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Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) is informing stakeholders of updates to the Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) Residential Services Implementation Guide. Revisions to the Implementation Guide appear in red.

Some significant changes to the Performance-Based Contracting Proposal (Appendix A) are as a result of public comment and feedback from the first round of tier determinations. These changes include:

Performance Standard:

  • Revision: (RM-IM.01.3) Data pull will be for 2024 calendar year (CY) quarters 1-2 (Q1-2), and an adjustment variable of 1% will be applied.
  • Revision: (RM-IM.01.3) Temporarily changing the threshold from 90% to 86%. For fiscal year (FY) 2027-28, the threshold will return to 90% using CY 2026 data.
  • Revision: (RM-IM.01.4) Moved to future measure in FY 2027/28 using CY 2026 data.

Scoring Tool:

  • Revision: Measures RM-IM.01.1, RM-IM.01.2, and RM-IM.01.3, RM-IM.01.1 – RM-IM.01.3 Scoring as composite requiring 2 out of 3.

Attachments:

  • Attachment 1: Performance-Based Contracting Residential Implementation Guide
  • PBC Residential Services Provider Self-Assessment Toolkit
    • Attachment 2A: Provider Performance-Based Contracting Preparedness Self-Assessment
    • Attachment 2B: Provider Preparedness Workbook 2025 Updates (20250107)
  • Attachment 3: Residential Performance-Based Contracting Attestation

Please view ODPANN 25-003 for additional changes, information, and details.

The updated version of the PBC Residential Services Implementation Guide is located on the Performance-Based Contracting Information web page on MyODP.

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Senator Carolyn Comitta and Senator Lindsey Williams shared the following message with all Senate members. You may want to contact your local legislator requesting their support.

Posted: January 6, 2025, 12:56 pm
From: Senator Carolyn T. Comitta and Sen. Lindsey M. Williams
To: All Senate members
Subject: ID/A Market Index for DSP Services

Making our government more efficient and effective often means innovating ways to more closely align bureaucratic processes with best practice solutions. Pennsylvania’s method of compensating our invaluable Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) is one such opportunity. Over 55,000 Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism need some assistance during the day to reach their highest level of independence and opportunity. These people and their families rely upon our committed DSPs to support some of the most personal tasks and make sure they live safely while engaging in the community. Often, our DSPs become like family to their clients.

Sadly, if you looked at the pay DSPs receive in Pennsylvania you would not know how critical they are to those who need their services. Despite best efforts, too many great staff leave the profession due to necessity in order to support themselves and their families. This often leads to a very high staff turnover rate even amongst our best providers, which has a negative effect on their clients.

Regulation requires a three-year refresh of market-based data in order to adopt a fee schedule, but there is no requirement for Pennsylvania to change rates at all – no matter what happens to inflation. Under this process, rates are already a year behind by the time they become effective. Last year’s rate increase was 3-4% below actual inflation, without any guarantee of correction for at least 3 years. For many providers, annual increases to health insurance, worker’s compensation, liability and other factors far exceed the available funds.

To help stabilize this workforce and provide better care for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism, Senator Lindsey Williams and I will soon introduce legislation to amend the Human Services Code requiring that rates annually be set based on a national market consumer index. The adoption of a nationally recognized market index will help provide stability to this system and also support the hard-working DSPs that are essential to the delivery of services for Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism. This legislation was SB684 and a companion to Rep. Miller’s HB661 in the 2023-24 session.

We hope you will join us in cosponsoring this important legislation.

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Happy New Year! Now that you have turned the page to your 2025 calendars, we want to be sure that you do not miss saving the dates for the RCPA Annual Conference in 2025. We will be holding the conference earlier than we traditionally have, so we want to be sure you know the date. We will be meeting again at the Hershey Lodge, September 9 – 12, 2025! But not to worry — we will be offering the same high level of quality you have come to expect from our selection of workshops, speakers, and activities! Stay tuned to our social media and Conference website for future developments.

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Supports Coordinator (SCs) Monitoring Residential Services Webcast Training

Supports Coordinators (SCs) have a critical role and responsibility on the team to monitor all the services that are being provided to the individuals they support. Residential Service Providers have a unique responsibility to protect and promote the health, safety, and rights of individuals they support in all aspects of their life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This 4-part training specifically focuses on the Supports Coordinator’s authority and responsibilities when monitoring Residential Services.

Audience: Intellectual Disability and Autism (ID/A) and Adult Autism Waiver (AAW) Supports Coordinators (SCs), SC Supervisors, and Support Coordination Organization (SCO) Administration.

