The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 24-034. The purpose of this announcement is to inform all interested persons of the availability of the latest annual report that assesses provider compliance with the federal Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Rule for ODP. Please view the announcement for additional information and details.
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has announced that they will be presenting a six-session webinar series that will focus on housing issues. The live, interactive webinars will be conducted from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm in April and May and will focus on the following topics:
2024 OLTL Spring Housing Series Curriculum
Target Audience
The webinar series targets Service Coordinators, Managed Care Organizations (MCO), and Service Coordination Entity support staff who assist program participants in securing and maintaining affordable, accessible housing through Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). The target audience for these webinars includes individuals and organizations who provide long-term services and supports (LTSS) for older Pennsylvanians and people with physical disabilities.
Important Information
The information covered in this webinar series will be similar to the information covered in the 2023 OLTL spring and fall housing webinars (except for an added session on assistive technology). Since the information is similar, if you attended the 2023 housing webinars, you do not need to attend this series unless you wish to refresh your knowledge on the topic, participate in a session that you missed, or participate in the new assistive technology session.
This webinar series builds on information already provided in the Online Housing Training Modules and the Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania (SDHP)/Inglis’ Prepared Renter Program (PREP) curriculum.
The content in each webinar builds on prior content. Participants will get the most out of the series by taking all of the webinars.
To participate in the webinars, registration is available here.
Last week, ANCOR and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) unveiled the latest Case for Inclusion report: Transforming Temporary Progress into Long-Term Sustainability. The report is a vital resource assessing the effectiveness of state Medicaid programs in serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families. Since 2019, ANCOR has partnered with UCP to publish this comprehensive report, combining transactional data with transformational stories to inspire positive change.
The Case for Inclusion 2024 provides a deep dive into community inclusion across three data snapshots, featuring nearly 80 measures spanning six crucial issue areas: Addressing a Workforce in Crisis; Promoting Independence; Reaching Those in Need; Serving at a Reasonable Cost; Keeping Families Together; and Tracking Health, Safety, & Quality of Life.
Key findings from the report shed light on critical issues, including notable increases in hourly wages for direct support professionals (DSP), rising vacancy rates with full-time vacancy rates increasing to 16.5% and part-time vacancy rates increasing to 20.3%, and persistent challenges in addressing waiting lists for home- and community-based services (HCBS), with 497,354 people on state waiting lists for HCBS across the country.
The report also emphasizes that 17 states and the District of Columbia have closed their state-run institutions. Furthermore, it highlights the participation of 38 states in the federal Money Follows the Person program and the approval of 18 demonstration waivers nationally addressing social determinants of health with 17 more pending.
House Resolution 212 (2021), which was adopted June 29, 2022, created a legislative task force on services provided to individuals with intellectual disability, developmental disability, and autism. It directed the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study on the impact of the Commonwealth’s current needs and system capacity for providing opportunities for individuals with intellectual disability, developmental disability, and autism.
The Commission was further directed to establish an advisory committee to assist in its study. The advisory committee included representatives from the Commonwealth agencies, who were charged with the responsibility of overseeing these services, namely the Department of Human Services (DHS) Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR). Other representatives included individuals and family members of individuals who are receiving home and community-based services or who are on waiting lists for services. Service providers, advocates, self-advocates, a physician, and a representative of the Pennsylvania Association of County Administrators of Mental Health and Developmental Services, as well as other interested persons, were also on the advisory committee. Richard Edley, President and CEO of RCPA, and several RCPA members served on this committee.
The committee has completed their work, resulting in their finalized report and one-page summary.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
12:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Register for the Meeting
The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) will host a virtual meeting for its members to address issues surrounding home and community-based services (HCBS) to be examined in the Committee’s Report to the President. All the PCPID meetings, in any format, are open to the public. This virtual meeting will be conducted in a discussion format with committee members addressing the issues and recommendations identified by PCPID work groups proposing to be incorporated in the PCPID Report to the President. View more details published in the Federal Register notice.
For further information, please email ACL.
This meeting will include CART and American Sign Language (ASL) services. If there are additional reasonable accommodation requests, please contact J. Welborn and Sensis Agency by Thursday, March 7.
Stakeholder input is very important to the PCPID. Comments and suggestions, especially from people with intellectual disabilities, are welcomed. If there are comments related to HCBS or other areas that you would like to inform the PCPID, please share them through the PCPID comment form. Comments received by March 12 will be shared with the PCPID at the March 21 meeting.
About the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
Initially established in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the PCPID advises the president and the secretary of health and human services on a broad range of topics that impact people with intellectual disabilities, as well as the professional fields that support people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Its goal is to improve the quality of life experienced by people with intellectual disabilities by upholding their full citizenship rights, independence, self-determination, and lifelong participation in their communities.
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.
On December 29, 2023, the Department of Human Services (DHS) issued to the CHC-MCOs a revised edition of “Operations Memo (#2019-05): Circumstances When Community Health Choices (CHC)-Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) Must Transmit the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Eligibility/Ineligibility/Change Form (PA 1768).” The PA 1768 (included in the Operations Memo) is used to notify the County Assistance Office (CAO) when a CHC participant is determined clinically eligible for CHC HCBS or when a CHC participant, who is receiving HCBS, experiences a change affecting his or her eligibility for HCBS.
This revised operations memo describes situations where the CHC-MCO sends the PA 1768 to the CAO. The memo has also been revised to include Money Follows the Person (MFP) information to communicate on the PA 1768 (Attachment 8), and to update a participant letter (Attachment 4: CHC HCBS Termination Letter (No Response).
If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Dehoff.
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