Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) The PA shall employ sufficient numbers of
qualified staff to provide required services as set forth in this
chapter.
(b) The staff to consumer
ratio on each team shall be no less than one full-time equivalent (FTE) to
seven to nine consumers, excluding clerical and psychiatric staff.
(c) The PA shall assign an administrator who
shall function as PACT director, devoting a minimum of 10 hours per week per
team. The PACT director does not function as a member of the team, but is
responsive to the team's needs in order to:
1. Provide or ensure that the team and team
leader receive regular clinical supervision, which shall include, but not be
limited to:
i. Conducting, on a monthly
basis, individual, side-by-side sessions in which the supervisor accompanies an
individual staff member to meet with persons served, family/significant others,
and/or other service providers in regularly scheduled or crisis meetings. The
purpose of these sessions is to assess the staff member's skill level, give
feedback, model evidence-based recovery-oriented interventions, and/or have the
staff person practice clinical interventions; and
ii. Holding, on a monthly basis, structured
meetings with staff as a group to address issues that cannot be addressed
during the daily, clinical, or treatment planning meetings or during the
side-by-side sessions, to develop performance and training goals, and the
teaching of specific interventions/skills;
2. Support the dynamic interaction and smooth
functioning of the team;
3. Promote
efficient and effective utilization of staff functions;
4. Coach team members in addressing conflicts
that the team itself has been unable to resolve;
5. Interact with outside agencies,
organizations, and systems around development and coordination of affiliation
agreements and mutual service provision for consumers;
6. Advocate on behalf of the team for
resources and support to enable the team to carry out its daily
operations;
7. Attend a minimum of
one triage meeting per team per week; and
8. On an ongoing basis, educate provider
agency executive leadership or management about programmatic needs specific to
the PACT model.
(d) Each
PACT team shall, at a minimum, consist of the following staff. All staff shall
be full time, unless otherwise noted below:
1. A licensed psychiatrist, who shall provide
a minimum of 10 hours of psychiatric time, face-to-face with consumers and/or
team members, each week for a caseload of 56 consumers, increased on a
pro-rated basis for larger caseloads;
2. Two registered nurses who hold valid
licenses in New Jersey and have a minimum of one year of experience working
with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness;
3. Two clinicians who shall minimally hold a
master's degree in a behavioral health science or counseling specialty from an
accredited institution and have two years of post-bachelor's experience working
with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness;
4. At least one dual disorder specialist who
shall hold a bachelor's degree in a behavioral health field and have a minimum
of two years of experience providing dual disorder services to individuals with
co-occurring serious and persistent mental illness and substance abuse.
i. A dual disorder specialist shall hold the
professional credentials required by the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Licensing
and Certification Act,
N.J.S.A.
45:2D-1 et seq.
ii. Dual disorder specialists (formerly
called substance abuse specialists) who are currently employed by the PA on
September 15, 2008 and who have the experience requirements specified in (d)4
above, but who do not hold a bachelor's degree, are exempt from the bachelor's
degree requirement;
5.
At least one rehabilitation, occupational, or vocational specialist who shall
hold a bachelor's degree in a behavioral science from an accredited
institution. This specialist shall have two years of experience in vocational
assessment, job preparation, or individualized job placement and/or job
coaching with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness;
6. At least two additional mental health
specialists. The PA may determine the exact job titles for these specialists.
At least one of the mental health specialists shall be a primary consumer.
i. Qualifications for the mental health
specialist: These specialists shall meet, at a minimum, one of the following
requirements:
(1) A master's degree in a
behavioral health science from an accredited institution and one year
experience in the provision of mental health services;
(2) A bachelor's degree in a behavioral
health science from an accredited institution and two years experience in the
provision of mental health services, except that:
(A) The primary consumer may substitute
demonstrated volunteer or paid experience working with individuals with serious
and persistent mental illness in lieu of a bachelor's degree;
(B) A primary consumer, who does not possess
a bachelor's degree as required in this section for the mental health
specialist position, shall be regarded as a full, professional member of the
clinical team, function under the same job description as other mental health
specialists, and receive salary parity;
(C) Two or more individuals may share the
mental health specialist position, in which, as defined in this section, a
consumer is employed; and
(D)
Decisions regarding disclosure to consumer recipients of PACT services, their
families, and significant others that a staff person is himself or herself a
consumer shall respect the individual preference of that staff person, be
clinically driven, and made in consultation with the PACT team; or
(3) An associate's degree in
psychiatric rehabilitation and two years experience in the provision of mental
health services; and
7. A full time secretary who functions as an
integral member of the team. Duties shall include, but may not be limited to,
managing consumer records/charts, operating and coordinating the management
information system, maintaining accounting and budget records for consumers,
performing receptionist activities, such as triaging calls and coordinating
communication between the team and consumers.
(e) The PA shall designate one team member as
team leader. The team leader may assume necessary supervisory and
administrative responsibilities inherent in that role. The team leader shall:
1. Maintain constant communications with the
PACT director around team functioning and service delivery;
2. Empower the team by modeling strong
leadership and conveying the philosophy and principles of PACT;
3. Create a climate that supports the dynamic
interaction and participatory process of the team and encourages the
establishment of team identity;
4.
Ensure an equal distribution of team responsibilities;
5. Keep the team focused to complete daily
organizational meetings efficiently and effectively;
6. Coordinate data collection and review the
completion of all documentation, including clinical assessments;
7. Assure proper utilization of
equipment/resources;
8. Promote
cross-training/education among various disciplines on the team;
9. Facilitate a productive decision-making
process around consumer needs and the recovery planning process; and
10. Provide leadership to assure that monthly
team issues meetings are conducted to discuss how the team is working
collaboratively to better serve consumers (for example, conflict resolution,
team cohesiveness and dynamic interaction).
(f) The team shall value the assessments and
opinions of each team member and shall utilize this information in the team
decision-making process.
(g)
Clinical supervision shall be provided within the team by a master's level
mental health professional.
(h) A
critical feature of the PACT team's service delivery shall be the unified team
approach, whereby multiple staff members with a diversity of skills
comprehensively address each consumer's mental health, recovery, and life
support needs.
(i) The PACT team
shall conduct daily triage meetings, held at regularly scheduled times, which
shall include a review of the treatments, services, recovery goals, and
activities to be carried out on that day. The purpose of these meetings shall
be to share information, plan work for the day, and plan a response to any
immediate consumer(s) crises.
(j)
Cases requiring more in-depth analysis and discussion among PACT team members
shall be reviewed at clinical case review meetings, to be held at least once
per month.
