 If you have questions or comments about this newsletter or its contents, please contact your case manager.
 Future legislative changes effective 1/1/25:
- Staff minimum wage increasing to $20.00/hour. Staff wages below this amount will automatically be raised to comply with this law. Please plan accordingly. (Consider increasing wages at your next renewal, to avoid revisions later!)
- 4.53% increase to CDCS budgets
Review: CDCS policy change about hours of paid personal assistance services
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved DHS’ waiver amendment to increase the number of hours per week a spouse or parent of a minor can be paid as follows:
- If one parent provides personal assistance services to their minor child(ren), the parent may provide up to 60 hours of paid support in a seven-day period.
- If more than one parent provides personal assistance services to their minor child(ren), each parent may provide up to 40 hours of paid support in a seven-day period.
- If a person’s spouse provides personal assistance services, the spouse may provide up to 60 hours of paid support in a seven-day period.
This is not a guarantee, and depends on the assessed needs/staffing needs of the person. For more policy information, refer to CDCS Manual – Paying a spouse or parent of a minor for personal assistance. For information on implementation or adjusting your plan, refer to the Ramsey County Policy Guidelines.
Note: For paid parents of adults, as long as the participant requires support over 40 hours/week, the participant/managing party can choose the PPOA to provide that support, even if it results in overtime. Each case will be looked at individually.
 Important Change re: Tutoring Requests
We have received information from DHS that tutoring for school-aged/transition aged kids/young adults is not an allowable expense under the waiver. Tutoring is considered an educational service and CDCS Policy states that unallowable CDCS expenditures include, “services and goods covered by the state plan, Medicare, or other liable third parties (including education and vocational services)". The costs for a tutor for educational services outside of the school day that are not covered by the school district would be considered "an item or support normally furnished by the recipient's parents/family".
There may be situations where an ADULT might benefit from tutoring to increase their reading, writing, or math skills, which could increase their participation/independence with ADLs/IADLs. If this is an assessed need, tutoring could be considered.
Federal mileage rate increase
Effective July 1, 2024, DHS will increase the federal mileage rate to 67 cents per mile. This mileage adjustment applies to all HCBS waiver programs. If you wish to change the mileage rate in the plan, you will need to do so via a revision/addendum.
Support Planner Certificates required with the plan
DHS has clarified that counties are responsible for ensuring that support planners are certified. Please make sure support planners provide this information at renewal. They can do so by:
- Attaching their Support Planner Certificates with their plans
- Adding their support planning certification dates to the Support Planner Agreement
- Adding their information to the plan itself in Qualifications under Self Direction. (Ex. “Support planner Certification from the State of MN runs from this date to this date”)
MnCHOICES 2.0 and CDCS Budgets
Some CDCS Budgets are decreasing after using the mandated MnCHOICES 2.0 Revisions Tool:
- All participants will switch to the new assessment tool within the next year.
- DHS has not changed any formulas however did make intentional and clarifying changes regarding scoring causing a decrease.
- If your CDCS budget decreases:
- Work with your case manager and assessor to determine what changed from last year to this year’s assessment.
- You may appeal the lower budget however in order to get this overturned you will need to prove the assessor did not correctly score an area of need.
Backdating Hours and Wages
Backdating of hours and wages is not allowed.
- Some FMS’s also will only allow new wages to begin at the start of the next pay period.
- Plan and allow at least 2 weeks for processing.
New FMS Providers
Minnesota will now have four more FMS providers to choose from when using CDCS.
 PPOM Job Descriptions and Schedules
PPOM job descriptions should NOT include the following activities:
- Activities that are considered typical parental responsibility based on age. For example, a small child should not have transportation, meal prep, assistance with finances, etc. Since many of the activities a parent engages in with young children are considered “parental responsibility”, schedules should not include long shifts that would not account for activities that are parental responsibility.
- Nursing duties or Medication Administration.
