The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) Communication 106-18 announces that the final public notice for fee schedule rates and Department-established fees for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin Volume 48, Number 50 on Saturday, December 15, 2018. The title of the notice is Fee Schedule Rates and Department-Established Fees for Consolidated, Community Living and Person/Family Directed Support Waivers Services, Targeted Support Management and the Community Intellectual Disability Base-Funded Program. You may obtain the public notice by following this link.

The Fee Schedule Rates effective July 1, 2018, were developed in accordance with 55 Pa. Code Chapter 51 using a market-based approach. The Fee Schedule Rates represent the maximum rates that the Department will pay for each service.

There have been no changes to the Fee Schedule Rates since they were published as final in the Pennsylvania Bulletin Volume 48, Number 4 on Saturday, January 27, 2018. The current Fee Schedule Rates can be accessed on the Department of Human Services website.

There have been no changes to the Department-established fees that have been in effect July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, since the fees were published as final in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, 48 Pa.B. 688 (January 27, 2018). The Department-established fees effective July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018 can be viewed as historical rates on the Department of Human Services website.

The Department has examined current federal housing data across the Commonwealth and determined that a differential of approximately 10% exists between the costs in the counties of Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Pike, and those in the rest of the Commonwealth. Unlike wage costs, which are typically standardized across multiple counties through use of a single wage scale across counties, housing costs tend to be specific to a particular county and are therefore difficult to standardize. For these reasons, the Department has decided that the differential in housing costs warrants an increase to the Department-established fees, comparable to the cost differential, for residential habilitation ineligible services provided in the aforementioned counties, effective January 1, 2019.

The changes in rates will be automatically reflected in each impacted individual’s ISP. Providers of residential habilitation services and supports coordinators are not required to do anything to implement this change.

The Department-established fees for residential habilitation ineligible services can be accessed in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and on the Department of Human Services website.

Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by January 14, 2019 regarding the final Fee Schedule Rates and Department-established fees to the Department of Human Services, Office of Developmental Programs, Division of Provider Assistance and Rate Setting, 4th Floor, Health and Welfare Building, 625 Forster Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120. Comments can also be sent to this email. Use subject header ”PN Fee Schedule.” The Department will consider comments received in reviewing future adjustments to the Fee Schedule Rates and the Department-established fees.