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Q&A
Council members discuss APS assessments, home care services, and immigration status concerns
1:45:47
·
4 min
Council Members Linda Lee and Crystal Hudson engage in a Q&A session with representatives from the Human Resources Administration about Adult Protective Services (APS) and related programs. They discuss changes in assessment processes, challenges in providing home care services, and potential impacts of immigration status on service enrollment.
- The conversation covers the transition of assessments to an independent state contractor (Maximus) and its effects on service delivery.
- Challenges in finding appropriate home care providers, especially for cases requiring specialized care or language skills, are highlighted.
- The implementation of new contracts for Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) and its impact on APS clients is explained.
- Immigration status concerns are addressed, with HRA confirming that APS provides services regardless of immigration status.
Linda Lee
1:45:47
Yeah, sorry.
1:45:48
So sorry if I misunderstood.
1:45:50
So you used to do the assessments but no longer do.
1:45:55
How long has it been since the state took that process over?
1:45:58
So it's a similar
John Rojas
1:45:59
That was implemented in calendar year '24 and then it got delayed.
1:46:02
Yeah, in late twenty four and then it got rolled out but it they do the bulk of them, there's still some carve out like children we still do in certain case, some carve out cases we still do but the bulk of them are being done by Maximus.
1:46:17
The independent assessor hired by the state.
Linda Lee
1:46:20
Yeah no and just from what I understand that process can take long depending on what the needs of the client is right?
1:46:26
So if you need someone who has specific language needs or other cultural like meaning you know it's not always a perfect sort of like it could take days but it also could take a month or longer from what
John Rojas
1:46:40
I'm I would also state that sometimes even if the assessment is done quickly and we identify the needs, sometimes the needs the consumer are not met by the home care provider for a certain case in point, if somebody needs twenty four hour care and they need split shifts.
1:46:57
So finding someone who could do two twelve hour shifts is incredibly challenging.
1:47:01
Exactly.
1:47:02
So it's not as easy always and also you put on, you lay on top of that a language need.
1:47:07
So you need somebody who needs soupsley shift, the both individuals have to meet, ideally would speak the language of the person that you're serving.
1:47:12
So sometimes it's more challenging than one would think to really coordinate that care.
Linda Lee
1:47:18
Right.
1:47:19
Because I know that when the state also the state nurses or whoever it is from Maximus comes and does the assessment, it could take longer and also because it's a third party I would imagine the coordination is a little bit more cumbersome.
John Rojas
1:47:32
A little more cumbersome than us doing it directly, but we follow the state department health rules to use the IA to conduct the assessment.
Linda Lee
1:47:42
And how the new changes in the contracts with PPL and all of that, has that impacted you guys or will that impact you all at all or no?
John Rojas
1:47:49
So that's a great question that's currently in place, that's for CDPAP, that's specific not just to general home cares but for
Linda Lee
1:47:55
individuals who
John Rojas
1:47:56
have a family member or relative or friends who's providing the services for them.
1:48:04
We HRA, if again if you're in that carve out population, not the general managed care organization, which is about 4,700 clients who receive CDPAP through HRA.
1:48:17
They have to, we still continue to do the assessment and the care plan, however the payments, the fiscal intermediary services are being paid through PPL.
1:48:27
So we will still say you know John Rojas needs eight hours of home care but the aid will be paid through PPL.
1:48:35
And it's there's been a couple of losses and it was extended the end of the end of this month, so we're currently in that transition.
1:48:45
It does require the consumer to sign authorization and also requires the aides to work with PPL to do all the tax forms and forms to get them on payroll basically.
Linda Lee
1:48:58
And also I don't know if this is a factor or an issue with the APS population but has someone's immigration status been a factor in whether they disenroll in services?
1:49:15
Because I know that that's true with some of the HRA, it may not be relevant to the APS but I just wanted to know if you had seen anything
John Rojas
1:49:22
around That's a great question.
1:49:23
So for APS immigration is in a isn't a factor.
1:49:27
We don't actually we don't even ask immigration status, we provide services regardless of immigration status.
Linda Lee
1:49:32
Sorry, sorry.
1:49:34
I should clarify.
1:49:34
What I meant was not not your on your end but clients or families of clients wanting them to disenroll out of any sort of issues or fears Sorry.
1:49:45
Sorry.
1:49:45
That's what
John Rojas
1:49:45
I meant.
1:49:45
Have we seen
Gili Hershkovich-Kim
1:49:46
We haven't we haven't encountered any issues related to that yet, but you know, things are changing, but we haven't encountered any issues related to that yet.
John Rojas
1:49:56
For APS.
Gili Hershkovich-Kim
1:49:56
For APS clients.
Crystal Hudson
1:50:01
No.
1:50:01
No.
1:50:01
No.
1:50:01
You're good.
1:50:02
Thank you.
1:50:02
Thank you so much.
1:50:03
Thank you all so much for your testimony.