Category: State Government Actions

Shapiro Administration Announces New Managed Care Organization Joining CHIP Network, Offering More Affordable Health Care Options for PA Children and Families (January 8, 2026)

On January 8, 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) announced that WellKids by PA Health & Wellness will join the network of managed care organizations (MCOs) offering health coverage through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This addition follows the first CHIP re-procurement since 2013 and expands the number of affordable health coverage options available for children across Pennsylvania.

CHIP is a health insurance program for children and teens who are not eligible for Medicaid. CHIP provides affordable or no-cost health coverage through age 19. CHIP covers essential care like routine check-ups and well visits, immunizations, prescriptions, emergency care, mental health services, and dental, vision, and hearing screenings and care.

A family’s income determines the monthly cost of coverage, and no family makes too much for CHIP coverage. When families apply for CHIP for their children, they can pick a CHIP insurance plan that best meets their needs.

PA Heath & Wellness, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, was newly selected as an MCO for CHIP and will operate under the brand name WellKids by PA Health & Wellness. Leveraging its experience as a Medicaid MCO, including participation in Pennsylvania’s Community HealthChoices program, PA Health & Wellness will serve all counties across the Commonwealth.

WellKids by PA Health & Wellness will provide a full range of services, including preventive, routine, urgent, and emergency care for medical and behavioral health, as well as dental, vision, and pharmacy services.

PA Heath & Wellness has achieved National Committee for Quality Assurance accreditation, including Health Equity Accreditation, demonstrating a strong commitment to quality and equitable care.

Effective January 2026, CHIP will operate with a network of nine MCOs: Aetna, Capital Blue Cross, Geisinger Health Plan, Health Partners Plan, Highmark, Keystone First, United Healthcare, UPMC, and PA Health & Wellness. These MCOs will provide comprehensive health care coverage for eligible children statewide.

For more information about WellKids by PA Health & Wellness, call 1-855-445-1920 or visit the PA Health & Wellness website.

For more information, including how to apply for CHIP, visit DHS’ website.

Due to Gov’s Executive Order Federal Changes Don’t Impact Vaccine Access, Recommendations for PA’s Children (January 8, 2026)

As a result of Governor Shapiro’s Executive Order, there are no changes to vaccine access and recommendations for Pennsylvania children. The Executive Order is in keeping with medical experts, trusting science, and supporting evidence-based vaccine guidance. In fact, the Shapiro Administration is continuing to recommend following the vaccine schedule for children developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to protect children from vaccine-prevented diseases.

The PA Department of Health (PDH) is working with physicians across the Commonwealth to create a series of short social media videos on Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube to provide health care providers’ perspectives on the value of vaccines that are available to prevent diseases that previously caused many more patients to experience severe illness and death.

In October 2025, Governor Shapiro signed Executive Order 2025-02, which protects access to life-saving, evidence-based vaccinations in Pennsylvania, protecting families’ freedoms to make their own informed health care decision. The Executive Order:
-Requires state agencies to align vaccine guidance with trusted medical experts;
-Ensures coverage of recommended vaccines through private insurance to the fullest extent of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s authority;
-Directs the Department of Human Services to take necessary steps, in accordance with law, to ensure coverage of recommended vaccines through Medicaid;
-Establishes a Vaccine Education Workgroup to strengthen communication and combat misinformation;
-Directs the Departments of Aging and Education to ensure older adults and schools have access to evidence-based guidance on vaccines; and,
-Launches www.pa.gov/vaccines as a centralized vaccine resource for Pennsylvania residents.

For more information on vaccinations in Pennsylvania, visit www.pa.gov/vaccines.

Interest Form Now Live for the 2026-27 PDE Principal Induction Program (December 26, 2025)

Those who are a current Assistant/Vice Building or Building Principal and need to complete principal induction to apply for your Administrative II certification, visit the SAS PD Center and complete the 2026-27 Principal Induction Interest form. Administrators who sign up through the interest form will be notified when registration opens for the 2026-27 induction year.

The induction program is one year in length, and participants will earn 80 Act 45 Continuing Education hours upon completion of the induction program.

New Vaccine Education Workgroup Holds First Meeting to Provide Evidence-Based Information to Pennsylvanians (December 26, 2025)

On December 18, 2025 the Commonwealth’s new Vaccine Education Advisory Workgroup held its inaugural meeting to safeguard vaccine access for Pennsylvanians and protecting families’ freedom to make their own health care decisions. The workgroup, created by the governor’s Executive Order 2025-02 and signed in October, will provide input and evidence-based recommendations on protecting vaccine access and promoting uptake to protect Pennsylvanians from vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis B.

The workgroup will meet regularly to discuss:
-barriers to accessing childhood and adult immunizations,
-vaccine education and communication to provide consistent evidence-based information tailored to different demographics,
-harmful, inaccurate, and misguided information about vaccines, and
-ways to engage Pennsylvanians to build trust and encourage immunizations in areas with historically low vaccination rates.  

Establishing this workgroup is the latest Shapiro Administration effort to counter efforts from the federal government to sow distrust and confusion about vaccines. For decades, evidence has shown that safe and effective vaccines prevent diseases that previously caused Pennsylvanians to get sick.

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) released new vaccine guidance to provide health care providers and residents with trusted information they need to stay healthy.

The Executive Order also directs PDH to establish a state-based safety net to protect children’s access to vaccines, requires all state agencies to align policies with trusted medical experts, and launches a central online vaccine portal.

You can find more information about vaccines at the PA Department of Health’s website here.

State Board of Higher Education Posts Its First Ever Strategic Plan for Postsecondary Education for Public Comment (December 22, 2025) 

Recently, the 21-member State Board of Higher Education (SBHE) unanimously approved the posting of the Commonwealth’s first ever draft strategic plan for postsecondary education in the Commonwealth. The plan, Driving a Prosperous Pennsylvania: A Statewide Agenda for Higher Education, aims to increase postsecondary attainment, ensure affordable pathways to postsecondary credentials, support the economic and workforce development needs of Pennsylvania, strengthen the fiscal health and stability of the higher education sector, and more.

This year, the SBHE gathered input from more than 1,200 individuals via regional hearings, small group meetings and an online survey to inform the development of the draft strategic plan. The plan will be available for public comment until January 20, 2026, at which point the SBHE will work to finalize its first ever plan for higher education. The plan emphasizes expanding funding for dual credit programs and enrollment in those programs to streamline the path from high school to college and allow students to accumulate more credits before they graduate high school. In addition, the plan proposes studying how to improve retention rates and focusing on reenrolling adults who started college but didn’t finish; there are more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians with some college.

For more details regarding the plan from the Philadelphia Inquirer, click here.

Read the article on the pa.gov website by clicking here.