Community HealthChoices —
A Legacy of Helping Pennsylvanians
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Community HealthChoices (CHC) is one of the most important programs that the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) enacted during the Wolf Administration.
CHC has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians to continue to live in their homes and communities while still receiving the support and care they need, giving them the opportunity to work, spend more time with their families, and experience an overall better quality of life.
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Who CHC Serves
The CHC population includes:
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Adults age 21 or older who require Medical Assistance (also known as Medicaid) long-term services and supports because they need the level of care provided by a nursing facility or an intermediate care facility for individuals with other related conditions; and
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People age 21 or older who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, whether or not they need or receive long-term services and supports.
More information on CHC eligibility can be found at the CHC website.
Looking Back to 2015
It has always been a priority for the Wolf Administration to serve Pennsylvanians in their homes and communities, which is where they want to be. But when Governor Wolf took office in January 2015, only 49,454 people were being served in the community, or about 47 percent of the Medicaid-eligible population in need of long-term care services.
That meant that Medicaid-eligible seniors and people with physical disabilities had fewer coordinated home and community-based long-term service and support options, and those that existed did not meet growing demand.
The Solution
In 2018, DHS launched CHC, a home and community-based services program designed to help Medicaid recipients who require long-term services and supports by coordinating their services and daily care. It was designed to promote quality, coordinated care, and innovation while also helping create more predictability in long-term care costs — one of the biggest cost drivers in Pennsylvania's Medicaid budget.
CHC was fully implemented across Pennsylvania in January 2020. Since then, the number of Medicaid-eligible people receiving services in their community has risen to 122,834 people as of September 2022. In other words, because of CHC, Medicaid-eligible individuals being served in their communities rose from 47 percent in 2015 to nearly 74 percent in 2022.
Supporting Direct Care Workers
CHC is a success because of the direct care workers who assist senior citizens and adults with physical disabilities with the services, supports, and daily assistance they need to live safely in their homes. DHS has maintained that direct care workers have incredibly important jobs of supporting and caring for individuals and their pay should reflect that.
To support direct care workers, DHS used funding to provide:
- $46.5 million in Strengthen the Workforce grants for direct care workers in the form of sign-on bonuses for new workers or retention payments for existing workers, leave benefits and paid sick leave, paid time off, and even reimbursing the purchase of personal protective equipment and testing supplies.
- $59.9 million in ARPA funding authorized by Act 54 of 2022, which is allocated funds to include staff recruitment or retention expenses.
- $418 million to provide an 8 percent increase in the rates paid for personal assistance services in CHC and other programs beginning in calendar year 2022.
Looking Forward
Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) employees, DHS employees at large, and direct care workers have made it possible for hundreds of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities to continue to live in their homes and communities with the care and dignity all Pennsylvanians deserve.
We know that continued investment in the direct care workforce is vital to the future of CHC and to the future of Pennsylvania, so DHS will continue to advocate for this workforce.
Statistical note: The numbers provided above are for all OLTL programs providing long-term services, which include not only CHC but the Living Independence for the Elderly (LIFE) and OBRA as well.
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All of us at DHS would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to all of our readers as we continue to serve, protect, and educate Pennsylvania's most vulnerable. If you're not a DHS regular yet, be sure to follow us on social and visit our For All of Us blog for more reads.
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