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Tags Posts tagged with "DHS"

DHS

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The Department of Human Services’ invites you to the Department of Human Services (DHS) Statewide Positive Approaches & Practices Meeting. Jointly hosted by the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) and the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), this quarterly meeting aims to provide the most recent research and resources for people with mental health and behavioral challenges, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities to live an everyday life. Please see the flyer for detailed information.

Date: May 15, 2025
Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Zoom Webinar

  • Morning Session: Run. Dance. Play. What’s Your Move? Promoting Physical Activity with the Move Your Way® Campaign
  • Afternoon Session #1: Unlocking Potential: An Overview of Special Olympics Pennsylvania’s Community Sport, Health & Fitness, and In-School Programs
  • Afternoon Session #2: What’s Strong With You? A Shift to Resiliency-Informed Care

Register Here

The Zoom link for joining the session will be sent to the email you used to register. This link will be unique to your registration. Please do not share this link.

Questions? Send via email to PATraining.

Please note that Certificates of Attendance are not issued for Statewide Positive Approaches and Practices Meetings.

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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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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared communication ODPANN 25-036. This announcement is to inform stakeholders that the contract for Performance Analysis Services (PAS) associated with PBC has been awarded.

Effective April 1, 2025, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has executed a competitively procured contract with Deloitte for PAS. The PAS vendor will assist ODP with the following primary functions related to the implementation of PBC:

  • Collect, aggregate, and analyze data and documentation;
  • Create dashboards;
  • Generate reports; and
  • Implement an information system to support the administration of the 1915(b)(4) waiver for residential and supports coordination services for the Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family-Directed Support (P/FDS) waivers.

The PAS vendor will support the collection and analysis of data relevant to Pay for Performance (P4P) initiatives associated with PBC. Additionally, systems level data on performance measures will be reported to the Provider Performance Review Subcommittee of the Information Sharing and Information Committee (ISAC).

Please view the announcement for additional information and details.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) conducted Technical Assistance (TA) sessions regarding the updated Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (PRS) regulations outlined in 55 Pa. Code Chapter 5230. These sessions were held in November 2024 for licensed PRS providers and Behavioral Health Managed Care Organizations (BH-MCO). The revised regulations became effective on January 18, 2025. To further support licensed PRS providers and BH-MCOs in implementing the new regulatory requirements, OMHSAS has released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document addressing common questions identified during those sessions. The FAQ document is now available; you can view the document here.

The FAQ document can also be found at the links below.

Comments and questions regarding this memorandum should be submitted via email to the DHS Psych Rehab inbox. You can also contact RCPA Policy Associate Emma Sharp.

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The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has released the outcomes from the Early Intervention (EI) Rate Methodology Study that concluded in the Fall of 2024. A key focus of the RCPA Early Intervention Steering Committee’s strategic agenda has been the review of how rates have been historically developed, including the lack of sustainable rate increases that have taken place over the past two decades. In our collaboration with OCDEL and other early intervention stakeholders, the goal was the development of a quantifiable rate methodology that uses the cost of care as a driving variable in the rate development matrix.

The EI Rate Study Final Report has been added to DHS website and can be viewed here. The study was the culmination of a year-long effort led the Public Consulting Group (PCG) and an Advisory Committee, which RCPA and other provider members were a part of.

The report reviewed the methodology and formulary variables for rate calculations across several operational dimensions of early intervention services, including staffing, operations, administration, and the calculation of how missed and cancelled visits intersect with actual costs.

The final funding review of the estimated Commonwealth fiscal impact was calculated using the number of service units provided during FY 2022/23 for Early Intervention services, current Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), and county contributions. Services with a recommended rate decrease were kept at the current rate when calculating Commonwealth fiscal impact. The result indicated that for FY 2022/23, the rates were underfunded by more than $71M, or roughly 38% of the FY 2022/23 rate.

