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Remote Support in Pennsylvania: Every Service It Fits, and How It Is Paid

Any Pennsylvania provider agency can get Vista Enterprise™, with VistaLink™ and Vista’s team behind it, and like an EHR or payroll system, it needs no state approval. Billing is separate. Pennsylvania’s Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) offers Remote Supports in its Consolidated, Community Living and Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS) waivers. Your own trained staff respond and decide.

Can any Pennsylvania agency buy a remote support solution?

Yes. Any Pennsylvania provider or agency can get Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™ and Vista’s team behind the agency. Like an EHR or payroll system, getting it does not need approval from the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL), a managed care organization, or anyone else.

Billing is a separate question. It depends on the program, the service, your agency’s provider type, and each person’s plan. The rest of this page walks through every place remote support fits in Pennsylvania.

Where does remote support fit in Pennsylvania?

Setting or programHow technology is usually paidWhat to know
ODP waivers, person in a private homeRemote Supports service and Remote Support Technology/Equipment, per personQualified provider type; technology professional required
ODP residential (Residential Habilitation, Life Sharing, Supported Living)Built into the residential rate; one person’s own equipment billed per personDetailed privacy and planning rules
Community HealthChoices (older adults and people with physical disabilities)TeleCare, authorized in the person’s planThree TeleCare services, licensed providers
ICF/IIDThe facility’s own costFederal staffing floor stays; quality and privacy use
Nursing homes, assisted living, personal care homesThe facility’s own costPrivacy and fall prevention
Home care agenciesThe agency’s own cost, or CHC where it appliesFills the gaps between visits
Any agency, any settingAgency gets Vista Enterprise™, with Vista’s team behind itNo approval needed to buy

What are Pennsylvania’s ODP waiver rules for remote supports?

ODP runs Pennsylvania’s waivers for people with intellectual disabilities and autism: the Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS) Waivers, and the Adult Autism Waiver. All four include remote supports, per ODP Announcement 24-015 (updated August 15, 2024, Source 1) and the CMS Pennsylvania waiver list (checked Oct 25, 2026). Remote supports show up in two ways.

1. As its own service, for people who live in private homes. ODP’s Remote Supports service and Remote Support Technology/Equipment pay for the remote support and the technology for one person. A provider must be qualified for this service type.

2. As a way to deliver residential services. People in Residential Habilitation, Life Sharing or Supported Living can choose remote supports as a method of service delivery. ODP’s guidance says:

  • The person makes an informed choice, through person-centered planning. Technology is never used just for the provider’s convenience.
  • A qualified technology professional. The provider must have access to a supportive technology professional with a RESNA ATP certificate or a SHIFT Enabling Technology Integration Specialist certification. That person evaluates needs, writes the evaluation plan, explains the impact on privacy, and keeps the technology working.
  • A full plan before go-live. The person’s ISP team reviews the remote supports evaluation plan, outcome monitoring plan, backup plan, and the impact on privacy, including the person’s control over the equipment.
  • Age. ODP does not recommend remote supports for people under 16 (ODP Announcement 21-090, December 10, 2021, Source 2).
  • Applies regardless of funding. ODP’s residential guidance applies to licensed community homes and Life Sharing homes no matter who pays for the person’s services.

What about older adults and people with physical disabilities in Pennsylvania?

Remote support is not only for disability services. OLTL’s Community HealthChoices (CHC) program serves older adults and adults with physical disabilities through managed care organizations.

The TeleCare services below are Pennsylvania’s own program rules, not VistaLink™ features; an agency that bills TeleCare confirms its own setup and license meet them.

The CHC waiver includes TeleCare, which the state describes as technology that supports independence and quality of life and reduces the need for nursing home placement. TeleCare has three parts:

  • The Health Status Measuring and Monitoring TeleCare Service, which collects health related data such as vital signs and shares it with a healthcare provider. It must be ordered by a primary physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner, and monitoring service activities are provided by trained and qualified home health staff.
  • The Activity and Sensor Monitoring TeleCare Service, which employs sensor-based technology on a 24 hour/7 day basis by remotely monitoring and passively tracking participants’ daily routines, such as wake up times, overnight bathroom usage, bathroom falls, meal preparation and room temperature, with a plan for who is told about an emergency.
  • The Medication Dispensing and Monitoring TeleCare Service, which dispenses and monitors medication compliance and notifies the provider or family caregiver of missed doses.