There is no registration for this online training. Any learner with a professional profile role can access the training directly in MyODP. The current link in the announcement will take the learner to the SC Landing Page, where there will be a direct link to the course. Link will be available starting Thursday January 2, 2025.

Supports Coordinator (SCs) Monitoring Residential Services — Live, Virtual Sessions for SC Supervisors and Support Coordinator Organization (SCO) Trainers

The Department of Human Services is holding a live, virtual Zoom training to provide Support Coordinators (SCs) Supervisors and Support Coordinator Organization (SCO) Trainers the opportunity to apply learning from the Supports Coordinator Monitoring Residential Services training to support their SCs to effectively monitor Residential Services. Each session will include small and large group discussions of two scenarios an Intellectual Disability and Autism (ID/A) or Adult Autism Waiver (AAW) SC might encounter during a residential monitoring. SC Supervisors and Trainers can use these scenarios and discussions as a model for similar discussions with their SCs to improve the thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and quality of residential monitoring.

Session recordings (6 scenarios) will be made available on MyODP and announced through ODP Communications. The recordings can be viewed by SCs and used by SC Supervisors/Trainers to support additional SC staff development.

Audience: Intellectual Disability and Autism (ID/A) and Adult Autism Waiver (AAW) Supports Coordinators (SCs) Trainers, SC Supervisors, and Support Coordination Organization (SCO) Administration only.

SCs are not the audience for these sessions and will not have access to registration due to role restrictions.

Please register here.

Three sessions are being offered with each session exploring different scenarios.  You are invited to register and attend one or more of the sessions.

  • Monday, February 3, 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
  • Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
  • Friday, February 7, 2025, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Prior to the sessions, completion of the Supports Coordinator Monitoring Residential Services training is required.

Note: If you are experiencing issues accessing the link, try right clicking the link, selecting “Copy Link,” and pasting the link into your browser. If the problem persists, try a different browser.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) is sharing the latest Health Alert, “Call 911 in a Medical Emergency.” ODP is also sharing this important online training that is being offered through the Western Region Health Care Quality Unit (HCQU).

How to Recognize a Medical Emergency and When to Call 911

We all hope the people we support never have a health emergency, but it’s important to be prepared for them, just in case. Knowing who to call and what to do in an emergency will help you remain calm so you can act quickly and appropriately. How you react in an emergency could save a life! During this training, you will learn:

  • How to recognize a potentially serious situation;
  • The steps you should take right away; and
  • When to call 911.

Please note the following:

To enroll in any of our courses, you must have an account in the Milestone HCQU West Learning Center. Signing up is easy and free!

By completing/passing this course, you will attain the certificate 24-Certificate-PFQ.

For more information on how to register, please use the link here.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) recently issued gross adjustment payments to ODP providers based upon the rate increase that was approved in the 2024/25 PA state budget. The gross adjustment was on the remittance advice dated Monday, December 23, 2024.

In terms of determining the gross adjustment payments, ODP took all paid claims data between July 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024, and increased the paid claims 8% for non-residential and 6% for residential.

If a provider has questions regarding the gross adjustment they received, please reach out to either RateSetting or ODP Claims Resolution, and ODP staff can research each situation and concern.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has updated the AAW Provider Information Table to reflect the following updates:

  • The addition of the American Sign Language (ASL)-English Interpreter Service. This new service has been added to ensure effective communication for those participants that utilize ASL.
  • Residential Habilitation Provider Qualifications have been updated to reflect additions designed to ensure all residential providers are financially prepared, new providers have prior experience before delivering residential services, and services will continue without interruption when organizational changes occur at the executive level.
  • Assistive Technology devices that cost less than $750 do not require an independent evaluation by a professional certified by SHIFT, an online education and accreditation platform, but may be completed if the service plan team believes it to be beneficial.
  • Transportation service limit has been increased to $10,000 per participant’s service plan year, which includes both Transportation-Trip and Transportation-Public.
  • The Transportation service section has also been updated to include guidance previously released in ODP Announcement 24-005: Adding the Transportation Service to an Individual Support Plan (ISP) in the Adult Autism Waiver (AAW). The information also includes a change to how Transportation-Public is added to the ISP.
  • The Community Transition service has been updated to allow for non-recurring set-up expenses for individuals who are transitioning from another provider-operated living arrangement to a living arrangement in a private residence where the person is directly responsible for their living expenses.
  • The Career Planning and Supported Employment services sections have been updated to include information previously released in ODP Announcement 20-004: Clarifications and Training Requirements for Adult Autism Waiver (AAW) Employment Services.
  • Other updates and changes to AAW services due to the January 1, 2025, Waiver Amendment.

Please view the announcement and table for additional information and details. New services, updated language, and changes to services are highlighted in gray in the table.

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