Do you or a loved one need in-home health care services? Are you uncomfortable with the thought of a stranger coming into your home to give you the care you need?
CDPAP could be the answer. The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) lets you choose a relative or friend to be your caregiver.
CDPAP is part of Medicaid in the state of New York. CDPAP helps senior citizens and chronically ill and disabled people who need skilled nursing services or assistance with activities of daily living. Eligible New York residents can recruit, hire, and manage their own in-home health care personal assistants.
Finding a home care services agency to partner with you in managing your CDPAP care is critical. Getting CDPAP recommendations can be tricky, though. Find out about the benefits of CDPAP, how CDPAP works, and the eligibility requirements.
You’ll be an informed consumer when you’re ready to find the right CDPAP service provider.
Benefits of CDPAP
CDPAP has many advantages for participants. Someone receiving care under CDPAP is a “consumer,” not a client or patient. This is because the program emphasizes the consumer’s role in planning and implementing their own care.
Consumers direct each aspect of the home care they receive from their personal assistant. As a consumer, taking charge of your own care gives you the final say. You approve what care you want, who provides it, and where.
One major benefit of CDPAP is that a family member or friend can be your caregiver. You don’t have to let a stranger into your home or have someone you don’t know perform intimate tasks for you. You get the same caregiver every day.
Home health care is especially attractive at a time of stay-at-home orders and disease transmission in nursing homes.
Being a personal assistant under CDPAP has advantages as well. If you were already performing some of a caregiver’s tasks for free, CDPAP will pay you. You’ll receive health insurance, sick days, and vacation days.
Eligibility for CDPAP
To participate in CDPAP as a consumer, you must meet these requirements:
- Be a New York state resident
- Be on Medicaid with coverage for community-based long-term services
- Require home care
- Have a stable medical condition
CDPAP also requires the consumer to make choices about their own care. Consumers need to manage their personal assistants fully. This includes hiring, training, scheduling, and firing caregivers if necessary.
If you aren’t fully able or willing to make decisions about managing the services you receive, you can choose a designated representative. Your representative would then instruct, supervise, and direct your caregiver. For consumers who aren’t self-directing, such as minors, the designated representative can be their parent, legal guardian, or another adult.
Medical Eligibility
New York State Medicaid is phasing in new criteria for CDPAP. Consumers will need to show that they need help with at least three activities of daily living. Consumers with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease only have to demonstrate the need for help with at least two daily living activities.
Activities of daily living include bathing, personal hygiene, dressing, eating, and walking. They can also include things like managing medication. The new regulations exclude “Level 1” housekeeping, which had previously been included up to 8 hours per week.
To verify your medical eligibility, you’ll need a Physician’s Order for Services form from your doctor. This confirms that your doctor believes you need home care services. As the new regulations come into effect, you’ll need an independent physician that the Department of Health will choose complete the Physician’s Order for Services form.
You’ll submit the form to your local social services office. The social services office will schedule a social assessment and a nursing assessment for you. The nursing assessment will determine how many hours of care per week or month CDPAP will cover.
The nurse assessor will develop a plan of care in collaboration with you. This plan of care determines what your personal assistant has the authorization to do.
Who Can Be a Personal Assistant under CDPAP?
Almost anyone can serve as a personal assistant under CDPAP. Caregivers must be at least 18 years old. The only people who aren’t eligible to be a personal assistant are:
- The consumer’s spouse
- The consumer’s parent, if the consumer is younger than 21 years old
- The consumer’s designated representative
Personal assistants don’t need any kind of license, certification, or training. The consumer is responsible for showing the personal assistant how to deliver the care they need.
The person you want to be your personal assistant will need a medical exam with a TB test and verification of immunizations.
How Your Personal Assistant Can Help You
Your CDPAP personal assistant can help you with a variety of tasks. However, all services the caregiver provides must follow your plan of care.
A personal assistant can help you with activities of daily living. Personal assistants can also perform skilled tasks that include some health care and nursing duties. Examples of skilled care services are:
- Checking vital signs like pulse and blood pressure
- Administering oxygen
- Giving insulin injections
- Changing sterile wound dressings for injuries
- Applying topical treatments
- Monitoring special diets
A CDPAP personal assistant can do the job of a personal care aide and a home health care attendant in addition to some nursing functions.
CDPAP Recommendations
Your personal assistant will be an independent contractor for a “fiscal intermediary.” The fiscal intermediary is usually a licensed home care services agency. This agency processes paychecks and serves as the middleman between you or your designated representative and Medicaid.
Your relationship with the fiscal intermediary agency lets you choose the level of control you want over selecting, managing, training, and potentially dismissing your personal assistant. This agency has a significant impact on your experience with CDPAP. Finding the right agency is an important first step in the CDPAP process.
Managing Your CDPAP Care
You deserve the best health care services possible. When you look for CDPAP recommendations, you’ll see that Family Always First Home Care is the right service to get the care you need. We prioritize your comfort and safety no matter where in New York state you live.
As an approved fiscal intermediary, we’ll handle the administrative details for your personal assistant. Personal assistants receive competitive wages, health insurance, vacation days, and sick days.
Contact us today for more information. Our onboarding specialists can assess your eligibility and start the enrollment process if you qualify. You’ll see the difference CDPAP and Family Always First Home Care can make.