Getting paid to care for a family member in Louisiana
Depends.
In Louisiana, whether a family member can be paid depends on the program's rules, which are below with their sources. A spouse can be paid through Monitored In-Home Caregiving.
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Medicaid waiver
Community Choices Waiver
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Program status
Entry is through the CCW Request for Services Registry, a waiting list kept in request date order. Offers go first to priority groups, such as people referred by protective services, people with ALS, and people in a nursing facility with Medicaid as the only payer, and then to everyone else by the date they first asked for services.
People who meet Medicaid financial eligibility, are age 65 or older or are 21 through 64 with a physical disability that meets Medicaid standards or the Social Security Administration's disability criteria, meet nursing facility level of care, have their name on the CCW Request for Services Registry, and have a plan of care that shows their health and welfare can be maintained at home with waiver services.
Community Choices Waiver participants who can self-direct without a lapse or decline in the quality of care or an added risk to health and welfare, who complete the support coordinator's mandatory overview, and who understand the rights, risks and responsibilities of managing their own care and an individual budget. If the participant cannot make decisions independently, a responsible representative acts as the employer.
The participant becomes the employer of the workers they hire for Personal Assistance Services. A fiscal employer agent runs payroll and tax withholding.
Depends.
When the rules permit it. Family members who provide Personal Assistance Services must meet the same employment standards as workers unrelated to the beneficiary. The manual names these relations as possible workers if they meet the worker requirements: a spouse (only with OAAS approval), a curator, a tutor, a legal guardian, or a person holding power of attorney.
The beneficiary's responsible representative cannot be the Personal Assistance Services worker.
Depends.
Only if OAAS approves. Your health care needs must be extraordinary (behavioral, dementia related or nursing needs such as oxygen, tube feeding, suctioning, dialysis or hospice), there must be a lack of qualified staff (no staff can be found or hired, applicants cannot provide the needed supports, or the spouse has a unique ability such as a license tied to the support needed), and it must be in your best interest.
The self-direction employer completes the LRI/Spouse Request Form and emails it to the OAAS Regional Office. If it is not approved, the spouse cannot be the worker.
Yes.
Yes, if they meet the worker requirements. A legal guardian, curator, tutor or person holding power of attorney can be the Personal Assistance Services worker.
The beneficiary's responsible representative cannot also be the worker.
You control the amount spent on wages for your employees within the program's guidelines. With help from your support coordinator, you budget for wages and the required employment-related taxes. Employees must be paid overtime, at 1 1/2 times the regular hourly wage, for hours over 40 in a work week, and the overtime comes out of your budget.
Community Choices Waiver participants who live in a private home with a principal caregiver. The principal caregiver gives supervision or help with activities of daily living and other care, and a MIHC provider's professional nursing staff and other professionals train and support them.
MIHC providers contract with the caregivers they approve and train, and pay principal caregivers a per diem stipend. While you receive MIHC you cannot also receive Personal Assistance Services or home delivered meals.
Yes.
Yes. A legal guardian, curator, tutor or person holding power of attorney can be the principal caregiver, unless they are also the beneficiary's responsible representative.
Call the toll-free number the Office of Aging and Adult Services keeps for the registry (see Phone). The request can come from you, from a person legally responsible for you, or from a responsible representative you name. You are screened for nursing facility level of care before your name goes on the registry.
Your support coordinator tells you about Self-Direction at your initial assessment, every year, and whenever you ask. If you want it, the support coordinator helps you enroll, choose a fiscal employer agent, plan your budget and build your plan of care.
Monitored In-Home Caregiving is a Community Choices Waiver service. A support coordinator helps you get the services you need; for more information about the waiver, contact Louisiana Options in Long Term-Care at 1-877-456-1146.
