Getting paid to care for a family member in Florida
Yes.
In Florida, a family member can be paid to give care through Participant Direction Option (PDO). A spouse can be paid through Participant Direction Option (PDO).
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Medicaid waiver
Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care Program
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Who qualifies
Florida Medicaid enrollees who are 65 or older, or 18 or older and eligible for Florida Medicaid because of a disability, and who need a nursing facility level of care. Adults 18 or older with cystic fibrosis or AIDS may qualify through hospital level of care.
The Agency for Health Care Administration runs the program with the Department of Elder Affairs, and services come through the long-term care plan you enroll in. A person cannot also be enrolled in another Medicaid home and community-based services waiver.
Long-Term Care Program enrollees who live in their own home or a family home and have at least one of these services on their plan of care: adult companion care, attendant nursing care, homemaker services, intermittent and skilled nursing, or personal care. The person hires and supervises their own worker.
The person can hand the employer role to a representative. The plan assigns a case manager trained in the option within two business days of the person choosing it.
Yes.
Yes. The person can hire any individual who meets the minimum qualifications, including neighbors, family members or friends, and the plan cannot restrict that choice.
The person's representative, if they have one, cannot also be the paid worker.
Yes.
Yes. The waiver lets a person choose someone legally responsible for their care, which includes a spouse, to provide these services. That worker must be 18 or older, pass a Level II background screening, sign a Participant/Direct Service Worker Agreement and meet the minimum provider qualifications.
Pay is limited to what the signed work agreement covers. A spouse who acts as the person's representative cannot also be the paid worker.
Yes.
Yes, for services covered by the option and under a signed work agreement. The waiver says relatives and legal guardians may be paid for adult companion, homemaker, attendant care, intermittent and skilled nursing, and personal care services when they are qualified.
Someone who takes on the person's employer role as their representative can neither be paid as representative nor be the paid worker, and the representative agreement says so.
The plan tells the person the rate of payment when they choose the option, and the hourly rate is written into the work agreement. The plan must give 30 days' written notice before a rate changes.
The approved plan of care sets the most hours per week for each service, and the case manager and the person build that plan based on medical necessity.
Tell your long-term care plan case manager you are interested. The case manager must offer the option when you enroll, every year and at each reassessment, and a case manager trained in the option checks whether you qualify and builds the plan of care with you.