This year there is a proposed State budget increase of $10M that is targeted to aid Early Intervention providers in stabilizing their workforce infrastructure. This would be a 3% increase over the FY 2023/24 rate. There was no rate increase last year in anticipation of the rate methodology study report. There was hope that the study outcomes, which ended in September 2024, could have made a greater impact on this year’s projected rate increase. That notwithstanding, RCPA fully supports and will be advocating that the proposed $10M funding allocation be approved for Early Intervention services in the final budget. Additionally, there is a projected Medicaid allocation of $12.6M, for a total $22.6M that will go to the final rates for FY 2025/26.

Finally, the report indicated that between the periodic rate studies, PCG recommends that OCDEL implement a rate monitoring program to measure costs annually against payments. This monitoring should also measure inflation, and OCDEL should adjust rates annually to match the rate of inflation.

RCPA thanks OCDEL and our members for the partnership in the project and looks forward to the opportunity to work together in supporting and advocating the implementation of rates that support the cost of delivering high quality Early Intervention services to the children and families of the Commonwealth.

If you have any additional questions, please contact RCPA COO Jim Sharp or IPRC Policy Director Cindi Hobbes.

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The Senate Appropriations Committee held the 2025 Department of Human Services (DHS) Budget Hearing at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. DHS was represented by Secretary Dr. Valerie Arkoosh and Gloria Gilligan, Director of Fiscal Management, Office of the Budget. Other DHS leadership was also present.

The Senate Appropriations Committee was equipped with questions surrounding the proposed $21B DHS budget that focused on intersects with operating critical services for vulnerable Pennsylvanians across the human services landscape. RCPA submitted questions to the House Appropriations Committee’s legislators that voiced the concerns of the membership across all policy areas.

The hearing today covered several of those questions, including:

  • The projected $2.5B dollar increase in the capitation and intersects with Medicaid unwinding in PA;
  • Impacts of potential federal Medicaid cuts on state Medicaid funding;
  • Addressing IDD waitlists and funding;
  • The ongoing funding of SNAP benefits and how the state is addressing fraud, waste, and abuse;
  • Efforts to stabilize the human services workforce infrastructure with hiring and retention funding;
  • Maternal Health Care funding;
  • The viability of funding for the PA Medicaid 1115 Waiver;
  • Childcare and early education funding, including $10M in early intervention workforce monies;
  • Concerns about the fiscal and operational risks of covering GLP-1 medications; and
  • The absence of a unified plan for the allocation and implementation of the $100M in school-based mental health funding.

View the 2025/26 Department of Human Service Blue Book for in-depth budget information. Members can watch the full hearings and read the transcripts below:

Contact your RCPA Policy Director with any questions.

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Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash

The House Appropriations Committee held the 2025 Department of Human Services (DHS) Budget Hearing at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. DHS was represented by Secretary Dr. Valerie Arkoosh and Gloria Gilligan, Director of Fiscal Management, Office of the Budget. Other DHS leadership was also present.

The House Appropriations Committee was equipped with questions surrounding the proposed $21B DHS budget that focused on intersects with operating critical services for vulnerable Pennsylvanians across the human services landscape. RCPA submitted questions to the House Appropriations Committee’s legislators that voiced the concerns of the membership across all policy areas.

The hearing today covered several of those questions, including:

  • The projected $2.5B dollar increase in the capitation and intersects with Medicaid unwinding in PA;
  • Impacts of potential federal Medicaid cuts on state Medicaid funding;
  • Addressing IDD waitlists and funding;
  • The ongoing funding of SNAP benefits and how the state is addressing fraud, waste, and abuse;
  • Efforts to stabilize the human services workforce infrastructure with hiring and retention funding;
  • Childcare and early education funding, including $10M in early intervention workforce monies;
  • Concerns about the fiscal and operational risks of covering GLP-1 medications; and
  • The sustainability of State human services with the increases over the last several years.

RCPA will continue to monitor the hearings and subsequent reporting, and we plan to provide an overview of the Senate Appropriations Committee DHS Budget Hearing held today, March 5. If you have any questions, please contact your respective RCPA Policy Director.

Members can watch the full hearings and read the transcripts below:

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