Section 766. Personal care and respite care services

A. Service description. Services may be provided either through an agency-directed or consumer-directed model.

1. Personal care services means services offered to individuals in their homes and communities to enable an individual to maintain the health status and functional skills necessary to live in the community or participate in community activities. Personal care services substitute for the absence, loss, diminution, or impairment of a physical, behavioral, or cognitive function. This service shall provide care to individuals with activities of daily living (eating, drinking, personal hygiene, toileting, transferring and bowel/bladder control), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), access to the community, monitoring of self-medication or other medical needs, and the monitoring of health status or physical condition. In order to receive personal care services, the individual must require assistance with their ADLs. When specified in the plan of care, personal care services may include assistance with IADL. Assistance with IADL must be essential to the health and welfare of the individual, rather than the individual's family/caregiver. An additional component to personal care is work or school-related personal care. This allows the personal care provider to provide assistance and supports for individuals in the workplace and for those individuals attending postsecondary educational institutions. Workplace or school supports through the IFDDS Waiver are not provided if they are services that should be provided by DARS, under IDEA, or if they are an employer's responsibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Virginians with Disabilities Act, or § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Work-related personal care services cannot duplicate services provided under supported employment.

2. Respite care means services provided for unpaid caregivers of eligible individuals who are unable to care for themselves that are provided on an episodic or routine basis because of the absence of or need for relief of those unpaid persons who routinely provide the care.

B. Criteria.

1. In order to qualify for personal care services, the individual must demonstrate a need in activities of daily living, reminders to take medication, or other medical needs, or monitoring health status or physical condition.

2. In order to qualify for respite care, individuals must have an unpaid primary caregiver who requires temporary relief to avoid institutionalization of the individual.

3. Individuals choosing the consumer-directed option must receive support from a CD services facilitator and meet requirements for consumer direction as described in 12VAC30-120-770.

C. Service units and service limitations.

1. The unit of service is one hour.

2. Effective July 1, 2011, respite care services are limited to a maximum of 480 hours per year. Individuals who are receiving services through both the agency-directed and consumer-directed models cannot exceed 480 hours per year combined.

3. Individuals may have personal care, respite care, and in-home residential support services in their plan of care but cannot receive in-home residential supports and personal care or respite care services at the same time.

4. Each individual receiving personal care services must have a back-up plan in case the personal care aide or consumer-directed (CD) employee does not show up for work as expected or terminates employment without prior notice.

5. Individuals must need assistance with ADLs in order to receive IADL care through personal care services.

6. Individuals shall be permitted to share personal care service hours with one other individual (receiving waiver services) who lives in the same home.

7. This service does not include skilled nursing services with the exception of skilled nursing tasks that may be delegated in accordance with 18VAC90-20-420 through 18VAC90-20-460.

D. Provider requirements. In addition to meeting the general conditions and requirements for home and community-based care participating providers as specified in 12VAC30-120-730 and 12VAC30-120-740, personal and respite care providers must meet the following provider requirements:

1. Services shall be provided by:

a. For the agency-directed model, a DMAS enrolled personal care/respite care provider or by a DBHDS-licensed residential supportive in-home provider. All personal care aides must pass an objective standardized test of knowledge, skills, and abilities approved by DBHDS and administered according to DBHDS' defined procedures.

Providers must demonstrate a prior successful health care delivery business and operate from a business office.

b. For the consumer-directed model, a service facilitation provider meeting the requirements found in 12VAC30-120-770.

2. For DBHDS-licensed providers, a residential supervisor shall provide ongoing supervision for all personal care aides. For DMAS-enrolled personal care/respite care providers, the provider must employ or subcontract with and directly supervise an RN who will provide ongoing supervision of all aides. The supervising RN must be currently licensed to practice in the Commonwealth and have at least two years of related clinical nursing experience that may include work in an acute care hospital, public health clinic, home health agency, ICF/IID, or nursing facility.

3. The RN supervisor or case manager/services facilitator must make a home visit to conduct an initial assessment prior to the start of care for all individuals requesting services. The RN supervisor or case manager/service facilitator must also perform any subsequent reassessments or changes to the supporting documentation. Under the consumer-directed model, the initial comprehensive visit is done only once upon the individual's entry into the service. If an individual served under the waiver changes CD services facilitation agencies, the new CD services facilitation provider must bill for a reassessment in lieu of a comprehensive visit.

4. The RN supervisor or case manager/services facilitator must make supervisory visits as often as needed to ensure both quality and appropriateness of services.

a. For personal care the minimum frequency of these visits is every 30 to 90 calendar days depending on individual needs. For respite care offered on a routine basis, the minimum frequency of these visits is every 30 to 90 calendar days under the agency-directed model and every six months or upon the use of 240 respite care hours (whichever comes first) under the consumer-directed model.

b. Under the agency-directed model, when respite care services are not received on a routine basis, but are episodic in nature, the RN is not required to conduct a supervisory visit every 30 to 90 calendar days. Instead, the RN supervisor must conduct the initial home visit with the respite care aide immediately preceding the start of care and make a second home visit within the respite care period.

c. When respite care services are routine in nature and offered in conjunction with personal care, the 30-day to 90-day supervisory visit conducted for personal care may serve as the RN supervisor or case manager/service facilitator visit for respite care. However, the RN supervisor or case manager/services facilitator must document supervision of respite care separately. For this purpose, the same record can be used with a separate section for respite care documentation.

5. Under the agency-directed model, the supervisor shall identify any gaps in the aide's ability to provide services as identified in the individual's plan of care and provide training as indicated based on continuing evaluations of the aide's performance and the individual's needs.