The person’s service coordinator makes sure TeleCare respects the person’s privacy and preferences. TeleCare is not provided at the same time as Residential Habilitation. CHC’s personal assistance services also look at what TeleCare or a personal emergency response system can do before adding in-person hours, and overnight personal assistance requires awake staff.

What has to happen before remote support starts in Pennsylvania?

  1. Informed choice. The person, and people they name, understand what remote support is and how it affects their privacy.
  2. Evaluation by a qualified professional for ODP residential remote supports, and an order from a clinician for CHC’s Health Status Measuring and Monitoring TeleCare Service.
  3. A written plan: the need being met, the equipment, the person’s control over it, training, an outcome monitoring plan and a backup plan.
  4. The plan is updated. The supports coordinator or service coordinator adds the service to the Individual Support Plan (ISP) or Person-Centered Service Plan (PCSP).

How does Pennsylvania pay for remote support?

Pennsylvania has several paths, and they work together.

1. Per person, for people in private homes. In the ODP waivers, the Remote Supports service and Remote Support Technology/Equipment are authorized in the person’s ISP and billed by a qualified provider.

2. Built into residential rates. For people in Residential Habilitation, Life Sharing or Supported Living, remote supports are part of the residential service, so the separate Remote Supports service is not authorized. Technology shared by several people in the home is covered in the residential rate. Technology for one person can be billed per person under Remote Support Technology/Equipment, with the residential provider listed as the provider. The residential provider can subcontract with another company for that technology.

3. Through CHC managed care. TeleCare is authorized in the person’s PCSP and paid through the person’s CHC managed care organization to an enrolled, licensed provider.

4. Your agency gets Vista Enterprise™, with Vista’s team behind it. Any agency can get Vista Enterprise™ as its own remote support solution, paid from its own budget, whether or not it bills a service. This is how ICFs, nursing homes, assisted living, personal care homes and home care agencies use it.

What if our staffing stays the same, as in an ICF or a fully staffed group home?

Many Pennsylvania agencies keep every in-person shift and still use remote support, because technology raises quality even with full staff.

It holds in every setting, since even a fully staffed overnight shift cannot be in every room at once, stay fully alert through every hour of the night, or carry every detail from one shift to the next, and when nothing answers those human limits, they quietly become limits on the outcomes people supported can reach.

That is a limit of people, not a failing of staff.

Enabling technology for human services fills those gaps without replacing anyone, giving trained people better information and more of their time for the moments that need a person in the room.

  • Fewer night bed checks that wake people up. For people who do not need repositioning, in-person checks through the night interrupt sleep and privacy. Staff go in when it matters, because VistaLink™ lets overnight staff know when something needs a person.
  • Closing gaps in data. A steady record across shifts, so handoffs rest on more than memory.
  • Closing gaps in judgment. Even with staff in the building, a change can be easy to miss or hard to read in the middle of the night. A clear record helps staff make the call.

Know the limits.

  • Federal ICF rules set the staffing floor. In an intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IID), federal rules require a responsible direct care staff person on duty around the clock when people are present, awake in some living units, plus minimum direct care staff ratios. Remote support adds to on-site staff; it does not replace them.
  • Privacy comes first. Federal rules require ICFs to give each person the opportunity for personal privacy. Federal survey guidance limits cameras and audio in ICFs to common areas, never bedrooms or bathrooms, and says they cannot be used in place of staff. Non-wearable sensors in the home fit that approach.
  • The facility pays. An ICF/IID is paid as a facility, not through a person’s waiver plan, so an ICF that uses Vista Enterprise™ pays for it as its own operating cost.
  • Pennsylvania adopts the federal rules as its license. Pennsylvania licenses ICF/IID programs under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 6600, which adopts the federal ICF/IID conditions of participation as the state licensing rules. The Department of Health surveys these facilities.

Can nursing homes and assisted living in Pennsylvania use remote support?

Yes. Nursing homes and assisted living communities get Vista Enterprise™ the same way any agency does, with Vista’s team behind them, and their own staff respond and decide.

