The House Human Services Committee held a public hearing on Aug. 18 to discuss House Bill 1939, bipartisan legislation that would increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for direct support professionals serving individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism.
Rep. Doyle Heffley (R-Carbon), committee chairman, said lawmakers want to ensure families that need care have the ability to find it, but that ideology could get in the way of meeting that goal.
The Office of Developmental Programs currently serves 62,000 people registered for services, according to Department of Human Services Deputy Secretary Kristin Ahrens, 42,000 of whom receive services through one of four home and community waivers. The rates for the waivers are under discussion.
The Pennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disability supports any action that would lead to annual increases for direct service providers.
“A decade ago, as outlined, there wasn’t a rate-setting process,” Kratz, the organization’s vice president of government relations, said. “It was at the whim and mercy of the legislature and administration at the time.”
Speakers also included a Washington County mother who left her job to care for her autistic son because of gaps in in-home services and a Invision Human Services direct service provider.