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Enhancing County and Provider Contract Discussions

The contracting process between counties and providers is complex. PCCYFS is committed to creating, supporting, and providing resources to help.

Importance of Collaboration

The needs of children and families in Pennsylvania are supported by many partners within the child welfare system. The system is complex and all partners need to be able to effectively and efficiently work together for the betterment of those served. Contracting for services is difficult for a variety of reasons. As a result, PCCYFS is sharing a number of resources to help both counties and providers strengthen their partnerships

Annual Training

PCCYFS and it’s provider members, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Children & Youth Administrators association (PCYA), the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Office of Children, Youth & Family Services (OCYF), county child welfare and juvenile probation offices, and others, offer a free annual training on the contracting process.

The goal of this training is to provide context and clarity on the contract negotiation process, while also offering an opportunity to ask questions and communicate with colleagues. Attendees discuss challenges of the process from all perspectives, with an emphasis on how data helps facilitate a smoother process.

Resources

Provider Needs Based Plan and Budget Tool

PCCYFS and our partners have created multiple tools to help during the budgeting and contracting process.

A budgeting tool was created to support the provider community, who offers placement and/or community based programs. This spreadsheet helps providers organize critical information to inform the rates for those services that should be used during the negotiation process with counties. This tool is widely accepted by counties during the rate negotiation process as supporting documentation for providers’ requested rates, and is also a tool supported by the state which counties can include in their annual budget submission where they request additional funds for programs and services.

JPO FAQ Resource

County Juvenile Probation Offices (JPO) also play an important role in the contracting process. It is important for county contract negotiators to understand the needs of JPOs, so they can clearly communicate with the providers of those services during negotiations. Click below to read a brief FAQ document focused on why it is important for JPOs to understand the contracting process.

Rate Methodology Task Force

Act 55 of 2013 required the Department of Human Services to convene a taskforce to develop recommendations for a methodology to determine reimbursement for actual and projected costs of child welfare and juvenile probation services which are reasonable and allowable. This task force was very important for establishing the current system of contracting and below are some resources related to the task force.