Invest in home care

Dear Editor,

I am asking for your support of critical financial aid in this time of health crisis to increase Personal Assistant Service, Home and Community Based Service and Office of Developmental Programs and Office of Long Term Living’s provider rates to support some of the state’s most vulnerable older adults and people with disabilities.

These services enable our participants to live in their own homes and communities instead of a nursing facility or hospital, the importance of which is all the more evident in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis.

Now, more than ever, home-based care plays a critical role in keeping people safe and healthy in their homes.

I ask that you please support adequate rates that match inflation and any minimum wage increases for HCBS and PAS services.

We are asking you to support:

— The funding necessary for a $32.32 per hour rate for OLTL Community HealthChoices and Act 150 services, the same rate as that determined by the PA Department of Human Services Office of Developmental Programs for very similar services.

— Setting the Medicaid Fee-For-Service rate to $32.32, so that managed care organizations are required by contract to pay the PAS providers this rate at minimum.

— Establishing by law a PAS rate setting methodology in consultation with PAS providers to capture the costs involved in providing high-quality, reliable in-home PAS services and supports, similar to the rate setting methodology established for Office of Developmental Programs’ rates and conduct that rate study soon; and

— Establishing by law a PAS rate resetting schedule of every three years for PAS services, similar to the rate resetting schedule established for Office of Developmental Programs’ rates.

Yvonne Ingerson,

Warren