  • Nursing homes. Federal rules give each resident a right to personal privacy and require the facility to provide adequate supervision and devices to prevent accidents. Technology that helps staff see who needs them, without waking everyone, supports both goals. Nursing homes are paid as facilities, so Vista Enterprise™ is the facility’s own purchase. In-person staffing rules do not change.
  • Assisted living. Assisted living residents live in their own units, with their own rights to privacy and choice. Technology placed with each resident’s consent gives staff better information between scheduled visits.
  • In Pennsylvania, DHS’s Office of Long-Term Living licenses personal care homes (55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600) and assisted living residences (55 Pa. Code Chapter 2800). Chapter 2800 has its own rules on direct care staffing and awake staff, which technology does not change.

How does remote support help home care agencies in Pennsylvania?

Home care agencies send aides into people’s homes for set hours. Between visits, no one is there. Remote support fills that gap: the person keeps their privacy, and the agency’s trained staff can see when something needs attention and decide who should go.

  • Better visits. Aides arrive knowing how the night went.
  • Earlier warning. Changes in routine show up before they become a crisis.
  • Support for family caregivers, who can rest knowing someone trained will respond.
  • In Pennsylvania, home care agencies and registries are licensed by the Department of Health under 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611. For CHC participants, the agency can also look at whether TeleCare belongs in the person’s plan.

Who else can remote support help in Pennsylvania?

Remote support is enabling technology for human services as a whole, and it works for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), older adults, people with physical disabilities, people recovering from an illness or injury, and the staff and families who support them.

How does VistaLink™ fit Pennsylvania’s rules?

VistaLink™ uses non-wearable sensors and a display in the home to send events to your agency’s own trained remote support staff, and it never acts alone.

Your agency stays the provider. It confirms that its full setup meets Pennsylvania’s rules for the service it bills, or for its license if it bills nothing. Vista runs implementation and staff onboarding with your team. For ODP residential remote supports, your agency keeps its required technology professional, evaluation plan and backup plan in place.

For states and government agencies

Vista can also work directly with Pennsylvania’s Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), and with other state and government agencies, for example through a procurement, a contract or a state-mandated program. A state can adopt Vista Enterprise™ as its statewide remote support solution, with one solution across providers and Vista’s team behind every agency, while any single agency can already get it with no state approval.

Remote support for states and government agencies

What does remote support look like for a Pennsylvania agency? (composite example)

This is a composite example built from common situations. It is not a real person.

A woman in a three-person Residential Habilitation home wants to sleep through the night without staff coming into her room. Her team reviews an evaluation plan written by a SHIFT-certified professional, and she agrees to sensors outside her bedroom door. Overnight staff in the home now go in when the system shows she needs them, instead of on a schedule.

Questions and answers

Can any Pennsylvania agency buy a remote support solution?

Yes. Any Pennsylvania provider or agency can get Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™ and Vista’s team behind the agency. Like an EHR, it needs no DHS, ODP, OLTL or managed care approval. Billing follows each program’s rules.

Which Pennsylvania waivers include remote supports?

ODP’s Consolidated, Community Living, Person/Family Directed Support and Adult Autism Waivers include remote supports. Community HealthChoices includes TeleCare for older adults and adults with physical disabilities.

Can remote supports be used in Pennsylvania residential services?

Yes. People in Residential Habilitation, Life Sharing or Supported Living can choose remote supports as a way the service is delivered. It is part of the residential service, so the separate Remote Supports service is not authorized for them.

Who pays for remote support technology in a Pennsylvania residential home?

Technology shared by several people is covered in the residential rate. Technology for one person can be billed per person under Remote Support Technology/Equipment, with the residential provider listed as the provider.

What qualification does Pennsylvania require for residential remote supports?

The provider must have access to a supportive technology professional with a RESNA ATP certificate or a SHIFT Enabling Technology Integration Specialist certification.

What is TeleCare in Community HealthChoices?

TeleCare is a CHC waiver service with three parts: the Health Status Measuring and Monitoring TeleCare Service, which shares data such as vital signs with a healthcare provider, the Activity and Sensor Monitoring TeleCare Service, and the Medication Dispensing and Monitoring TeleCare Service.

Can a Pennsylvania ICF, nursing home or assisted living residence use remote support?

Yes, as its own tool alongside on-site staff. Federal and state staffing rules still apply in full, cameras stay out of private spaces, and the facility pays for Vista Enterprise™ as its own cost.

Is remote support in Pennsylvania only for disability services?

No. It fits any human service where staff cannot be everywhere at once: disability services, older adults, personal care homes, assisted living, nursing homes and home care.

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