OCDEL Adjusts CCW Reimbursement Base Rates Due to Inflation

Effective March 1, 2023, base rates paid to child care providers participating in Child Care Works (CCW), Pennsylvania’s subsidized child care program will be adjusted to account for inflation.  The new base rates per region are now available online.

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Base subsidy rates were increased to the 60th percentile floor in January 2022. Results of the 2022 Market Rate Survey indicate that the increased costs associated with COVID-19 to operate a child care program and 40-year high inflation caused percentile ranks to decrease significantly.

In response, subsidy base rates will be adjusted and increased to maintain the 60th percentile floor effective March 1, 2023.

The current Maximum Child Care Allowance (MCCA) rates are available on the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) website. The MCCA is the ceiling set by the Department for payment of child care services to budget groups eligible for child care payment.

Base rates per region can be found in the document Department of Human Services: Maximum Daily Child Care Allowances (MCCA)-effective 3/1/23.

Updating Pay Rates

OCDEL established a fee structure policy to pay all certified child care, relative, and in-home providers serving subsidy children at the lower of two rates – the rate the certified child care providers charge private-pay families or the established MCCA.

Effective March 1, 2023, if the DHS certified child care provider’s private pay rates continue to be higher than the newly published MCCA, participating DHS certified child care providers will not have to submit a new Appendix C-1. The new rates will automatically be reflected in the payment for March invoices which occurs in April.

Providers who want to update their private-pay rates must communicate those changes to families and provide verification of the updated private-pay rates to the ELRC. If a certified child care provider’s private-pay rate is lower than the new MCCA, they will receive the lower of the two rates.

Option 1: Certified child care providers can enter their updated rates in Provider Self Service (PSS) and return “Appendix C-1 ELRC Subsidized Child Care Provider Reported Rates” along with the verification of the certified child care provider’s published private-pay rates to the ELRC at elrc5@alleghenycounty.us (put CCW C-1 Rates in the subject line).

Option 2: Certified child care providers can send “Appendix C-1 ELRC Subsidized Child Care Provider Reported Rates” along with the verification of their certified child care provider’s published private-pay rates directly to the ELRC at elrc5@alleghenycounty.us (put CCW C-1 Rates in the subject line).  The ELRC will then enter the new information into PELICAN CCW.

The updated rate will become effective the first of the month following the date the verification was received by the ELRC, if submitted after March 31, 2023.

For details, read the Office of Child Development and Early Learning’s (OCDEL) full announcement.