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DHS

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The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) today released recommendations from its Blueprint Workgroup, an interdisciplinary group comprised of representation from state and local governments, health care, education, service providers, managed care, and family advocates. The workgroup sought to evaluate challenges children and youth with complex, co-occurring physical and behavioral health care needs, and their families experience like accessing care and services that adapt to a youth’s changing circumstances and needs, lessening the likelihood of child welfare system involvement, reducing trauma experienced by instability, prioritizing emotional wellbeing, and supporting family- and youth-driven care and choice.

“The detailed recommendations outlined by the Blueprint Workgroup set a course that now allows DHS and partners at the local level and systems of care to begin the work necessary to see how we make change happen so children with complex needs get the care that improves their quality of life, and the family is supported as they navigate these systems,” said Dr. Val Arkoosh, Secretary of DHS. “Systems of care should uplift those we seek to help, not create confusion and consequences from lack of coordination. The Blueprint Workgroup recommendation align our focus around the children and families we must always prioritize, and I am grateful for the work to this point and moving forward that will build a better future for children and families in Pennsylvania.”

Read the full press release, including details on the Blueprint Workgroup’s priorities, here.

RCPA will continue its work on the complex care needs through our Residential Services Steering Committee and ongoing efforts for the implementation. If you have any questions, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

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Last week, Governor Shapiro presented his proposed budget for 2024/2025. The PowerPoint with the Human Services Spending Overview outlines the priorities, and the recording is available on the DHS YouTube channel.

RCPA staff will continue to advocate for appropriate levels of funding for our members’ services in the community. We will keep you updated with information as the process continues. If you have any questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.

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Today, Secretary Arkoosh presented an overview of the proposed Department of Human Services (DHS) budget in the Governor’s proposed budget he unveiled earlier this week. Governor Shapiro is prioritizing investments in IDD home and community-based service providers so that they can pay competitive rates to attract and retain staff who provide these life-changing services to Pennsylvanians.

Secretary Arkoosh stated, “It’s time to make a change,” and people need “the right service at the right time.” PA is about to embark on a multi-year wait list plan.

In September, Governor Shapiro directed DHS’s Office of Developmental Programs to begin an immediate evaluation and assessment of the rates paid to intellectual disability and autism programs that employ direct support professionals. Building on that, the governor is proposing an increase in reimbursement rates by 12%, which will invest a total of over $480 million, divided by state ($217 million) and federal ($266 million) funding for programs that support ID/A. It is proposed that the rate increase will become effective July 2024. Additionally, one-time supplemental payments to support staffing recruitment and retention were announced. These funds are anticipated to be distributed to providers in May or June 2024 and will total $109 million.

ODP will be working closely with counties to shift to management by budget rather than slots, and effective immediately, the department is adding 1,250 in Community Living and 250 in Consolidated people to the waiver capacity ($78 million in funding).

This budget also invests $934,000 to add American Sign Language and English interpreter services to program serving this population as a distinct service.

While this is very positive news for the ID/A community, this is the proposed budget. We all need to continue to advocate with legislators to support this proposal and give the ID/A services the support they need. Please share your stories with your local legislator and participate in our upcoming capitol day on March 19, 2024. You can register to participate in the event here. Also, we ask that you take the time to thank Governor Shapiro for hearing our voices and addressing our critical needs.

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The Department of Human Services (DHS) just announced that, due to reaching capacity in the February 9 meeting, they are adding a second session at 1:30 pm on the same day. If you are already registered for the morning session, do not register for the afternoon session so that they can keep enough space for all who are interested. Both sessions will be recorded and posted publicly to YouTube, and content will be roughly similar within the two sessions. DHS will share Question and Answer (Q&A) sessions from both, and a follow-up Q&A document will be shared next week.

Visit here to register for the afternoon session.

(If the registration link above does not work, please try copying this link directly into your browser: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/9f3d9e64-6d38-45a7-84eb-b0ae2b1aafd9@418e2841-0128-4dd5-9b6c-47fc5a9a1bde)

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Message from Kevin Dressler, Bureau Director, DHS, Office of Developmental Programs:

Infection Control and Vaccination Status Survey
The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has put together a short survey (23 questions) to gain an idea of the vaccination status of the people living in ICFs for COVID, Flu, and RSV, as well as to identify difficulties you may have or are currently experiencing with obtaining the vaccines. There is also a section within the survey discussing infection control and prevention. Please take the time to fill out the survey, as ODP will use the information to continue to look for ways to improve access and availability of vaccines and other health-related resources.

