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ODP

Communication Bulletin 00-25-05 was published and shared last week. The purpose of the bulletin was to establish the Office of Developmental Programs’ (ODP’s) policy on communication and assure all individuals have an effective way to communicate.

To further provide access to the bulletin, ODP has shared another version of the bulletin in easier-to-understand terms and with pictures. This version will be available on MyODP as an attachment to the original bulletin communication released on December 1, 2025.

The following bulletins below are no longer in use:

  • Office of Developmental Programs 00-14-04, Accessibility of Intellectual Disability Services for Individuals Who Are Deaf
  • Office of Developmental Programs 00-08-18, Communication Supports and Services

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 025-109 to provide clarification about the completion of the MA 51 or medical evaluation discussed in previous bulletin 00-25-02, along with a revised attachment.

Attachment:

The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that individuals are accessing healthcare at least once every three years. In practice, this will primarily affect those who are not receiving residential services, since residential licensing regulations already require annual physicals.

Please review the announcement for details.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-108, which gives information on a toolkit that is designed to assist providers with assessing and preparing for unexpected events to ensure the individuals they are supporting remain safe and continue to receive the services they need in the event of an emergency.

The Prepared People Save Lives Toolkit is available for download and use on the MyODP website.

It contains a Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA), which will:

  • Identify and rank different hazards (natural disasters, technology failures, human-caused dangers);
  • Look at how vulnerable the program is and figure out what may need improvement through planning factors; and
  • Allow for continuous process improvement annually, making services resilient, and more prepared for emergencies.

Please review the communication for more details.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-107. This communication is to inform all interested parties that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved amendments to the 1915(b)(4) Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) waiver and the Consolidated, Community Living, and P/FDS Waivers effective January 1, 2026. All waivers are available on the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) website.

ODP will be holding one webinar to provide a high-level overview of Performance-Based Contracting and additional major changes made in the approved waivers. There will be time during the session for presenters to answer questions submitted by participants during the webinar.

Consolidated, Community Living, and P/FDS Waiver Amendment Overview
December 15, 2025

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Register Here

Please review the ODP Announcement for more details.

Tablet on a desk - Newsletter

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-085. This communication announces the release of a new issue of the quarterly newsletter, The Certified Investigator (CI) Program Spotlight. The CI Program Spotlight, Volume 2, Issue 3, may be found by logging into MyODP and visiting the CI Program Spotlight Newsletter web page.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 25-105. The purpose of this communication is to provide notice that the Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment will increase beginning in January 2026.

The SSI federal program provides benefits to adults and children who meet the SSA’s requirements for disability, income, and resources. This income benefit is designed to help qualified individuals meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Periodically, COLA affects the maximum monthly allotment. Effective January 2026, the SSA increased the SSI allotment by 2.8 percent to reflect an increase in the cost of living.

To account for the new COLA, room and board agreements should be reviewed to determine appropriate adjustment. The Room and Board Residency Agreement § 6100.687 (DP 1077) is found on the MyODP website.

Please see the bulletin for additional information. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) Regional Office.

The PA Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) hosted a Supports Coordination Organization (SCO) Forum to provide status updates and data related to the recently completed desk review for Performance-Based Contracting. All PBC submissions have been scored, and results will be emailed to SCOs shortly, with final results published on the DHS website in January 2026. The new contract cycle is effective from January 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

Pay-for-Performance (P4P) and Portal Feedback

  • P4P Updates: Capacity building investments continue, with $3.835 million available for Credentialing and another $3.835 million available for Technology. A total of 45 SCOs submitted for at least one of these two investments.
  • MyPBC Portal: ODP requested feedback on SCOs’ experience using the new MyPBC Portal for submissions.

Notification Letters and the Critical Resolution Process

Notification letters regarding determination are now being sent, which will include a list of any performance measures the SCO did not meet.

  • Mandatory QM Plans: SCOs with unmet measures are required to create and implement a Quality Management Plan (QMP) to meet the standards before the next PBC submission period.
  • Resolution Deadline is Strict: The most crucial detail shared is the deadline for challenging an unmet measure determination. SCOs will have only seven calendar days from the receipt of their determination letter to initiate the Resolution Process.
  • Process Guidance: The Resolution Process is strictly for submitting existing documentation that was inadvertently omitted or contained typographical errors to refute ODP’s determination. This is not an opportunity to create new materials solely to meet the standard, and newly created policies, plans, or comments on the process will not be reviewed.

Top Unmet Measures

The presentation included a breakdown of the top unmet measures across all SCOs, highlighting specific compliance challenges:

Measure Measure Description Number of SCOs Unmet Percent of SCOs Unmet
PCP.01.2 90% compliance with monitoring frequency by waiver type 38 73%
QDI.01.6 Restrictive procedure data is 86% accurate as compared to the most current BSP. 30 58%
RN.01 Register in PA Navigate Resource Platform as a CBO 15 23%

QDI (Quality Data Integrity) Measures: The purpose of QDI measures is to stress that SCOs are the primary source of data collection, and data integrity is essential for data-driven policies. ODP plans to drop these measures over time as performance improves.

  • For QDI.01.1 (Demographic Data), ODP focused on Completeness (86% threshold) this cycle, as checking for both ‘Complete AND Accurate’ resulted in nearly every SCO failing the measure. The threshold is set to increase to 93% for the FY 2027/28 contract cycle.
  • The target for PCP.01.2 (Monitoring Frequency Compliance) is 90% (P/FDS: once every three months; Consolidated/Community Living: once every two months). This threshold is also scheduled to increase to 93% in the FY 2027-2028 contract cycle.

Restrictive Procedures and Dissatisfaction Measures

  • Restrictive Procedures (RP): ODP presented details on the calculation for QDI.01.6, which compares the restrictive procedure checkbox in HCSIS against the most current Behavior Support Plan (BSP) summary text. Data showed a continued overall decrease in the rate of Restrictive Procedures incidents from 2022 to 2024.
  • Dissatisfaction Measure: For the Dissatisfaction Measure, ODP will utilize the data submitted by SCOs (the number of individuals who chose another SCO due to dissatisfaction and the reasons why) to establish a baseline for the measure and determine how to proceed with it in the future.

The presentation slide deck can be found here. SCO Providers are encouraged to continue to submit feedback and questions to ODP via the PBC Inbox.

For questions or comments, please contact Tim Sohosky.