 New resource from DHS: Direct Support Connect
The Department of Human Services asks MnCHOICES Assessment (MnA) and Support Plan (MnSP) mentors and users to share a new DHS resource called Direct Support Connect with the people they serve.
Direct Support Connect, a free service, is:
- A tool to support people who choose to employ their direct support workers directly; not a hiring resource for providers
- A dedicated, online job board for direct support workers and the people who hire them
- A place where direct support workers may register and search for employment. Personal care assistants (PCAs) are the most common type of direct support worker.
- A place where people who need assistance may register and post employment opportunities
- An online forum for people who need assistance and direct support workers to exchange private, secure messages
- Designed to match workers to jobs and people to available workers based on the profiles they create
For more information, visit the Direct Support Connect website.
Announcing MnCHOICES Assessment 2.0
The MnCHOICES team is excited to announce the progress on MnCHOICES Assessment 2.0. Visit the MnCHOICES CountyLink Assessment page and find the Memo announcing launch date for MnCHOICES 2.0 redesign (PDF) (Sept. 7, 2018) and the MnCHOICES Assessment 2.0 transition memo (PDF) (Nov. 26, 2018) to read more about the progress we’ve made.
LTCC Field 100a – PCA Complex Enhanced rate
People who receive PCA, CDCS or CSG services and who qualify for 12 or more hours of PCA per day might be eligible for an enhanced rate or budget. To be eligible, the services must be provided by a worker who has completed specific trainings. Review the Enhanced budget eligibility review webpage for more details.
Case managers attending the assessment
Case managers have an important role. We understand they may want to attend the assessment to provide advocacy for the person or be updated on the person’s current situation to inform support planning responsibilities. Both the case manager and the assessor are a part of the person’s team, working cooperatively, and updating each other on behalf of the person. Therefore, the case manager does not need to be in attendance at the MnCHOICES assessment to be updated on changes or advocate for the person.
A person might request that his or her case manager be allowed to attend the MnCHOICES assessment, which should be honored. The assessor, however, has a responsibility in these situations to organize the interview to ensure there is the opportunity for the person to share privately without concern for others’ opinions (including the case manager’s).
While attending an assessment interview in itself is not a billable waiver case management activity, the case manager might consider billing for time engaged in allowable billable activities as described in the Community-Based Services Manual, including any time engaged with the person in support-planning discussions.
Care coordinators attending the assessment
A person enrolled in MSHO, MSC+ or SNBC might choose to have his or her care coordinator present for the annual assessment interview.
DHS encourages lead agencies to coordinate the required reassessment to ensure the certified assessor and care coordinator conduct the reassessment meeting jointly.
Importance of logging out in MnCHOICES Support Plan
A user may only be logged in to one MnCHOICES Support Plan (MnSP) session at a time per browser. Users must use the “Log Out” button in the application to close MnSP.
 This ensures the connection to MnSP closes. If a user closes the application by clicking “X” on the browser tab (No. 2), the connection does not close and the user will receive the below warning message when trying to log in again.
  If you receive this warning message, click OK to close the connection.
If the message reappears, the user must click the “X” in the upper right corner of his or her browser window (No. 1) to close the internet connection. This will close all browser tabs the user has open. Then you may reopen a browser session and log in to MnSP again.
Clicking “X” as shown above (No. 2) will not close the MnSP connection.
Best practice: When logging out of MnSP, use the log out button in the application.
Change this practice to protect your work: If you use the browser tab “X” (No. 2) to close MnSP, it may require you to close out of your browser session (No. 1). This means all your browser tabs will close and you will have to reopen all other tabs you were working in at the time.
January update scheduled for DWRS component values
On Jan. 1, 2019, DHS will begin to use updated Disability Waiver Rate System component values as required by the Minnesota Legislature. For more information about the changes, see January 2019 update scheduled for DWRS component values.
Aligning yearly meetings
DHS policy requires assessors to complete an in-person MnCHOICES assessment annually for people on a waiver, AC or PCA state plan. After the assessment, the assessor must complete or update the Community Support Plan (CSP) and Coordinated Services and Support Plan (CSSP) based on information gathered during the assessment and support-planning process.
