Inside Aging Releases Special Update, Calls for Submissions for the Older Artists of PA Showcase
Fady Sahhar
Fady is responsible for policy and regulatory matters related to Physical Disabilities and Aging, with primary focus on personal assistance, employment services, and service coordination. Emphasis is placed on engaging the Office of Long-Term Living and the Community HealthChoices Managed Care Organizations, coordination of care with Behavioral HealthChoices MCOs, and collaborations with other advocacy and provider associations. Fady is also the President / CEO of ProVantaCare, an RCPA-affiliated company focused on contracting with MCOs, and is the President of XtraGlobex, a consulting firm focused on Value-Based Payment contracting. He brings extensive experience in the advocacy and operations of human services providers in physical disabilities and aging, from his role at Liberty Resources, Inc., and his service with a number of nonprofit services providers. He earned an MBA in Marketing from The University of Tennessee and a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Capella University.
OLTL Publishes Responses to Feb. 5 LTSS Subcommittee Meeting Questions
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) has published responses to questions brought up at the Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Subcommittee meeting held on February 5, 2025.
The highlights include:
- All consumer questions about the specifics of the Assisted Living In Lieu of Services should be addressed to the MCOs.
- The information about Personal Needs Allowance in Personal Care Homes has been corrected. “SSI recipients will receive a PNA deduction of $52.10 ($30 SSI plus the individual state supplement of $22.10).”
- Any organization who is interested in participating in the Direct Care Worker Quality Grant should contact Abigail Peslis, Director of Penn State Harrisburg Continuing Education.
If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.
Inside Aging March 2025 Newsletter Now Available
Inside Aging February 2025 Newsletter Now Available
Home and Community-Based Services Settings Clarification
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) recently shared additional guidance for providers related to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Settings Final Rule.
This clarification applies to Residential Habilitation and Personal Care Home Providers.
Regulations at 42 CFR 441.301(c)(4)(vi)(B) require that participants in residential settings have the ability to close and lock doors within their living units. As a part of the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) residential provider reviews, it was found that several sites did not meet this requirement. As remediation, some providers opted to have participants sign a form stating that they do not wish to have a lock on their doors, which OLTL’s settings review panel accepted as compliant.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reviewed OLTL’s oversight activities and has deemed that participant sign-off waiving installation of locks does not sufficiently satisfy the requirement. CMS has determined that all doors with access to participant units or private spaces (such as a bedroom) must have locks installed. The participant’s choice is whether to utilize the lock or not. Based on this feedback, as OLTL moves forward with ongoing oversight of HCBS settings requirements, all doors to participant units/private spaces in residential settings will be required to have working locks in order to be deemed compliant for future settings reviews.
OLTL Distributes Agenda for February 5 LTSS Subcommittee Meeting
The Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Subcommittee has released its agenda for the February 5 virtual meeting. The meeting will have no onsite options for attendance and will be held via webinar at 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. You can view the agenda, which includes the webinar link, here.
The key agenda items are:
- Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) Updates
- Assisted Living Residences — In Lieu of Services Policy Updates
- Assisted Living Residences and Personal Care Homes — MCO Updates
OLTL Critical Incident Management Notification of Requirements Clarification
The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) Critical Incident Management Unit monitors provider compliance in the application of guidance specific to critical incident management. OLTL has identified compliance concerns and is issuing the following clarification.
This communication focuses on required critical incident notification by provider agencies to the participant’s assigned service coordinator and the documentation of such notification in the Enterprise Incident Management (EIM) entry. The OLTL Critical Incident Management Bulletin, which is also available on OLTL’s website, indicates the following:
- Within 48 hours, the Managed Care Organization (MCO), Service Coordinator (SC), provider agency that discovers or has independent knowledge of the critical incident is to submit the First Section of the critical incident report to OLTL using OLTL’s critical incident management system. If the critical incident was discovered on a weekend or holiday, the 48 hours begin at 12:00 am on the first business day after discovery of the critical incident.
- Providers must inform the participant’s SC within 24 hours of discovering or first learning of a critical incident.
Notification to the participant’s SC that a critical incident was discovered must not be made using the HHAeXchange system. The required notification to the participant’s SC must be made by telephone call, electronic mail communication, or any other method that is agreed upon by all parties involved, excluding the HHAeXchange system.
In addition, the notification by the provider to the participant’s SC that a critical incident was discovered must be clearly documented in the EIM incident report, specifically within the “Agencies Contacted” page. Instructions are below:
- Enter the first name of the SC in the Person Contacted (First Name) Field.
- Enter the SC’s last name in the Person Contacted (Last Name) Field.
- Enter the contact phone number. Note that the email address field is not mandatory; however, it should be completed when notification to the SC was made via email.
- Click the SAVE button when all information has been entered.
See an example of page completion below.
Providers who are experiencing difficulty meeting the Critical Incident Management Bulletin requirements may email concerns to the resource account. Additionally, questions related to critical incidents may be emailed to the Critical Incident Management team member identified in any case-specific communication.
Act 150 Program Sliding Fee Scale for Calendar Year 2025 Bulletin
This is to notify you that the 2025 Act 150 Sliding Fee Scale Bulletin (54-25-01, 59-25-01) has been posted to the Bulletins web page on the Department of Human Services (DHS) website. This bulletin has an issue date of January 1, 2025, and an effective date of January 1, 2025.
The purpose of this bulletin is to provide the most recent sliding fee scale to all Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) Service Coordination Entities (SCEs) working with Act 150 Program participants. This bulletin applies to any SCEs that provide service coordination services to participants in the Act 150 Program.
This bulletin rescinds OLTL Bulletin 54-24-01, 59-24-01 issued on January 16, 2024, and all other communications, bulletins, and/or directives distributing previous sliding fee scales for the Act 150 Program.
OLTL Distributes January LTSS Meeting Materials
This meeting was held on January 8, 2025. Key areas addressed included a review of the Data Dashboard and the use of Assisted Living Facilities as an In Lieu of Service (ILOS) in Community HealthChoices. The next meeting on February 5, 2025 will be remote only. Meeting materials were shared, as listed below.
Inside Aging January 2025 Newsletter Now Available
Prev