video Featuring SOR-Funded Peer Recovery Specialist

What a moving tribute to the power of peer support!! We’re so grateful to get to be associated with peer recovery professionals like Beth Powell of the Richmond Health District. There is truly no more healing connection than the power of hope through shared lived experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCMv-oIMZrM&feature=youtu.be

If your Virginia SOR Grant-supported organization has a promotional video or receives news coverage you’d like us to see, please send it to angela.weight@dbhds.virginia.gov. We’ll share it here on the SOR Support Portal.

TA Tips to Supplement Your GPRA Tracking Sheet

Each week, OMNI uploads CSBs' GPRA Administration Tracking Sheets to your Dropbox Folder. OMNI has prepared some  tips, ideas, and suggestions to help support your use of the Tracking Sheet and make GPRA administration smooth and timely!

• Reference the OMNI-produced Tracking Sheets in your Dropbox on a regular basis.

• Review and contact our team with questions or errors, or if anything seems to be missing or off. Use the SOR Website TA Request form to let us know about the issues or errors as soon as you discover them.

  • If you need to email us a client ID, please email using encryption.

• Consider setting up a supplemental internal tracking system that could help you stay on track in terms of completing GPRAs or set up other systems to remind you of the timeline or window and dates coming due. Some ideas:

  • Download and modify the OMNI tracking sheet. For instance, you could add new columns for client name, the date the GPRA is noted as complete in your system, and even a client discharge date.

• Some CSBs use a separate spreadsheet to keep track of GPRA by type, completed each month, with a running total for the year. This is not required, just another tool to get a sense of your workflow.

• Some have incorporated gift card tracking into the spreadsheet (i.e., date sent and amount) so it's in one place.

• Use colors! You can highlight important dates or cases in the spreadsheet (e.g., GPRA's due for that month) in a different color to draw attention or as a reminder that something is due. You could choose a different color to highlight rows or cells for a discharged client to remind you to continue to contact them for the Discharge GPRA. Or, highlight when a case is complete.

• Use calendar programs to schedule reminders. Be sure that the system used is secure if you intend to add client IDs or other personally identifying information to your calendar item.

• Be creative! One CSB invented a Word document prepared before a client appointment. They include date, client initials and ID#, contact info, birthdate, admission date, type of referral, diagnostic codes, MAT type, treatment type, and gift card amount. This saves having to jump back and forth between their online client record and the GPRA. For the GPRA, they enter the administrative information from the sheet before starting the interview. After use, they shred.

 Our TA Team is available to brainstorm with you if you would like to explore any of these or other tracking options!

SOR II Quarterly Survey Input - Volunteers Needed!

Hello CSBs!

We are looking for three volunteers to answer a few questions regarding the SOR-II Quarterly Treatment and Recovery Reporting Surveys to help us finalize them. (More information about updates to the survey will be shared with all CSBs in the coming weeks.)

Due to timing constraints, we are hoping to gather input from three volunteers by next Wednesday, November 25th. If you are interested and able to respond to three questions via email OR in a 10-minute phone conversation before next Wednesday (November 25th), please fill out the below form or email us at SORSupport@omni.org at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your help!
The OMNI Team

November 10th Full GPRA Training Follow-Up Materials and Information

Thank you to everyone that attended our Full GPRA Training on November 10th! We had a great time and hope you all did as well. If you were unable to attend the training, please review the training recording here and the training slides here (listed on the Trainings Resource page).

Many resources were discussed in the training. For your convenience, here is a list of useful resources (listed on the Supporting Materials Resource page) to review as you orient yourself to the GPRA:

• GPRA Onboarding Guide: A useful tool for staff new to the grant and the GPRA; this brief one-pager summarizes the basics of the SOR grant and the GPRA

• Question by Question Guide: Walks through every question on the three GPRA surveys, providing more context, definitions, additional probes, skip patterns, etc.

• GPRA Follow-Up & Discharge Guide: Brief overview of the follow-up and discharge GPRA.

• SOR II Rollover Guide: Overview of the new process to roll clients from SOR I to SOR II (if they are still receiving services)

Additionally, a few outstanding questions were raised during the Full GPRA Training that we want to follow up on:

• What do I do if I complete a discharge GPRA with a client before their follow-up window opens and I later am not able to locate the client for their follow-up GPRA?

  • We ask that you attempt to contact the client approximately 10 times during their follow-up window. If this is unsuccessful and there are 2 weeks remaining in the client's follow-up window, please complete an administrative follow-up GPRA for this client.

• What do I do if a client is deceased?

  • Please complete an administrative discharge GPRA and an administrative follow-up GPRA at the same time. There is a question in both of these GPRA surveys in which the client's "status" is asked; please indicate in this question that the client is deceased. In this circumstance, it's ok to complete the follow-up GPRA before the follow-up window opens.

• Can a follow up be completed after the window is closed? Can an extension of the window be requested for extenuating circumstances?

  • A follow-up GPRA can technically be completed after the follow-up window closes but it is highly discouraged, as this will not count towards SAMHA's goal of 80% follow-up interview rate. If there are extenuating circumstances, please reach out to SORSupport@omni.org.

• Is it possible to extend the rule requiring paper surveys to be entered to the online system within 4 days due to staffing constraints?

  • If there are extenuating circumstances making this 4-day rule impossible for your staff, please reach out to SORSupport@omni.org.

• Should referral services be included in the planned services questions in the Intake GPRA?

  • Referral services should be included in the planned services if these services are funded by your agency's SOR II funds.

• How long does the GPRA take to administer?

  • This can vary, so we recommend reserving an hour with the client. Typically the survey administration takes around 30-45 minutes.

• What do I do if a client uses more than one route of administration for a substance?

  • Please indicate the route of administration that is most "severe" for each substance, meaning the highest ranked on the list of route options ranging from 1 to 5, on page 20 of the Intake GPRA.

• For question E.6 asking if clients are on parole or probation, would those on "unsupervised" parole or probation be included?

  • Yes, please include those on "unsupervised" parole or probation.

As always, please reach out to us at SORSupport@omni.org with any questions!