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Authors Posts by Fady Sahhar

Fady Sahhar

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Fady is responsible for policy and regulatory matters related to Physical Disabilities and Aging, with primary focus on personal assistance, employment services, and service coordination. Emphasis is placed on engaging the Office of Long-Term Living and the Community HealthChoices Managed Care Organizations, coordination of care with Behavioral HealthChoices MCOs, and collaborations with other advocacy and provider associations. Fady is also the President / CEO of ProVantaCare, an RCPA-affiliated company focused on contracting with MCOs, and is the President of XtraGlobex, a consulting firm focused on Value-Based Payment contracting. He brings extensive experience in the advocacy and operations of human services providers in physical disabilities and aging, from his role at Liberty Resources, Inc., and his service with a number of nonprofit services providers. He earned an MBA in Marketing from The University of Tennessee and a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Capella University.

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Providers are reminded of the requirement to report the use of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funding. The Department of Human Services (DHS) Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) requires providers who received supplemental funding from the ARPA to report on their use of the funding by Friday, May 30, 2025. Reporting on the use of ARPA funding is critical to ensure compliance with federal requirements as the 2026 spending deadlines approach for the 10% enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funds for Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) and State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. ARPA funding disbursements subject to this reporting requirement include the initiatives listed below. Please note that you may have reported on the use of ARPA funding received in 2021, including Act 2021–24 and Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce payments; this reporting is in addition to previously reported initiatives.

  • Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Quality Improvement Funding
    • Authorized in May 2022
    • Available to HCBS providers
    • Funded by 10% enhanced FMAP funding for HCBS
    • Eligible uses include activities and expenses that expand, enhance, or strengthen HCBS, as outlined in the notice of the funding opportunity as well as the reminder notice

To complete a report, please log in to the ARPA Funding Portal, select the appropriate funding type, and then select “Create a New Funding Report.” The portal will prompt users to select a provider name (for individuals authorized to submit reports for multiple facilities or locations) and the applicable reporting period. Upon selection, review the prepopulated information and complete all required fields in the form.

For additional instructions on completing a report, please refer to the ARPA Funding Reporting Portal Business Partner Guide. For questions about registration and user access, please refer to the ARPA Portal Registration Guide. OLTL has also published a Frequently Asked Questions document and a Summary of ARPA Funding online at Long-Term Care for Providers | Department of Human Services | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Providers that received supplemental ARPA-funded payments must report to OLTL on their use of the funding so that the Commonwealth can produce documentation required by federal audits. Additionally, providers must retain detailed supporting documentation for the eligible use of supplemental ARPA-funded payments for a minimum of five (5) years from the payment date. Failure to submit a report may result in the recovery of funding through collection activities, audits, or legal action.

If you have questions regarding this message, please contact the Office of Long-Term Living via email.

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Due to the PA Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) Order of Selection (OOS) operations memorandum, effective April 1, 2025, the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) is providing guidance to the following entities regarding the referral of participants to OVR:

    1. Managed Care Organizations (MCO);
    2. Service Coordinators (SC);
    3. Service Coordination Entities (SCE); and
    4. Service Providers.

OVR recognizes three (3) disability categories:

    1. Non-Significant Disability (NSD);
    2. Significant Disability (SD); and
    3. Most Significant Disability (MSD).

The April 1, 2025, OOS is a wait-listing of customers who fall within the NSD and SD categories. Customers who are determined by OVR to fall within the MSD category will continue to receive OVR-funded services. Due to this being a partial OOS closure, OLTL participants who are requesting employment services/supports must continue to be referred to OVR for determination of eligibility.

Page three of the OLTL Employment and Employment Related Services Bulletin indicates that during a full OOS closure, “a participant who has not been referred to OVR may receive OLTL Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) employment services without a referral to OVR.”

Due to the current OOS being a partial closure and not a full closure, participants still need to be referred to OVR for evaluation of eligibility for services. As detailed in the 1915 (c) waiver and page two of the Employment Services Bulletin, participants do not need to be referred to OVR for Benefits Counseling Services.

MCOs and SCs should continue to monitor cases referred to OVR as detailed on page three of the Employment Services Bulletin, which states, “Prior to adding one of the OLTL HCBS employment services to a participant’s Person-Centered Services Plan (PCSP), the SC must determine the status of the participant’s case with OVR.” Additionally, SCs should continue to follow the guidance on page two of the Employment Services Bulletin, which states, “If OVR has not made an eligibility determination within 120 days of a referral being sent, then OVR services are considered to not be available to the participant, and OLTL employment services may be provided under an OLTL HCBS program.”

Please refer any questions to Randall Loss electronically.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

UPMC has issued a message to providers of personal care services regarding electronic visit verification (EVV) procedures. Effective May 1, 2025, all manual adjustments to EVV timesheets will require the participant’s signature and date of service. The full UPMC announcement can be viewed here.

If you have any questions, contact Fady Sahhar, Director, PD&A Division.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) issued the following update to Service Coordination Entities of the Annual Review process in Home and Community Services Information System (HCSIS) for the Act 150 Program and OBRA Waiver. Found here are the procedures and instructions for entering these service plans in HCSIS, starting Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

The Annual Review process is a good time to review your caseloads and finalize any dis-enrollments or inactive service plans. The Waiver/Program Transfer instructions can be found here for your convenience. Please also reference the attached “OLTL Fiscal Year 2025/26 Annual Review Instructions for HCSIS” for additional information on how file closures may impact the current Annual Review process.

If you have any additional questions or wish to receive the attached forms in alternate format, please contact Brian Lester at (717) 346-0716 or via email.

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PennDOT recently published Phase 1 of the Shared-Ride Transportation Study. The shared-ride public transportation system is available in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. As the 40-year-old system is currently designed, service providers rely on passenger fares to pay for their operating costs. By sharing a vehicle, the average fare per passenger is lower than it would be if the passenger rode alone. Passengers are commonly seniors, Persons with Disabilities, and low-income recipients of Medical Assistance (MA, Medicaid). Shared-ride provides Pennsylvanians with more than four million passenger trips annually to life-sustaining community services. The executive summary can be found here, and the complete text of the Phase 1 study can be found here.

This phase of the study concluded that the status quo is unsustainable. The most vulnerable citizens of Pennsylvania rely on shared-ride service, which is often the only form of public transportation in rural counties. A solution that ensures its sustainability must balance the needs and limitations of the customer, service provider, and funding partner.

The Shared-Ride Transportation Study Phase 2 will build on this effort to identify and evaluate a range of funding, service delivery, and customer experience alternatives, their tradeoffs, and the likelihood of remaking shared-ride service into a sustainable model.

PennDOT proposes to reconvene the Shared-Ride Pilot Steering Committee created by Act 89 of 2013 to evaluate alternative shared-ride models considering experiences over the last decade. The Steering Committee has representation from customer advocacy groups, service providers, the state legislature, and executive branch funding agencies. These perspectives will be necessary to find and implement tomorrow’s sustainable shared-ride funding and service delivery model.

If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.

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The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has published responses to questions brought up at the Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Subcommittee meeting held on February 5, 2025.

The highlights include:

  • All consumer questions about the specifics of the Assisted Living In Lieu of Services should be addressed to the MCOs.
  • The information about Personal Needs Allowance in Personal Care Homes has been corrected. “SSI recipients will receive a PNA deduction of $52.10 ($30 SSI plus the individual state supplement of $22.10).”
  • Any organization who is interested in participating in the Direct Care Worker Quality Grant should contact Abigail Peslis, Director of Penn State Harrisburg Continuing Education.

If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.

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