Chronic health conditions like congestive heart failure make it hard to do what a person once did. Your mom has a more challenging time with housework, laundry, and driving. She needs help remembering when to take her prescription pills.
You’ve been looking into home care services, but nothing fits your mom’s needs. She doesn’t like the idea of having a stranger in her home. You’d like to help her, but you need money.
You can’t quit your job to care for your mom unless you’re getting paid, and she doesn’t have money. Did you know that you might qualify to get paid to care for your parent?
Get Paid Through Consumer Directed Services
Qualifying care services include things that help with daily activities like light housekeeping, grooming, hygiene, mobility, meal preparation, and transportation. Family members can help with these activities of daily living as long as the caregiver is not the spouse. Spouses do not qualify.
As your mom’s son or daughter, you can get paid. Your mom’s partner cannot get paid, however. When your mom hires you to be her caregiver, you become her employee. It’s up to her to train you. The state pays you based on the hours reported to them on bi-weekly timesheets.
As a Consumer Directed Services provider, you must follow the Missouri Code of State Regulations. This could mean needing to take training courses and have an agreement in place with Medicaid. You must pass background checks to ensure you’re not listed on the Family Care Safety Registry.
How many hours of care you’re paid for is determined when your mom applies to have you provide her care. The same is true of your pay. The general rule is you will never get more than 100% of the average cost of nursing home care in your mom’s area.
Things to Know About Consumer Directed Services
Missouri’s Medicaid program is known as MO HealthNet. Self-directed care, or Consumer Directed Services, allows applicants to choose and train a person they wish to have for personal care services.
When your mom needs help with a chronic health condition like heart disease, she’s allowed to choose someone she trusts. She can select someone she knows and is comfortable around.
Your mom doesn’t have to hire a stranger. She’s welcome to hire whomever she chooses, and Medicaid payments ensure that person gets paid for helping out. Family members get paid, and your mom has the very best person providing her personal care.
Consumer Directed Services (CDS) provide a path to getting paid for the care you provide your mom. You don’t have to quit a job and lose all your income. Learn more by calling an expert in CDS.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Consumer Directed Services in Florissant, MO please contact the caring staff at Home Care MO today. (314) 501-5330
We offer consumer directed services (CDS) in St. Louis County, St. Louis City and St. Charles, as well as Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike, St. Francois, Ste Genevieve, Warren and Washington Counties.
Sources:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/adrules/csr/current/19csr/19c15-8.pdf
Home Care MO was established by veteran home care agency owners. Home Care MO is a home care agency that works with Missouri’s Consumer Directed Services (CDS) program. CDS is a Medicaid-funded program that enables you to hire the person of your choice to help with your care. This caregiver is also called a personal care attendant (PCA).
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