Tips for determining hours and developing schedules:
- The appropriate number of hours should be based on the person’s assessed needs and when they are performed.
- To determine the appropriate number of hours each day, start with the number of extra hours needed to help with activities or daily living (ADL’s)/PCA assessment. Then, add instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), behavioral redirection, and additional supervision.
- Spread your hours out over the week when you are performing personal assistance activities that are above and beyond usual parental responsibilities.
- If the child is the only person in the household on CDCS or CSG, and no overtime is being requested, you can include a more “general” schedule, to allow for intermittent work. For example, “3 hours- AM, 3 hours-PM” is acceptable.
- Detailed, family/household schedules outlining times are required in situations where there is more than 1 person in the household on a self-directed program (CDCS or CSG), if there is shared care, or if overtime is being requested.
- With electronic visit verification (EVV) time reporting, you must record the time you actually worked on a daily basis.
NOTE: A new PPOM Job Description form has been developed to assist participants/managing parties/support planners to develop the job description and determine the number of hours needed for support!
Staffing Agencies and CDCS
In general, all unlicensed staff must be hired through the FMS, and staffing agencies must be 245D licensed. Please consult with your case manager for more information.
Movement of funds from licensed services or MA Homecare Services
If your plan includes a licensed service or MA Homecare Service and you want to move funds from those services through an addendum, please remember to check in with the provider to make sure there are funds available to move. Case managers, for MA/Homecare services, remember to adjust the CDCS and MA Homecare lines on the SA. For licensed waiver services, remember to send an updated vendor agreement to the provider, to communicate the change in what is authorized for their agency!
Addendums/Revisions
When making a change to a CDCS plan, please remember that an addendum/revised plan is not always necessary. An EMAIL can be accepted in the following situations:
- Moving funds between items/services that have already been approved. NOTE: For changes in staff hours, need a new staff schedule.
- Allocation of unallocated funds, to increase amount of a service/item that has already been approved.
- Correction of fiscal fees on initial plan/renewal
- COLA: Use of COLA increase for approved items
An addendum form OR revised plan is needed for all other changes. Ramsey County does not require both.
Stipends Available
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Training Stipend: Available only for workers in PCA Choice, CSG and CDCS who complete qualifying training before June 30, 2025. A worker may receive a $500 stipend starting July 1, 2023, until the $2 million of stipend funding is exhausted or June 30, 2025, whichever comes sooner. Stipends are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more.
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Home Care Recruitment & Retention Stipend: $1,000 - All workers in Union programs (PCA Choice, CSG, CDCS, and CFSS Budget Model) now qualify for a one-time $1,000 retention stipend after 6 months of employment! This includes PCAs, Family Caregivers, and Paid Parents. Eligible workers who apply will receive a check in the mail, as well as a 1099 tax form. Workers can apply until May 30, 2025. Apply now.
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Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) Stipend - $200: All workers in PCA Choice, CSG, CDCS and CFSS Budget Model qualify for a one-time $200 to offset potential costs related to using individual devices to access electronic visit verification. Apply now.
CDCS Plan Renewals
Please follow these “best practices” to ensure services are not interrupted:
Participants/Managing Parties
- Schedule your MnCHOICES assessment as soon as you can when contacted by the assessor.
- 60 days before the renewal date, write your CDCS plan using previous year’s budget.
- Contact your case manager if you don’t get the CDCS budget by the 12th of the month prior to renewal.
- Update the plan with the budget from the case manager, tweak goals as needed after reviewing the MnCHOICES assessment and submit your plan by the 15th of the month prior.
- Submit the plan even if waiting on additional documentation, as these items can likely be pended until the information is received.
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Participant Guide to CDCS is a helpful guide for all things CDCS.
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Participant Guide for Completing a CDCS Plan is a checklist you can use if writing your own plan.
Case managers/Supervisors:
Follow guidance in the CDCS Processes and Procedures document.
