For Immediate Release

Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association

Harrisburg, PA

Contact: Joan W. Martin (717) 441-6056

The Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association (PA-PCA) of community long term living service agencies announced its formation at a press conference held in the Capitol Rotunda on May 22, 2008 at 11:00. The PA-PCA is a new membership organization in support of the administration’s rebalancing initiatives from nursing facility care to the community. The Steering Committee spoke at the Capitol Rotunda to announce and celebrate the launch of the new group. Speakers included Joan W. Martin, Deborah Yacobozzi, Donna Boyer, Tina Seidel, William Kepner and Mark Davis.

Tina Seidel of the Northeast PA Center for Independent Living in Scranton stated that “It is the mission of the Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association to continuously improve and promote the availability, accessibility and quality of the full range of home and community based services in the Commonwealth in a way that offers consumers choice, control, and personal independence through self-direction to the maximum extent possible, and it is the vision of the Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association to be the voice, advocate, and resource for providers of community long term living services in Pennsylvania.”

Joan W. Martin of United Cerebral Palsy of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg noted the recent creation of the Office of Long Term Living by the Departments of Welfare and Aging.  She stated that “With so many people in new positions in a new structure, it is imperative that we ensure that the policy-makers understand its customers, the system, its values, and its needs.” She further stated that “in support of the Administration’s initiatives aimed at rebalancing the service system toward the community and away from institutional settings, the Association applauds the Nursing Home Transition Project’s transition of over 3,500 individuals since July 2005.” As the symbolism of our logo shows, we hope to see community services eclipse institutional care.

Donna Boyer of JEVS Supports for Independence in Philadelphia noted that ”the Charter group includes the agencies that have been providing these services the longest - since the Demonstration Program in 1984, including Steering Committee members’ collective experience of over 200 years of services in the community. Further, the organizations participating in the formation of this new association serve about 20,000 consumers in about a dozen different programs funded by the Office of Long Term Living.”

William Kepner of United Disabilities Services in Lancaster spoke of the need for the association and the importance of this sector of the health care field. He noted that “no existing association focuses primarily or exclusively on the funding and policy issues surrounding these community programs, and that there are over 36,000 personal care workers in Pennsylvania.”

Deborah Yacobozzi of Community Resources for Independence in Erie described the funding challenges to achieving the Administration’s rebalancing goal. She noted that “the Association supports the Disability Budget Coalition’s Agenda including the critical Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 3%. Without adequate rates, the service system cannot continue to provide the quality and capacity needed to achieve these goals.”

Mark Davis of JEVS Human Services in Philadelphia emphasized the Association’s support of an individual’s ability to choose where he/she receives services, and noted that ”The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Olmstead case requires states to serve people in the most integrated setting.”

About the Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association

The Pennsylvania Providers Coalition Association is a statewide organization of community providers in Pennsylvania serving seniors and people with physical disabilities receiving a range of home and community based services. PA-PCA organized in December 2007 when a group of providers of community services came together to form an association. The group began several years ago as an informal coalition focusing on program and fiscal issues of home and community based providers in the then-DPW Bureau of Home and Community Based Services. Thus, the name reflects the group's evolution into a formal entity, and now relates to the programs in the Office of Long Term Living. The group meets quarterly in Harrisburg and has Program and Fiscal Committees focusing on specific issues of concern to its members.

The organization maintains a website at www.pa-pca.org.  Contact them at (717) 441.6056 or info@pa-pca.org.

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