Maryland DDA Person-Centered Plan: How the PCP Works and What It Controls

The Document That Controls Everything

Once an individual is funded through Maryland's Community Pathways Waiver, the Person-Centered Plan is the single document that determines what services they receive, how those services are delivered, and how much funding is allocated. The PCP isn't a suggestion — it's the operational blueprint that the DDA, provider agencies, and self-directed budgets all work from.

The plan is developed annually with the individual, their family or representative, and the assigned Coordinator of Community Services. Missing the annual PCP meeting or walking in unprepared means another year of services that may not match your family's actual needs.

What the PCP Covers

A completed Person-Centered Plan addresses:

Support services. The specific types and hours of personal support, behavioral support, and nursing services the individual needs. These are based on functional assessments — not diagnoses — so two people with the same disability may receive very different service levels depending on their assessed daily living needs.

Meaningful Day programming. Whether the individual will attend a center-based day program, participate in individualized community activities, or receive supported employment services. The plan specifies the provider, the schedule, and the goals.

Residential arrangements. If the individual lives in a community residential setting (group home, supported living apartment), the PCP defines the staffing ratios, overnight support, and residential provider expectations.

Employment goals. Customized employment, supported employment, job coaching, and job development services are built into the plan if employment is a goal. The plan must document how employment services coordinate with any ongoing DORS support.

Health and safety protocols. Behavioral support plans, medication management protocols, emergency contacts, and specific health monitoring requirements.

Budget Limits and Submission Deadlines

Standard annual Person-Centered Plans are capped at a maximum of $500,000. The DDA has established an exception process allowing approvals up to $625,000 when services are necessary to protect the individual's health and safety and fit within waiver parameters.

For self-directed participants, the PCP translates into a specific dollar budget. The individual or their representative allocates that budget across staffing, services, and goods — subject to the rate structures and hour caps established by the DDA.

Completed Person-Centered Plans and corresponding self-directed budgets must be submitted to the DDA at least 20 business days before the annual plan date. Late submissions create funding gaps — if the plan isn't approved by the anniversary date, services can be disrupted.

Self-Direction Within the PCP

Families who choose self-direction have more control over how the PCP budget is spent, but also more constraints to navigate:

• Family as Staff rates use BLS-indexed sliding scales, not flat hourly rates. This adjustment has reduced wages for many family providers compared to prior years.
• Non-family staff wages are capped at $30/hour.
• Total family staff hours for a single beneficiary cannot exceed 60 hours per week (across all family members combined), though any individual family member is still subject to the standard 40-hour weekly limit.
• The wage exception process — which previously allowed participants to request rates above the standard caps to address local recruitment challenges — has been eliminated.

These constraints are recent, driven by state budget reductions projected to save over $64 million across FAS sliding scales, non-family wage caps, unlicensed vendor rate adjustments, and the 60/40 family hour cap.

How to Prepare for the Annual PCP Meeting

The annual PCP meeting is the one time each year when the entire service package is reconsidered. Showing up without preparation means accepting the status quo. Before the meeting:

Document what's working and what isn't. If the current day program isn't meeting your adult child's needs, or if staffing shortages have left scheduled support hours unfilled, bring specific examples with dates and impacts.

Bring updated assessments. If your child's functional needs have changed — increased behavioral challenges, new medical conditions, or improved independence in certain areas — updated clinical documentation from physicians, behavioral specialists, or therapists strengthens the case for adjusting service levels.

Review the current budget allocation. For self-directed participants, know exactly how the current budget is being spent. Identify line items that are underutilized and areas where additional funding is needed.

Understand the 183-day service requirement. To prevent disenrollment from the Community Pathways Waiver, a beneficiary must use at least one waiver service every 183 calendar days. If services have lapsed for an extended period, raise this at the PCP meeting to ensure continuity.

For a structured approach to tracking PCP meetings, budget allocations, and the coordination between DDA services and other agency timelines (SSA, Medicaid, DORS), the Maryland SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide includes a DDA waiting list tracker and annual maintenance calendar designed for exactly this purpose.

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