Posted: | March 14, 2013 03:37 PM |
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From: | Representative Thomas P. Murt |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Payments for Costs for Purchased Mandated Child Protection Services - Prior HB 1553 |
In the near future, I am planning on re-introducing legislation (prior HB 1553) to amend Act 30 of 1991, which is the act that directs and mandates funding to counties for child protection services. County budgets and requests for funding for children and youth/juvenile justice services are structured by the Needs Based Plan and Budget requirements addressed in Act 30. Private providers have very limited input into this process and actual costs incurred in the provision of mandated services are not addressed even though private agencies deliver the majority (80%) of mandated direct child welfare services across the Commonwealth. This is also true for providers contracting to deliver services for youth in the juvenile justice system as these services are also delivered through purchase of service agreements with County Children and Youth agencies. Purchased services include in-home, family preservation, placement (foster family/kinship care, group home and residential), reunification services and prevention programming. These purchased services are paid for with a combination of federal, state and county dollars.However, the intent of Act 30 of 1991 to address need is not being met for several reasons.
Continued deterioration of the private provider community that has worked to ensure child safety and community protection for centuries will continue without realistic inclusion and consideration of budget projections for purchased services, consideration of actual costs of purchased services as documented on OCYF prescribed budget forms and a defined mechanism to ensure that funding reaches the direct service level. Thus, the legislation I am re-introducing will include a remedy to address the disparity between actual costs of services and the rates paid by counties for services purchased and addresses timeliness of payments. Development of a rate/cost methodology to support rate adjustments reflecting actual costs of purchased services is needed to ensure compliance with federal rule. The legislation also ensures the costs will be reviewed on an annual basis. If you have any questions regarding this legislation, please contact Bonnie Book at bbook@pahousegop.com or 787.6886. |
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View Attachment |
Introduced as HB1104