The annual planning meeting with 245D providers typically occurs mid-year between assessment events. Support planners may update the person’s CSSP that was developed following each assessment after the 245D annual planning meeting, or at any time during the year.
While it is ideal and best practice that the assessment year’s flow and the provider’s annual flow is in one timeline, it is not necessary. For a variety of reasons, the provider’s “annual” review and the assessment “year” might become out of sync. If that is the case, assessors need to update any new needs identified by the CSSP after the assessment and address them in the provider’s CSSP addendum. Conversely, needs identified at the time of the provider’s annual review or CSSP addendum should be updated in the CSSP.
The following publications, forms and CBSM pages are new or have been updated. They are now available in eDocs:
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DHS-3067-ENG (2-18) DD Screening Document
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DHS-3427H-ENG (8-18) Health Risk Assessment Screening Document - MSC+, MSHO and SNBC
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DHS-3428H-ENG (8-18) Minnesota Health Risk Assessment Form
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DHS-4138-ENG (7-18) Minnesota Department of Human Services Provider Agreement
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DHS-4929-ENG (9-18) Disability Services Division: Caregiver Living Expenses Worksheet
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DHS-6037-ENG (9-18)HCBS Waiver, AC, and ECS Case Management Transfer and Communication Form
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DHS-6633A-ENG (8-18) CDCS Community Support Plan Addendum with 2018 EW and AC Rate Increase
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DHS-6790L-ENG (5-18) RMS Worksheet - Employment Services
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DHS-6791D-ENG (8-18) MnCHOICES Coordinated Services and Supports Plan Signature Sheet
Visit CBSM – What's new often for a list of policies and pages we've recently updated in the Community-Based Services Manual.
DSD Training News and Information Page – FREE CLUs
Visit the DSD Training News and Information page to read about and register for DSD-sponsored trainings or to visit TrainLink. Register using TrainLink: You must have a unique key to register and receive credit for trainings.
- Go to TrainLink
- Select Sign On in the upper right-hand corner
- Enter your unique key
- Click on Find a Course
- Under Category choose: All Disability Services Division Courses
- Click the search button
- Click the Select button for a course of interest
- Click on the Course Content tab
- Select Start to being the course
Positive behavior support
Don’t miss this opportunity to attend the Applying Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) in Minnesota Human Service Settings sequence of trainings. These six trainings will allow attendees to learn about the PBS model across universal, targeted and intensive tiers, with opportunities to connect evidence-based strategies to a variety of settings and applications. For dates and more information, visit the session information page.
MnCHOICES Home page
Latest News & Updates
Assessment page
Survey 2 (Sept. 18, 2018)
Survey 3 (Oct. 24, 2018)
Communications page
MnCHOICES Matters, September 2018
Communication update regarding the 2019 families and children Medicaid managed-care contract
Forms and Procedures page
MnCHOICES Assessment Documents and Reports
Mentors page
2017-2018 Release and Outage Schedule
Support Plan page
Example CSP: CADI Waiver
Example CSSP: CADI Waiver
Training and Webinars page
MnCAT Process: Instructions and checklist for lead agencies
MnCAT Process: Instructions and checklist for qualified candidates
Statewide List of Certified Assessors
Visit CBSM – What's new often for a list of policies and pages we've recently updated in the Community-Based Services Manual. For a list of changes, see Recent CBSM updates.
DHS recently made updates to the Community-Based Services Manual (CBSM) about:
- County of residence (COR) and county of financial responsibility (CFR) process for MMIS
- Long-term care consultation (LTCC)
- MnCHOICES
- Support planning
- Waiver and Alternative Care case management
- Waiver and Alternative Care programs overview.
- For previous issues of MnCHOICES Matters, or other MnCHOICES assessment and support planning resources, visit the MnCHOICES CountyLink page.
- For more information on assessment and support planning, please visit the Community-Based Services Manual (CBSM) Assessment and Support Plan pages.
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Outage Schedule - To provide information to help lead agencies to plan for scheduled MnA and MnSP outages.
For more information about MnCHOICES, visit us on the DHS
website. For technical assistance about MnCHOICES, visit us on CountyLink.
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