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Tags Posts tagged with "Workforce Crisis"

Workforce Crisis

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Senator Carolyn Comitta and Senator Lindsey Williams shared the following message with all Senate members. You may want to contact your local legislator requesting their support.

Posted: January 6, 2025, 12:56 pm
From: Senator Carolyn T. Comitta and Sen. Lindsey M. Williams
To: All Senate members
Subject: ID/A Market Index for DSP Services

Making our government more efficient and effective often means innovating ways to more closely align bureaucratic processes with best practice solutions. Pennsylvania’s method of compensating our invaluable Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) is one such opportunity. Over 55,000 Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism need some assistance during the day to reach their highest level of independence and opportunity. These people and their families rely upon our committed DSPs to support some of the most personal tasks and make sure they live safely while engaging in the community. Often, our DSPs become like family to their clients.

Sadly, if you looked at the pay DSPs receive in Pennsylvania you would not know how critical they are to those who need their services. Despite best efforts, too many great staff leave the profession due to necessity in order to support themselves and their families. This often leads to a very high staff turnover rate even amongst our best providers, which has a negative effect on their clients.

Regulation requires a three-year refresh of market-based data in order to adopt a fee schedule, but there is no requirement for Pennsylvania to change rates at all – no matter what happens to inflation. Under this process, rates are already a year behind by the time they become effective. Last year’s rate increase was 3-4% below actual inflation, without any guarantee of correction for at least 3 years. For many providers, annual increases to health insurance, worker’s compensation, liability and other factors far exceed the available funds.

To help stabilize this workforce and provide better care for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism, Senator Lindsey Williams and I will soon introduce legislation to amend the Human Services Code requiring that rates annually be set based on a national market consumer index. The adoption of a nationally recognized market index will help provide stability to this system and also support the hard-working DSPs that are essential to the delivery of services for Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism. This legislation was SB684 and a companion to Rep. Miller’s HB661 in the 2023-24 session.

We hope you will join us in cosponsoring this important legislation.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) announced a joint initiative with Carlow and Waynesburg Universities to address the shortage of qualified addiction professionals within Pennsylvania’s behavioral health workforce.

Funded by DDAP, this pilot program will focus on the recruitment and retention of behavioral health professionals by providing financial assistance for participating students’ educational expenses. At its core, this initiative is designed to strengthen the substance use disorder (SUD) workforce pipeline by financially supporting master’s-level students at Carlow and Waynesburg Universities. Through the DDAP funding, both universities will offer tuition assistance, a stipend during the students’ practicum/internship with a community-based treatment provider, and additional SUD-related training offered by DDAP for students who qualify under each university’s respective programs.

Read the full press release.

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With the passing of the FY 2024/25 PA budget last week, intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism (ID/A) associations are attempting to obtain clarity regarding its impact on services. The Governor’s Office announced, however, that the scheduled meeting to review these impacts has been postponed in order to allow the Department of Human Services (DHS) more time to analyze the details of the budget. The Governor’s Office shared the following message:

The Commonwealth’s enacted FY24-25 budget includes a philosophical shift in how Pennsylvania approaches service delivery for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism – a much needed and overdue course change to invest in dignity and opportunity for this community. In February, Governor Shapiro announced the intent to tackle the waiting list for services with a new approach, the Multi-Year ODP Program Growth Strategy. Accompanying this structural change is a substantial investment in services for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism totaling $354.8M combined state and federal funds – an investment that supports providers, direct support professionals, and families who help make our vision of Everyday Lives a reality.

Included in the total funding is $280M in federal and state funds, which averages 7 percent rate increases for FY24-25. DHS is continuing the analysis of the funds appropriated for FY24-25 for ID/A services and how this will reflect in final rates that will take effect for FY24-25. Also included is an investment of $74.8M in combined federal and state funds for FY24-25 to put the commonwealth on a path to end the emergency waiting list by offering 1,500 adults enrollment in the Consolidated or Community Living Waivers and altering the management of home and community-based services capacity.

In addition to rate increases, the enacted budget includes funding for the implementation of performance-based contracting and the addition of sign language interpretation services. Performance-based contracting is scheduled to be implemented for residential services beginning in FY24-25. Sign language services will be added to ODP’s home and community-based waivers beginning January 1, 2025, pending approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

We know there is great interest to further discuss the impact of the enacted budget on your programs and services. DHS will provide additional information to stakeholders related to the necessary recalculation for the fee schedule rates for FY24-25 and performance-based contracting upon completion of the analysis.

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