ODP Supports Coordination: How to Navigate Pennsylvania’s IDD System

In Pennsylvania’s ODP system, the supports coordinator is the person who holds your family’s case together. They manage the service plan, coordinate assessments, connect you with providers, navigate the waiver waitlist, and advocate for your loved one within a system that can feel opaque and slow. A good supports coordinator makes the system work. A disengaged one leaves your family fighting the current alone.

What a Supports Coordinator Does

Every individual registered with ODP is assigned a supports coordinator through a Supports Coordination Organization (SCO). The supports coordinator’s responsibilities include conducting or coordinating the PUNS (Prioritization of Urgency of Need for Services) assessment, developing and updating the Individual Support Plan (ISP), connecting the individual with waiver-funded services (when a waiver slot is available) and base-funded services (while waiting for a waiver), monitoring the quality and appropriateness of services, helping the family understand waiver options (Consolidated, Community Living, P/FDS, Adult Autism), and advocating for the individual within the ODP system.

The supports coordinator is not a caseworker in the MDHHS sense (Michigan) or a service coordinator in the MCO sense (CHC). They serve a broader role that combines case management, advocacy, and system navigation.

How to Find a Good SCO

SCOs are organizations contracted by the county or ODP to provide supports coordination services. Multiple SCOs may operate in your county, and you typically have a choice. In our experience at CareChoice, the quality of supports coordination varies significantly between SCOs and between individual coordinators within the same SCO.

When evaluating an SCO, ask how many individuals each coordinator manages (lower caseloads generally mean more responsive service), how often the coordinator meets with the individual and family (quarterly is the minimum; good coordinators check in more frequently), whether the SCO has experience with the specific waiver your family is pursuing, and how the SCO handles situations where the family disagrees with a service recommendation.

When to Request a Change

If your supports coordinator is unresponsive — not returning calls within a reasonable timeframe, missing scheduled meetings, failing to update the service plan — you have the right to request a different coordinator or a different SCO entirely. Contact your county ODP office to discuss your options.

In our experience, the families who get the most from the ODP system are the ones who treat the supports coordinator relationship as a partnership: engaged, communicative, and willing to advocate when the system isn’t moving fast enough.

Contact CareChoice →Pennsylvania team

Written by Jailah Johnson, Community Engagement Coordinator | CareChoice