 CDCS Participant Training
New participants need to watch both the DHS and Ramsey County orientation trainings prior to starting CDCS. It is recommended that current participants watch annually as a refresher. CDCS participants who are NEW to Ramsey County should watch as well!
English: DHS Training Video
Ramsey County Participant Training
Spanish: Passcode +Ng54LlA
Hmong: Passcode U926$!PB
Somali: Passcode a8RM1FR&
Karen: No passcode needed
Case Manager/Supervisor
Training
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“Intro to CDCS” is a 3-part training that is mandatory for new case managers and new supervisors. In addition, there are several “topical” trainings available. All trainings are recorded and available in the shared drive for operated case managers, and in SharePoint for contracted case managers.
CDCS Consults (Case managers and supervisors)
2nd and 4th Tuesdays @ 11 am
CDCS link - 2nd Tuesday
CDCS link - 4th Tuesday
 CDCS Unbundling
There are changes on the horizon with the CDCS Program. The “CDCS Unbundling Project” is being worked on by the Minnesota Department of Human Services-DHS (state agency) at the direction of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-CMS (federal agency). This project will split two of the current CDCS categories, and add 2 new categories.
CDCS Policy is being updated and a new CDCS plan is being developed. DHS will let us know when this will be rolling out. Until then, please continue to follow current CDCS policy when writing your plans and revisions/addendums. When this starts, it will be implemented at renewal. For example, if this were to start 10/1/24 and your plan doesn’t renew until 5/1/25, that is when the changes would apply to your plan.
DHS will send an e-list soon with the effective date. They will then publish policy pages, forms, and online learning modules. Further direction will be provided to participants, supervisors, and case managers at that time.
Self-Direction Conference
The Self-Direction Connection Conference will be held at the Mayo Health Event Center in Mankato, MN on Friday, November 1st. With prior approval, this can be paid as caregiver training out of CDCS. Registration is $40 and opened July 1st. .
 Helpful CDCS Documents
Participant Guide to CDCS
Participant Guide for Completing a CDCS Plan
General Information About CDCS
MN Department of Human Services (DHS)
Ramsey County Human Services
CDCS Policy Manual
MHCP Provider Manual (Does MA cover?)
Community Based Services Manual (CBSM)
EAA (Home and Vehicle Modifications) Q&A
Nursing Q&A
Translated Ramsey County CDCS Policy Guidelines
RC Policy Guidelines- English
RC Policy Guidelines- Spanish
RC Policy Guidelines-Hmong
RC Policy Guidelines-Somali
RC Policy Guidelines-Karen
 Need More Staff?
All staff need to be hired through the FMS once secured.
College Tuition Resource for Direct Care Staff
The Minnesota Future Together Grants-College tuition for direct support workers that meet income guidelines.
Person Centered Planning
A person centered planner, helps a person develop/create a life plan to help them reach their goals and achieve their dreams in life. Contact The ARC Minnesota
Cell Phone Programs
Autism Resource
DHS Culture Specific Autism videos and Resources Portal:
Other Helpful Resources
Multilingual Support Planner Group - Abdirahman Ahmed w/6 SP's speaking: English, Somali, Arabic, French, Oromo, and Spanish. maverickhealthcaremn.com, abdirahman@maverickhealthcaremn.com 612-707-3308
Vera Fitness: (for adults) 1:1 or group, special needs music play, special needs mobility, Zumba, yoga, brain flex fitness, drumming, music play, mobility, power core (non-weight bearing) - 30 min sessions. https://www.verafitnesstc.com
Vehicle Barriers - affordable https://infparts.com/product/sneeze-guard-vehicle-safety-partition-2/
Twin Cities F.I.T. (Fitness Integrated Therapy) - helps individuals reach their health and fitness goals by integrating approaches from: Exercise physiology, Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, Behavioral therapy, Sensory integration. (Requires Alternative Treatment Form.)
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