Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Budget Hearing Department of Aging
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COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE BUDGET HEARING DEPARTMENT OF AGING STATE CAPITOL HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA ROOM 140, MAJORITY CAUCUS ROOM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016 11:44 A.M. BEFORE: HONORABLE WILLIAM ADOLPH, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE JOSEPH MARKOSEK, MINORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE KAREN BOBACK HONORABLE JIM CHRISTIANA HONORABLE GARY DAY HONORABLE GEORGE DUNBAR HONORABLE KEITH GREINER HONORABLE SETH GROVE HONORABLE SUE HELM HONORABLE WARREN KAMPF HONORABLE FRED KELLER HONORABLE TOM KILLION HONORABLE JIM MARSHALL HONORABLE KURT MASSER HONORABLE DAVE MILLARD HONORABLE MARK MUSTIO HONORABLE MIKE PEIFER HONORABLE JEFFREY PYLE HONORABLE MARGUERITE QUINN HONORABLE CURT SONNEY HONORABLE MIKE VEREB HONORABLE LESLIE ACOSTA HONORABLE MATTHEW BRADFORD HONORABLE TIM BRIGGS HONORABLE DONNA BULLOCK HONORABLE MARY JO DALEY HONORABLE MADELEINE DEAN HONORABLE MARIA DONATUCCI HONORABLE JOHN GALLOWAY HONORABLE STEPHEN KINSEY 2 1 BEFORE (continued): HONORABLE MICHAEL O'BRIEN 2 HONORABLE MARK ROZZI HONORABLE KEVIN SCHREIBER 3 HONORABLE PETE SCHWEYER 4 NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS: HONORABLE RUSS DIAMOND 5 HONORABLE TIM HENNESSEY HONORABLE MARK GILLEN 6 HONORABLE MIKE REGAN HONORABLE WILL TALLMAN 7 HONORABLE CRIS DUSH HONORABLE ROBERT GODSHALL 8 HONORABLE DAVE ZIMMERMAN HONORABLE TINA PICKETT 9 HONORABLE EDDIE PASHINSKI HONORABLE MARK LONGIETTI 10 HONORABLE STEVE SAMUELSON 11 COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: DAVID DONLEY 12 MAJORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RITCHIE LaFAVER 13 MAJORITY DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CURT SCHRODER 14 MAJORITY CHIEF COUNSEL 15 MIRIAM FOX DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 16 TARA TREES DEMOCRATIC CHIEF COUNSEL 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Ti ffany L . Ma st • Ma st Re porting 25 ma streporting@gmail . com ( 717) 348- 1275 3 1 I N D E X 2 TESTIFIERS 3 * * * 4 NAME PAGE 5 TERESA OSBORNE SECRETARY, PA DEPARTMENT OF AGING.............4 6 DAVID GINGERICH 7 DEPUTY SECRETARY, PA DEPARTMENT OF AGING.....23 8 TOM SNEDDEN DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF PACE....................... 9 10 SUBMITTED WRITTEN TESTIMONY 11 * * * 12 (See submitted written testimony and handouts online.) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 * * * 3 4 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, 5 everyone. 6 I'd like to reconvene the House 7 Appropriations Committee. Our next testifier will be 8 the Secretary of the Department of Aging, Teresa 9 Osborne; is that correct? 10 SECRETARY OSBORNE: Yes, sir. 11 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Yes. Every 12 time I see you, Madam Secretary, you remind me so much 13 of my aunts and cousins -- and I mentioned that to you 14 -- the O'Brien side of my family. Okay. But it's 15 amazing. I have to take a second glance every time I 16 look at you. 17 But thank you for being here. We'll get 18 right into it. I apologize for running a little late, 19 but that does happen here almost every day. Okay. 20 So if you would, you know, open up with a 21 brief comment and introduce the gentlemen that are with 22 you. 23 SECRETARY OSBORNE: Sure. Well, I think 24 it's still morning. Good morning; it is. 25 Thank you, Chairman Adolph, Chairman 5 1 Markosek, and the members of the House Appropriations 2 Committee. 3 Joining me here at table today for our 4 piece of testimony on our '16-'17 budget is David 5 Gingerich, who is our Deputy Secretary to my left; and 6 to my right is Tom Snedden, who is our PACE Director. 7 Some who work most closely with me might say I am now a 8 rose between two thorns, but I won't say that. And I'm 9 grateful for the opportunity to be here with all of you 10 today to talk about our budget, the '16-'17 proposed 11 budget for Pennsylvania's Department of Aging. 12 And in essence of time, I'll just say a 13 few words with regard to our role as the State Unit on 14 Aging. The Department of Aging does have, as you know, 15 many responsibilities in order to ensure that the older 16 Pennsylvanians in our Commonwealth, nearly 2.9 million 17 of them, have access to services and programs in order 18 to enhance their quality of life, in order to age in 19 place with the dignity and respect that they deserve. 