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Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

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Learn the facts about the symptoms, prevention, and what to do if you or someone where you work gets sick. This webinar will include presentations by leaders and clinicians from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Department of Health (DOH), as well provide an opportunity for Q&A.

Please forward the webinar invitation along to any other relevant stakeholders in your network. For those unable to attend live, a recording of the session will be made available.

Visit HERE to register for this webinar scheduled for Wednesday, August 31 at 1:00 pm. When registering for the event, you must fill out the registration information by clicking “Register” on the left side of your screen as shown below.

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ODP Announcement 22-099 provides a revision to the rate for the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) services for enhanced communication. The enhanced communication rate is available for services from providers who have proficient signing staff to serve signing d/Deaf individuals or utilize PA registered, certified Sign Language Interpreters during service provision.

Attachment A is available to explain the differences between having staff who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) versus using an ASL Interpreter.

Providers who wish to request an enhanced communication rate must complete either the: Enhanced Communication Rate Request Form (Signing Staff) — Attachment B, or Enhanced Communication Rate Request Form (Sign Language Interpreting Services) — Attachment C.

Questions about the contents of this announcement may be directed to the ODP Deaf Services inbox. This communication obsoletes ODP Announcement 20-011, Revision to the Enhanced Communication Rate for Services.

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

RCPA, along with 285 disability service providers and associations representing disability service providers, signed onto a letter from ANCOR thanking Senator Casey for his advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities in the past year.

The letter states, “Thank you for your steadfast leadership in supporting the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) program, which enables individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to live full and independent lives in their communities.

Thank you for being a sponsor and champion of the Better Care Better Jobs Act, which would strengthen the HCBS program and address a decades-long direct care workforce crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and for shining a light on the importance of home-based services through a hearing in the Senate Aging Committee this past March.

We especially appreciate your relentless efforts to include the Better Care Better Jobs Act as part of the budget reconciliation bill. Although an investment in HCBS was not ultimately included in the Inflation Reduction Act, we know that time and again you pressed Senate leadership and your fellow colleagues to support people with I/DD through inclusion of HCBS funding.”

The full letter can be accessed here.

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Thursday, September 8, 2022
Start time: 9:00 am
End time: 1:30 pm

This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. The public is invited to call in to this meeting using the following information:

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Sept 8, 2022, 09:00 am Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: PA State Board of Vocational Rehabilitation Quarterly Meeting
Use this link to join the webinar:
Passcode: 528240

Or One Tap Mobile:
US: +19292056099,,88584838897#,,,,*528240# or +13017158592,,88584838897#,,,,*528240#

Or Telephone:
Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1-929-205-6099 or +1-301-715-8592 or +1-312-626-6799 or +1-646-931-3860 or +1-669-900-6833 or +1-253-215-8782 or +1-346-248-7799 or +1-386-347-5053 or +1-564-217-2000 or +1-669-444-9171
Webinar ID: 885 8483 8897
Passcode: 528240

The agenda for this meeting is below. Anyone who would like to make public comments prior to the meeting may submit their comments via email.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION

Zoom Virtual Meeting
September 8, 2022
MISSION STATEMENT: To assist Pennsylvanians with disabilities to secure and maintain employment and independence.

PUBLIC AGENDA

9:00 am – 9:20 am
Welcome & Opening Remarks, Jennifer Berrier, Secretary, Labor & Industry

  • Roll Call of Board Members
  • ACTION: Approval of Agenda
  • ACTION: Approval of Minutes, March 3, 2022

9:20 am – 9:30 am
Discussion on 2023 State Board Meeting Dates & Locations, Jennifer Berrier

  • *NOTE: Public Comment will be taken prior to any official board action.
  • ACTION: Approval of 2023 Meeting Dates & Locations

9:30 am – 10:00 am
Executive Director’s Remarks, Ryan Hyde, Acting Executive Director, OVR

10:00 am – 10:30 am
State Board Task Force Committee Update, Michael Kiel, Board Member

10:30 am – 10:45 am

  • BREAK
  • OVR BUREAU DIRECTOR REPORTS

10:45 am – 11:45 am
Hiram G. Andrews Center, Jill Moriconi, Director
Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Marci Katona, Acting Director
Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, Dawn Sokol, Acting Director
Bureau of Central Operations, Ryan Hyde, Director

