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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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Register for upcoming events at PA Family Network’s website!

Support Groups:

LifeCourse Workshops:

Waiver Workshops

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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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Temple University Harrisburg recently released two different no-cost training options that have been approved to meet the Personal Care Home (PCH) and Assisted Living Residence (ALR) Administrator annual training requirements. Both programs are a part of the Spring 2025 training programs being offered. The training programs being offered are:

Registration information is included in the announcements, and participation is limited. If you register and later discover you are unable to participate, please cancel your registration to create space for other participants.

If you have any questions or if you require assistance with registration, please email Temple University.

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As RCPA continues to advocate for protecting Medicaid from devastating cuts at the federal level, we wanted to provide you with some resources, including a Pennsylvania-specific letter that you can easily tailor as you see fit to your Congressional House member. The letter details how important Medicaid is to your community, not only in terms of those you treat, but also for the economic health of those you employ and the broader community in which they live. The letter also requests a one-on-one meeting between the legislator’s office and you, to allow you to further discuss the importance of protecting Medicaid. If you do choose to ask for a meeting through this letter or otherwise, RCPA is happy to assist you in preparing for the meeting based on our experience and the experience of other providers that have already met with their Congressional representatives on this issue.

Although it is important for all legislators to hear from our health and human services providers, it is especially important that we reach Pennsylvania’s US House Republicans, given that the budget resolution adopted by the House directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in spending cuts over the next 10 years. Many worry this will require deep cuts to Medicaid. In particular, given their committee assignments or stated positions on Medicaid, there are six key US representatives who need to hear from us. They are:

  1. US Rep. John Joyce (PA-13) (Vice Chairman, Energy and Commerce Committee)
  2. US Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) (Appropriations Committee)
  3. US Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14) (Ways and Means Committee)
  4. US Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-16) (Ways and Means Committee)
  5. US Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1) (Ways and Means Committee)
  6. US Rep. Rob Bresnahan (PA-8)

To assist with your outreach and to help tailor the letter provided above, we have provided additional resources below:

  1. A website through which you can find your US representative;
  2. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Data Dashboards and Reports web page, where you can easily find Congressional district-specific Medicaid data, including Medicaid enrollment for each district;
  3. Email addresses for the chiefs of staff and other key staffers for each of the 17 US House representatives in Pennsylvania; and
  4. A report from the Paragon Health Institute that argues that expanding public health insurance has minimal impact on health outcomes and recommends focusing on healthy behaviors and medical innovation for more effective improvements. While we disagree with that assertion, some legislators have used the points made in the report to support their argument for cutting Medicaid. Knowing what the report says can help you prepare for conversations in which these arguments might be made.

We encourage you to use these resources in reaching out to your Congressional representatives. RCPA is happy to help in any way we can.

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