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Eligibility Guidelines
Basic Eligibility Guidelines
Eligibility Requirements
- Be a Santa Cruz County resident.
- Meet U.S. residency requirements (U.S. Citizen, “Qualified Alien”, “Prucol” alien).
- Must live in your own home; not a board and care facility, nursing home or hospital.
- Be aged, blind or disabled (must have a disability that will last one year or longer).
- Meet low income financial eligibility requirements; have income eligible status based on Medi-Cal eligibility with a possible share-of-cost. (Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients automatically qualify).
- Be unable to live safely at home without help.
Service Authorization
- Each IHSS consumer receives verification of the specific services and frequency of those services that they are authorized to receive.
- The State will only pay for authorized services and hours.
Authorized Services
- Domestic Services (housecleaning, shopping, cooking and laundry).
- Accompaniment to a medical appointment.
- Personal Care (dressing, bathing, toileting).
- Paramedical Services (help with injections, colostomy and catheter care, etc., under the direction of licensed medical personnel).
Responsiblities and Duties
IHSS Social Worker
- Determines functional eligibility through assessments.
- Authorizes and terminates services.
- Determines types and hours of services to authorize.
IHSS Consumer
- Hires, supervises, and terminates providers of their own choosing (providers can be a family member, spouse, friend, or neighbor).*
- Directs and trains provider for accomplishing authorized services.
- Signs providers’ timecards twice per month.
*Note:
If consumer has identified a family member or friend, etc. to perform their authorized tasks, the social worker provides that person with the required provider enrollment forms (Personal Care Services Provider Enrollment Form) to begin the processing for payroll. Forms can also be found by using the link on the IHSS Homepage or the Documents page. Three signed copies must be provided to the social worker. The IHSS social worker begins the provider authorization process.
If the consumer does not have a provider already chosen, he or she notifies their social worker who submits a Senior Network Services Registry referral for the consumer to obtain assistance in finding a provider.
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