  • STAKEHOLDER REPORTS

11:45 am – 12:25 pm
Statewide Independent Living Council, Matthew Seeley, Executive Director
PA Rehabilitation Council, Paul Fogle, Chair
Office for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, Melissa Hawkins, Director
Client Assistance Program, Steve Pennington, Director

  • TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION & ACTION ITEMS

12:25 pm – 1:00 pm
Report on Summer Internships, Doug Rand, Business Services Outreach Division Chief

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm

  • PUBLIC COMMENT

1:30 pm

  • ADJOURNMENT

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Thanks to accessiBe, RCPA’s website is accessible to individuals with disabilities! Their accessibility tool is free to most nonprofits. It lets your end users tailor your websites for multiple different special needs, by selecting various settings for both accessibility and content. To see the options available, click or tap on the round accessibility widget in the bottom left corner of your screen!

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ODP Announcement 22-098 is intended to provide additional clarification on combining partial units as it pertains to Personal Care and Home Health Care Services that are subject to electronic visit verification (EVV), i.e. Respite — unlicensed, Homemaker, Companion, In-Home and Community Supports and Community Supports, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech/Language Therapy, and Therapies — Counseling.

All Personal Care and Home Health Care services subject to EVV are permitted to bill units that are based on the total accumulated continuous or non-continuous service time across an individual calendar day or across multiple calendar days. The beginning and end date submitted on a claim detail line informs the system what date range it should look in for time in the EVV Aggregator for the same provider, individual, and service. Once all continuous or non-continuous service time in the aggregator is located, the system will total all the time found and use the total time to calculate units. The total calculated units in the EVV aggregator are then compared to the units submitted on the claim.

As long as the total calculated units found in the EVV aggregator is equal to or greater than the units submitted on the claim detail line, the claim will pass EVV validation and continue moving through the claims adjudication process, where it is subject to plan validation and additional Medical Assistance and ODP specific edits and audits in the Medicaid Management Information System (PROMISe).

Please note that the ODP EVV Technical Guide Version 2.0 is being updated to reflect this clarification about combining partial units for services subject to EVV.

For additional information about EVV, please view the DHS EVV website. Providers with additional questions regarding this matter should contact their respective ODP Regional Office.

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A Better Understanding of Mental Health to Improve Systems and Supports

Articles in this issue of Positive Approaches focus on lived experiences and emerging treatments and supports for people with mental health challenges, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Article topics include the training process and outcomes of Mental Health First Aid, a Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) and Allegheny County DHS pilot program to better address the complex needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, and/or acute behavioral health needs, and an interview with a person with lived experience discussing the gaps, challenges, and opportunities of supporting someone with an autism spectrum diagnosis and co-occurring mental health diagnoses. There are also articles detailing the transition process from an institutionalized setting to a community setting and the outcomes for individuals with autism and drawing on research and lived experience to conclude that mental health conditions in autistic people are a result of the society in which they live with autism, not autism itself.

This issue of Positive Approaches Journal is in digital form, available for viewing online, or available for downloading here. To print a copy of the PDF, online journal, or a specific article, you will find these options within your left navigation bar on any Positive Approaches Journal page. A new window will open with your selected document. In your browser, you may click the Print button in the top left corner of the page, or by using the Print capability within your browser.

Please submit feedback regarding your experience with the Positive Approaches Journal on MyODP by clicking on the feedback image on MyODP within your left navigation bar on any Positive Approaches Journal page.

The Positive Approaches Journal is published quarterly. For additional information, please contact ODP Training.

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ADvancing States and our partners with the ARPA HCBS Technical Assistance Collective are proud to release two papers that provide information about state efforts and activities under their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) HCBS spending plans. Through the generous support of The SCAN Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, The Milbank Memorial Fund, and Arnold Ventures, the TA Collective operated two Affinity Groups (AG) to support states, facilitate information exchange, and share innovations, promising practices, and other strategies to expand and enhance their HCBS programs.

One AG focused on HCBS Workforce Shortages and state efforts to increase worker compensation and to improve training and education activities, while the other AG was dedicated to incorporating enabling technology into state HCBS programs. Each paper provides an overview of the issue, a summary of the discussions and ideas presented, examples of state innovations, and a discussion of future activities, challenges, and considerations as states continue to address these issues.

Visit here to read more.

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