20 We approach our work under the lens of the 21 Older Americans Act, an Act that was that was passed 22 nearly 51 years ago. It will celebrate its 51st 23 anniversary this July; but an Older Americans Act that 24 causes us to ensure we are ever vigilant to the 25 underpinnings of that Act. 6 1 And those underpinnings are to ensure that 2 we serve the most vulnerable of seniors within our 3 population; those seniors who have the greatest 4 economic need; those seniors who have the greatest 5 social need; those seniors who, without our particular 6 attention, who are frail, low-income, minority, or who 7 live in rural areas, might fall between the cracks. 8 So our work before us is constant vigil to 9 that lens. And I will talk more about that I'm sure in 10 greater detail with the question that you have for 11 myself and those who I work most closely with. But in 12 the essence of time, I will keep my remarks short. You 13 can certainly read them in greater detail in the 14 testimony that was provided to you, but I look forward 15 to being responsive to your questions this morning. 16 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Okay. Thank 17 you very much. 18 Chairman Markosek, for a few comments. 19 MINORITY CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Thank you, 20 Chairman. 21 And Madam Secretary, and gentlemen, thank 22 you. Welcome to the hearing today. Good to see you 23 again. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of good 24 conversation here today. I do not have an opening 25 question, so I'll turn it back to the Chairman and we 7 1 can move forward. Thank you. 2 SECRETARY OSBORNE: Thank you. 3 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Okay. Thank 4 you very much. 5 It's our pleasure to have with us today 6 the chairmen of the standing committee. And with us is 7 the Republican Chair, Representative Tim Hennessey and 8 the Democratic Chair, Representative Steve Samuelson. 9 We are going to start with Chairman 10 Hennessey for questions. 11 REPRESENTATIVE HENNESSEY: Thank you, Mr. 12 Chairman. 13 Good morning, Secretary Osborne -- 14 SECRETARY OSBORNE: Good morning. 15 REPRESENTATIVE HENNESSEY: -- Mr. Snedden, 16 Mr. Gingerich. 17 The Community Health Choices Program is a 18 new program being jointly rolled out across the 19 Commonwealth, jointly between the Department of Human 20 Services and the Department of Aging. And basically, 21 it's going to administer long-term care services for 22 the elderly and the disabled once it's fully rolled out 23 and fully implemented. 24 This will be a major shift for how 25 services for seniors are managed, and it could be 8 1 fairly complicated for our seniors. Can you tell us 2 what the Department of Aging and the Department of 3 Human Services are doing collectively to ensure a 4 smooth transition for our seniors who must change from 5 an Aging Waiver status to a new managed care 6 organization? And will they still be able to provide 7 -- or to pick and choose the providers for the services 8 that they need? 9 SECRETARY OSBORNE: Sure. Indeed, it was 10 just a year ago when Governor Wolf talked about his 11 senior plan. Part of that senior plan had two 12 particular pillars. One was to ensure that we advocate 13 on behalf of older Pennsylvanians so that they can 14 access home and community services and they could age 15 in place in their communities with the dignity and 16 respect they deserve. 17 The second pillar, which wasn't part of 18 your question but just so that it's well-known is 19 prevention in order to -- and protection in order to 20 ensure that we protect vulnerable individuals, 21 especially our seniors, from all forms of abuse and 22 neglect. 23 To the direct point of your particular 24 question on Community Health Choices, as we look at our 25 current Aging Waiver Program because that's the program 9 1 that serves most older Pennsylvanians who are 2 clinically eligible for nursing facility level of care 3 and financially eligible for Medical Assistance. So as 4 we move from a fee-for-service model to a managed-care 5 model, there are particular roles that we play at the 6 Department of Aging. 7 I said in my opening statement that we are 8 the State Unit on Aging, required to do many things. 9 Part of our role within a Community Health Choices 10 environment is that we advocate on behalf of older 11 Pennsylvanians and that we ensure that any program or 12 service from any department within the Commonwealth, 13 and in this instance, the Department of Human Services 14 as our partner, that that program is going to 15 positively impact the life of older Pennsylvanians, not 16 negatively or adversely affect that life. 17 So our role is to ensure that as the 18 program is designed as we move forward to 19 implementation, that is, seamless transition for 20 seniors. One of my greatest concerns and one of those 21 who I work with most closely at the State Unit on Aging 22 as well as the Department of Human Services, which is 23 the State Medicaid agency, is to ensure that we educate 24 folks, that's the older seniors who need to engage in 25 this program, their members who help them make 10 1 decisions.