H13-019– Procedure

March 29, 2013
TO: / Aging and Disability Services (ADS) King County Director
Pierce County Aging and Long-term Care Director
Home and Community Services (HCS) Division Regional Administrators
FROM: / Bea Rector, Director, Home and Community Services Division
SUBJECT: /
Calculations forNew Freedom In-Home Personal Care Exceptions to Rule (ETR)
Purpose: / To instruct staff to calculate New Freedom ETR hours into a dollar amount for the New Freedom budget
Background: / Changes were made in the ETR process (outlined in MB H13-001) which included an automated notice in the CARE tool. ETR requests are processed in “Hours” but clients on the New Freedom program are authorized dollar amounts in their New Freedom Budget.
What’s new, changed, or
Clarified / Currently, the ETR screen in CARE only allows for the entry of the number of hours requested for New Freedom In-Home Personal Care ETR. The new “Notice of Decision on Request for In-Home Personal Care Exceptions to rule”form allows the user to notify the client of the ETR decision in relation to their budget amount in dollars. On the Notice form the following can be filled in:
  • Unit Type - “Hours”;
  • Units Type – “Dollars per Month”.
Care Consultants (CCs) will need to manually convert the number of personal care hours approved in the ETR into a dollar amount that will be added to the client’s New Freedom budget.
In-Home Personal Care ETRs are only for additional assistance with personal care tasks so the formula is not the same as that of the New Freedom individual budget.
ACTION: / CCsmust check the Outcome section of the ETR screen to see the decision made by the Headquarters’ ETR Committee.
CCs will need to manually calculate the number of personal care hours approved in the ETR into a dollar amount in order to complete the Notice of Decision form. The calculation used for either an Individual Provider or a Home Care Agency will be as follows:
Individual Providers (IP)
The current average IP hourly wage multiplied by the number of hours approved in the ETR.
For example, if the client has an IP and an initial ETR was approved for 20 additional personal care hours above the CARE generated amount, select “Dollars” as the “Unit Type” and enter the amount $209.60 (20 hours x the current IP rate of $10.48).
Home Care Agency
The hourly wage paid to home care agency providers for personal care multiplied by the number of hours approved in the ETR.
For example, if the client used a Home Care Agency and an initial ETR was approved for 20 additional personal care hours above the CARE generated amount, select “Dollars” as the “Unit Type” and enter the amount $395.40 (20 hours x the current Home Care Agency rate $19.77 per hour).
Do not add the approved ETR hours in the “Agency hours” field on the Care Plan screen.
Related
REFERENCES: / MB H13-001:

Form 15-429 in English:

To locate this form in other languages, click here:

CONTACT(S): / Peter Hinze, Program Manager Lisa Livingston, Program Manager
Home and Community Services Home and Community Services
(360) 725-2446 (360) 725-2572

Geri-Lyn McNeill, Program Manager
Home and Community Services
(360) 725-2353

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