6. The supervising RN or case manager/services facilitator must maintain current documentation. This may be done as a summary and must note:

a. Whether personal and respite care services continue to be appropriate;

b. Whether the supporting documentation is adequate to meet the individual's needs or if changes are indicated in the supporting documentation;

c. Any special tasks performed by the aide/CD employee and the aide's/CD employee's qualifications to perform these tasks;

d. Individual's satisfaction with the service;

e. Any hospitalization or change in the individual's medical condition or functioning status;

f. Other services received and their amount; and

g. The presence or absence of the aide in the home during the RN's visit.

7. Qualification of aides/CD employees. Each aide/CD employee must:

a. Be 18 years of age or older and possess a valid social security number;

b. For the agency-directed model, be able to read and write English to the degree necessary to perform the tasks required. For the consumer-directed model, possess basic math, reading and writing skills;

c. Have the required skills to perform services as specified in the individual's plan of care;

d. Not be the parents of individuals who are minors, or the individual's spouse. Payment will not be made for services furnished by other family members living under the same roof as the individual receiving services unless there is objective written documentation as to why there are no other providers available to provide the care. Family members who are approved to be reimbursed for providing this service must meet the qualifications. In addition, under the consumer-directed model, family/caregivers acting as the employer on behalf of the individual may not also be the CD employee;

e. Additional aide requirements under the agency-directed model:

(1) Complete an appropriate aide training curriculum consistent with DMAS standards. Prior to assigning an aide to an individual, the provider must ensure that the aide has satisfactorily completed a training program consistent with DMAS standards. DMAS requirements may be met in any of the following ways:

(a) Registration as a certified nurse aide (DMAS-enrolled personal care/respite care providers);

(b) Graduation from an approved educational curriculum that offers certificates qualifying the student as a nursing assistant, geriatric assistant or home health aide (DMAS-enrolled personal care/respite care providers);

(c) Completion of provider-offered training that is consistent with the basic course outline approved by DMAS (DMAS-enrolled personal care/respite care providers);

(d) Completion and passing of the DBHDS standardized test (DBHDS-licensed providers);

(2) Have a satisfactory work record as evidenced by two references from prior job experiences, including no evidence of possible abuse, neglect, or exploitation of aged or incapacitated adults or children; and

(3) Be evaluated in his job performance by the supervisor.

f. Additional CD employee requirements under the consumer-directed model:

(1) Submit to a criminal records check and, if the individual is a minor, the child protective services registry. The employee will not be compensated for services provided to the individual if the records check verifies the employee has been convicted of crimes described in § 37.2-314 of the Code of Virginia or if the employee has a complaint confirmed by the DSS child protective services registry;

(2) Be willing to attend training at the request of the individual or his family/caregiver, as appropriate;

(3) Understand and agree to comply with the DMAS consumer-directed services requirements; and

(4) Receive an annual TB screening.

8. Provider inability to render services and substitution of aides (agency-directed model). When an aide is absent, the provider may either obtain another aide, obtain a substitute aide from another provider if the lapse in coverage is to be less than two weeks in duration, or transfer the individual's services to another provider.

9. Retention, hiring, and substitution of employees (consumer-directed model). Upon the individual's request, the CD services facilitator shall provide the individual or his family/caregiver, as appropriate, with a list of consumer-directed employees on the consumer-directed employee registry that may provide temporary assistance until the employee returns or the individual or his family/caregiver, as appropriate, is able to select and hire a new employee. If an individual or his family/caregiver, as appropriate, is consistently unable to hire and retain an employee to provide consumer-directed services, the services facilitator must contact the case manager and DBHDS to transfer the individual, at the choice of the individual or his family/caregiver, as appropriate, to a provider that provides Medicaid-funded agency-directed personal care or respite care services. The CD services facilitator will make arrangements with the case manager to have the individual transferred.

10. Required documentation in individuals' records. The provider must maintain all records of each individual receiving services. Under the agency-directed model, these records must be separated from those of other nonwaiver services, such as home health services. At a minimum these records must contain:

a. The most recently updated plan of care and supporting documentation, all provider documentation, and all DMAS-225 forms;

b. Initial assessment by the RN supervisory nurse or case manager/services facilitator completed prior to or on the date services are initiated, subsequent reassessments, and changes to the supporting documentation by the RN supervisory nurse or case manager/services facilitator;

c. Nurses' or case manager/services facilitator summarizing notes recorded and dated during any contacts with the aide or CD employee and during supervisory visits to the individual's home;

d. All correspondence to the individual, to DBHDS, and to DMAS;

e. Contacts made with family, physicians, DBHDS, DMAS, formal and informal service providers, and all professionals concerning the individual;

f. Under the agency-directed model, all aide records. The aide record must contain:

(1) The specific services delivered to the individual by the aide and the individual's responses;

(2) The aide's arrival and departure times;

(3) The aide's weekly comments or observations about the individual to include observations of the individual's physical and emotional condition, daily activities, and responses to services rendered;

(4) The aide's and individual's weekly signatures to verify that services during that week have been rendered;

(5) Signatures, times, and dates; these signatures, times, and dates shall not be placed on the aide record prior to the last date of the week that the services are delivered; and

(6) Copies of all aide records; these records shall be subject to review by state and federal Medicaid representatives.

g. Additional documentation requirements under the consumer-directed model:

(1) All management training provided to the individuals or their family caregivers, as appropriate, including responsibility for the accuracy of the timesheets.

(2) All documents signed by the individual or his family/caregivers, as appropriate, that acknowledge the responsibilities of the services.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 17, Issue 18, eff. July 1, 2001; amended, Virginia Register Volume 23, Issue 20, eff. July 11, 2007; amended, Volume 27, Issue 19, eff. July 1, 2011; Volume 30, Issue 14, eff. April 10, 2014.

Statutory Authority

§ 32.1-325 of the Code of Virginia; 42 USC § 1396.