Several responded that the survey was not accessible. Participant restrictions have been removed this morning, so you should now be able to complete the survey here.

ICF Task Force Meeting
The next ICF Task Force meeting will be conducted in-person on April 18, from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. We are planning to hold the meeting at the PaTTAN (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network) building in Harrisburg. We plan to share ICF citation data from January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2023, as well as two trainings. The trainings will be “Plan of Correction Writing and Follow-up,” and training on “Active Treatment.” We will also have the DOH Long Term Care – RISE group provide a presentation on the services and supports they have to offer to ICFs. Lastly, we will have our typical updates from our finance staff, DOH, and ODP Medical Director. Please plan on attending. Updates will be provided as we get closer to the date of the meeting.

ICF Taskforce Meeting: Location
The ICF Taskforce Meeting on Thursday, April 18, 2024, will be held at the following address:

PaTTAN – Central
6340 Flank Drive
Harrisburg, PA 17112

Directions and nearby hotel accommodations can be found here.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) is hosting a post-award forum regarding the federal Section 1115 Demonstration, which includes Medicaid coverage for out-of-state former foster care youth and substance use disorder (SUD) services. It will take place at 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm on Friday, March 8, 2024, via WebEx. The forum aims to gather public feedback on the progress of these initiatives, both of which were approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The Former Foster Care Youth (FFCY) component allows Medicaid coverage for individuals under 26 who were in foster care in another state upon turning 18. The SUD component provides funding for essential SUD services, including residential care.

Register for the forum here. Written comments are also acceptable until the same date. For inquiries, contact Shivani Patel. Further details and the announcement can be found here. Please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp for any further questions.

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Secretary Val Arkoosh and leadership from the Department of Human Services (DHS) will host a webinar to discuss the proposed 2024/25 budget for the department. The briefing will take place at 10:00 am on Friday, February 9. If you are unable to attend, the briefing will be recorded and available for viewing afterwards.

Visit here to register for the briefing. DHS encourages individuals to submit questions ahead of the briefing so they can prepare as much information as possible. The Departments will follow up on any questions that they are unable to answer during the webinar.

(If the registration link above does not work, please try copying this link directly into your browser: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/3049c317-17f6-46ab-8396-1e5f3a370422@418e2841-0128-4dd5-9b6c-47fc5a9a1bde)

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RCPA is happy to share highlights of Governor Shapiro’s proposed budget that recognizes the needs of the ID/A community in a way that Pennsylvanians have not seen for many years.

Governor Shapiro is prioritizing investments in home and community-based service providers so that they can pay competitive rates to attract and retain staff who provide these life-changing services to Pennsylvanians. The governor is proposing an increase in reimbursement rates by 12%, which will invest a total of over $480 million. This will be divided by state ($217 million) and federal ($266 million) funding for programs that support ID/A.

This budget will invest $34.2 million in the Community Waiver and $1.85 million in the Community Base Program, which will allow the Department of Human Services (DHS) to expand the number of individuals participating in home and community-based services programs.

The 2024/25 executive budget invests $213 million toward the Community Waiver Program, $2.1 million in the Autism Intervention Program, and $1.1 million in the Community Base program. It also leverages $266 million in total federal funding to increase resources for providers of home and community-based services.

In addition, this budget invests $934,000 to add American Sign Language and English interpreter services to programs serving those who require these services in order to experience equality in communication.

In response to this announcement, Richard Edley, PhD, President and CEO of RCPA, stated, “Governor Shapiro is really living up to his mandate to ‘get stuff done!’ The disability community has waited decades for a governor that would make systemic fixes a key budget issue, and the day has finally come. This may not solve all the issues that nearly destroyed this critical system of care and support, but it’s a start, which is more than we’ve had in quite some time.”

Read the summary of Governor Shapiro’s proposed budget plan for ID/A services. RCPA will be sharing more analysis of the budget when additional information is released.

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This Request for Proposals (RFP) requires performance analysis activities to administer the requirements of the CMS 1915(b)(4) waiver for licensed residential habilitation, unlicensed residential habilitation, supported living, and life-sharing services, as well as for supports coordination services currently offered in all ODP 1915(c) waiver programs.

Tasks to support administering the requirements of the 1915(b)(4) waiver include but are not limited to: data collection, analysis and reporting, Provider Contract Management, managing a public facing website, and providing and maintaining an information support system.

All offerors are required to create a user profile within the DHS JAGGAER portal. Please visit here to access the portal.

Proposals are due Tuesday, March 5, 2024, by 12:00 pm. Visit PA eMarketplace for more information and to apply.

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