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Authors Posts by Cathy Barrick

Cathy Barrick

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Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Multiple Virtual Office Hours (VOH) sessions will be available for Trainers, Primary Contacts, and/or Agency Administrators, one day a month, beginning July 2025. If interested in joining, please visit the registration link available on the Med Admin Trainer Dashboard. Upcoming sessions will take place on the following dates: July 24, August 21, and September 18.

Virtual Office Hours (VOH) for the July 24, 2025, sessions are listed below:

  • 10:00 am – 10:30 am
  • 11:00 am – 11:30 am
  • 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
  • 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm

African Woman Filling Survey Poll Or Form On Laptop Computer

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared a reminder from the Pennsylvania Tech Accelerator to complete and submit the Provider Technology Solutions Survey by Thursday, July 31, 2025. Represent your county’s unique voice by completing an online survey to inform technology resources and supports for providers across Pennsylvania.

Please disregard this email if your agency has already completed a survey.

Please complete one (1) survey per organization and submit responses by Thursday, July 31, 2025. Your participation should take less than one hour.

Your response will provide critical information to build and enhance programs to ensure providers have the necessary information and tools to advance access to technology solutions for their clients across the Commonwealth.

Preview the survey content here.

If you have questions in regard to completing the survey, please contact Kaley Day.

Take the Survey

Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Hoe5ZKZEClXU5E

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-071. This announcement states that registration for the September – December 2025 Certified Investigator (CI) Initial Certification Course classes (also known as cohorts) is now open on the MyODP website. Please view the announcement for details and to register for the course.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) is proud to partner with the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL), the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), and the Office of Medical Assistance Programs (OMAP) to announce the launch of the DHS Choking Prevention web page, a dedicated online resource hub aimed at preventing choking events among all Pennsylvanians. This new platform provides all interested stakeholders with a myriad of practical tools and educational materials to promote safer mealtime environments as well as how to recognize and respond to the potential safety risks for someone who has swallowing issues. This new website is a crucial step in ODP’s continued efforts to ensure safety, dignity, and health for individuals with intellectual disability and autism.

The DHS Choking Prevention web page is now available. ODP encourages all interested stakeholders to visit the site and access the available resources to implement into daily use as needed. Questions about this communication should be directed to your ODP Regional Office.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-069. This communication announces:

  • A direct path to annual training requirements for IM and protective services for Providers and Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO) as outlined in the Chapter 6100 Regulations.
  • A new condensed IM training module that meets 6100.143 (c) (4) requirements.

The module can be found on MyODP by navigating to the “topics” tab and clicking on “Incident and Risk Management” in the dropdown, then clicking on Incident Management Annual training as pictured below OR by this link.

Please view the announcement for additional information and details.

Join the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) for the first Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO) Summit. ODP staff will discuss major changes to Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) due on feedback received from public comments, review preparedness tools, and provide additional detail about future SCO PBC Summits.

Audience: Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO)

Date: July 28, 2025, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Register Here

Please share these important PA Family Network workshops and support groups with your network! Register for upcoming events at PA Family Network’s website.

Good Life Support Groups

LifeCourse Workshops

Waiver Workshops

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-068. This communication announces the availability of the recordings of two recently held webinars, the “Basics of Incident Management” and the “Incident Fidelity Initiative.” The first webinar provided information about determining the discovery date, initial reporters, the impacts of management reviews that result in “Not approved” status, and monitoring incidents using the Enterprise Incident Management (EIM) My Workload Dashboard. The second webinar provided information about the Incident Fidelity Initiative and how the process works, including identification of unreported incidents, record reviews, remediation, and preventing unreported incidents.

These webinars were recorded and are now available, along with the PowerPoint presentations, on the MyODP website.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has reissued ODPANN 25-062 and its accompanying attachment. This announcement is to:

  • Provide details about information that will be sent to individuals and their families regarding the assignment of Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) tiers for residential service providers; and
  • To equip Supports Coordinators (SC) and Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO) with the necessary information and resources to respond to questions from individuals and families about the PBC tier assignment.

This announcement is being reissued with updates to the following links: “What is Performance-Based Contracting?” and “Performance-Based Contracting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Individuals and Families.”

Please view the announcement for additional information and details.