';
Authors Posts by Carol Ferenz

Carol Ferenz

3099 POSTS 0 COMMENTS

ODP Announcement 22-076 serves to announce that the Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS) Waiver renewals, collectively known as the Intellectual Disability/Autism (ID/A) waivers, will not be effective on July 1, 2022, as requested.

This extension does not apply to the Adult Autism Waiver (AAW). The currently-approved AAW was most recently amended on April 1, 2022.

Discussions between the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have been occurring since the submission of the waiver renewals. During recent discussions, it has become clear that the process to renew the waivers will not be complete by July 1. ODP requested a 90-day extension of the currently-approved waivers on June 27, 2022, since the Consolidated and Person/Family Directed Support waivers expire on June 30, 2022. CMS granted the extension request on June 27, 2022.

Until CMS approves the ID/A waiver renewals, the waiver amendments approved with an effective date of June 1, 2022, remain in effect. They can be found on the Department of Human Services website at the following links:

The ID/A waiver renewals submitted to CMS on April 1, 2022, are also available.

Additional changes will be made to the waiver renewals as a result of ongoing discussions with CMS. ODP will inform all stakeholders when the waiver renewals have been approved. The final approved versions of the waivers will be made available online at that time.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Upcoming Meeting of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
Thursday, July 28 | 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Register for the meeting.

About the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities:

Initially established in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the PCPID advises the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on a broad range of topics that impact people with intellectual disabilities, as well as the professional fields that support people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Its goal is to improve the quality of life experienced by people with intellectual disabilities by upholding their full citizenship rights, independence, self-determination, and lifelong participation in their communities.

The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) will host a virtual meeting for its members to identify emerging topics to examine in the Committee’s Report to the President. All the PCPID meetings, in any format, are open to the public. This virtual meeting will be conducted in a presentation and discussion format. View more details published in the Federal Register notice.

Stakeholder input is very important to the PCPID. Comments and suggestions, especially from people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, are welcome at any time. If there are comments or feedback you would like to share with the PCPID as it begins to prioritize its work, please share them through this form. Comments received by June 30 will be shared with the PCPID at the July meeting. Comments received after June 30 will be compiled and shared with the PCPID quarterly.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide guidance on documentation needed to substantiate a claim as well as provide guidance on the service documentation processes. This information is applicable to providers and Supports Coordination Organizations (SCO) that render services through the Consolidated, Community Living, P/FDS, and Adult Autism Waivers as well as Targeted Support Management (TSM) and base-funded services.

Documentation to provide a record of services delivered to an individual must be prepared and kept by the provider, SCO, or common-law employer for the purposes of substantiating a claim and documenting service delivery. The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has developed Technical Guidance for Claim and Service Documentation for providers of services in the Adult Autism Waiver and providers of services for all other waivers and base-funded services, which provide specific information for providers and SCOs on the documentation that must be kept for each service in order to support a claim and to document service delivery. These apply to services rendered by providers and SCOs that have enrolled directly with ODP, organized health care delivery systems, and services delivered through both self-directed services models, Agency with Choice, and Vendor Fiscal/Employer Agent.

Providers are encouraged to review and consider using the Medical Assistance Provider Self Review Protocol to proactively identify and address any claim documentation-related problems. The protocol can be found here.

ODP Announcement 22-073 announces that the Department of Human Services (DHS) is preparing for the eventual end of the Public Health Emergency. Under the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration, Pennsylvania has continued Medical Assistance (MA) coverage for most people unless they moved out-of-state, passed away, or asked to end their MA.

When the federal PHE ends, the Department of Human Services must determine if people are still eligible for MA. MA recipients will have to complete a renewal to maintain their MA coverage.

DHS is seeking trusted partners to assist in this PHE unwinding process through means of connection to individuals that will need to renew MA benefits. Today, an email newsletter called the DHS Helper Portal is being launched.

Sign up to become a helper today!

  1. Fill out the simple online form.
  2. The form will generate an email to the email address given.
  3. Confirm the address by walking through the prompts in the email.
  4. Congratulations! You are a helper!

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

Monday, July 11
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Self- Advocates United as 1 invites individuals with disabilities and their families to join a town hall meeting with the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) representatives. Use this call as an opportunity to voice your questions and concerns. See the flyer for more information, including instructions on how to join the event.

Deadline, as Letters on a Clock

ODP Announcement 22-072 is to announce that the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) has extended the deadline to participate in the 2021 NCI® Staff Stability Survey to July 31, 2022.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) encourages qualified providers that have not already done so to participate in the 2021 Staff Stability Survey. This important survey includes questions relating to volume, stability, compensation, and benefits of DSPs serving adults 18 years of age and older.

The data gathered from this voluntary and anonymous survey will help ODP, along with other policy makers and advocates:

  • Inform policy and program development regarding DSP workforce (DSPW) improvement initiatives;
  • Monitor and evaluate the impact of workforce initiatives;
  • Compare state workforce outcomes with those of other states;
  • Provide context for consumer and family outcomes; and
  • Create systems that more effectively collect, analyze, and use DSP workforce data.

Providers that have already completed the survey may also receive a reminder notification to do so, but this will not be intentional and should be discarded. ODP appreciates their cooperation.

A copy of the survey is available to allow for preparation of data prior to completing data entry. It is a proprietary tool of the National Core Indicators® and is to be used for reference only. For more information, contact Ms. Lee Stephens, ODP IM4Q/NCI Statewide Lead, via email or at 717-783-5773.