Pennsylvania law requires the state government to fund services for people with intellectual disabilities and autism, along with a moral obligation to help provide for some of its most vulnerable citizens.
It’s failing on both scores.
At the same time that the state government has more than $5 billion in its Rainy Day Fund and an anticipated $6 billion surplus by the June 30 close of this fiscal year, more than 12,000 people languish on a waiting list for intellectual disability and autism services. More than 5,000 of those people qualify for what the state itself classifies as “emergency services.”
The Rainy Day Fund is meant to cover budget shortfalls, and it’s raining hard for intellectual disability and autism service providers.
Underlying the waiting list is a major shortfall in the number of direct support professionals who provide individual and group care for people with intellectual disabilities and autism. Statewide, according to the Provider Alliance that represents support agencies, the field has a 37 percent annual turnover rate, a current 24 percent vacancy rate and 15,000 open positions.
The jobs are emotionally and often physically demanding. But providers can’t compete for workers with market-based wages for health care because wage rates are tied to state reimbursements.
The average pay for a direct support professional is $16.72 an hour, for which the state supplies $14.25.
That alone explains the turnover and vacancy rates. It takes an extraordinary...
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