Secretary Val Arkoosh and leadership from the Department of Human Services (DHS) hosted a webinar to discuss the proposed 2025/26 budget for the Department on Friday, February 7, 2025.
The recording is available here, and the PowerPoint has been made available.
RCPA will continue to update members on the budget as information becomes available. If you have further questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Val Arkoosh met with systems stakeholders to provide an overview of the Governor’s proposed 2025/26 DHS budget. The Secretary began by reviewing the accomplishments of DHS under the administration and highlighted areas around Medicaid, systems enhancements, and the expansion in the delivery of services to Pennsylvanians.
The projected spending across DHS showed an investment of $21.17B, with the following breakdowns:
This budget number represents a $1.95B increase over last year’s executive budget. The most significant increases included:
RCPA submitted questions during the webinar in an effort to gain greater clarity on the proposed $2.4B increase in the Health Choices capitation. Several questions remain unanswered, including:
There was clarification on the proposed $170M increase in the ID/A budget, but Secretary Arkoosh stipulated that this was not new investments but rather funds to sustain last year’s increase.
The remainder of the webinar was spent outlining current DHS initiatives, including the Keystones of Health 1115 Waiver, which was approved in December 2024. This year’s priority will focus on reentry services as well as planning for future implementation. The Secretary concluded her comments supporting the minimum wage increase, reinforcing the workforce infrastructure, and tackling Commonwealth-wide challenges.
The DHS Bluebook is scheduled for release in the coming weeks and will provide line item details of the budget. RCPA will continue to work with DHS and PA legislators on the budget specifics and our ongoing advocacy efforts. You can view the DHS budget webinar here.
RCPA will continue to update members on the budget as information becomes available. If you have further questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.
The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) and the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) are jointly hosting the quarterly Statewide Positive Approaches & Practices meeting. This 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.
Date: February 20, 2025
Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Online – Zoom Webinar
Register Here
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.
Three sessions are being offered with each session exploring different scenarios. You are invited to register and attend one or more of the sessions.
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.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) will be holding a quarterly public meeting on January 14, 2025, for anyone interested in discussing the topic of peer support services (PSS) while working in the mental health field. These meetings will provide a regularly scheduled opportunity for OMHSAS representatives to provide PSS updates and information as well as answer questions and obtain essential insight and feedback from stakeholders.
The quarterly meeting will be held on January 14, 2025, at 10:00 am – 11:00 am. The Microsoft TEAMS Meeting link for this meeting can be found below. OMHSAS will continue to send the meeting invitation to include the meeting link and an agenda in advance. This information will continue to be sent via the OMHSAS listserv.
TEAMS MEETING INFORMATION:
Microsoft Teams Need help?
Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 223 156 162 141
Passcode: QkkY9M
Dial in by phone
+1 267-332-8737,,482893574# United States, Philadelphia
Find a local number
Phone conference ID: 482 893 574#
Please reach out to RCPA COO and Mental Health Policy Director Jim Sharp with any questions.
The Department of Human Services will be holding a webinar designed for provider agency leadership, supervisors, and anyone responsible for quality assurance or health outcomes. This is to share with providers how to get information out of the Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST) that can drive quality assurance initiatives, improve quality of care, and support agency outcomes. You will also look at reports to monitor compliance and identify areas of highest health risks for the people you support as well as cover HRST reports related to performance-based contract standards and customizing reports to get exactly what you are looking for quickly!
Please note the following:
**When registering, if you do not see your agency name under the “client” section — look for your state, and then your agency name will appear in the “provider agency” section.**
Presenters:
Tammy Armstrong: Client Engagement Manager, IntellectAbility
Ingrid Durbin: HRST Clinical Services Representative, IntellectAbility
Audience: Those with an active Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST) account
January 17, 2025, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
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.
The Department of Human Services is holding a live, virtual Zoom training to provide Support Coordinator (SC) 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: ID/A and AAW Supports Coordinators, SC Supervisors, and Support Coordination Organization administration
Three sessions are being offered, with each session exploring different scenarios. You are invited to register and attend one or more of the sessions.
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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