When the Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ended on May 11th, 2023, parents were no longer permitted to work for their own children as either PSWs or as Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). Senate Bill 91 was later passed, which directed ODDS to create the CEN program. This program allows parents to be paid to provide care for their minor children who are assessed as having very high medical needs or very high behavioral needs. This program will be handled by means of a waiver referred to as the Children with Extraordinary Needs Waiver (ENW).
For more information about Senate Bill 91, including all the communication and work that ODDS has been doing to implement the program, please see the following references:
- DD-AR-23-023 - PHE Transition Reminder: Parents as Paid Caregivers
- ODDS Website > Senate Bill 91 Implementation > Director's Messages about SB 91
To support this change in eXPRS, the View Client Page will have a new section added called Extraordinary Needs Eligibility, where a child's referrals for this program can be documented and processed by State Staff.
|
 Additionally, when a child is approved for this program and a parent caregiver is identified, a new page has been added so that the two can be linked in the eXPRS System. This link will appear in the View Client > Relationship section, which will be updated to have a section for Parent/Child Relationships.
The reason for establishing this relationship in the system is because there will be a new Service Procedure Code OR525 - Parent Attendant Care added to eXPRS. When a parent who is a paid caregiver is providing Attendant Care to their minor child, this will be authorized using OR525/NA, ZE, or ZC.
Part of the requirements for this program is that the Parent Provider must be a Direct Support Professional working for an Agency Provider who can render CLS services. This enables the parent (who is working for the Agency Provider that has the OR525 Authorization) to log into eXPRS Mobile-EVV and see the new OR525 Procedure Code on the Select the Service page.
When selecting this Procedure Code, the provider will only see their children with whom they have an active Parent Relationship with.
Step to it!
Beginning on July 1st, 2024, PSWs will transition to a “steps-based” pay scale. At that time, PSWs will initially be placed on a step determined by the accumulated regular work hours (excluding overtime) from 1/1/2023 forward. Here are a few current resources to learn more about PSW Steps:
-
Watch this short video produced by the SEIU Local 503 Union, which discusses how the pay scale works.
- Read DD-PT-23-067, P. 3 under the heading Steps, which shows how PSWs will be placed on steps of the scale.
The following chart shows the steps, including how many hours are needed for each step and the corresponding wage increase:
In eXPRS, specific State and CME users will be given a role allowing them to see this information, which will appear on the PSW Provider Record page under the new Subsection labeled: Payment Information > Step.
 As for PSWs, when they log into the eXPRS Desktop, they will see a new section called My Step. Under this section, their current and historical Pay steps for Attendant Care/Relief Care services appears.
 Fixed on the Future!
ODDS' Compass project has been moving forward for many years now, and part of that project includes updating rates for services.
As a result, the majority of rates in eXPRS have gone to what are called Fixed Rates, where the system automatically determines the correct rate for the provider based on the individual's Service Group (and potentially other factors). This has been specifically true for Agency Providers and the rates for their services.
Due to system limitations, PSW Rates have continued to be manually entered. However, with the changes that are coming, rates for Attendant Care Services provided by PSWs will also now have fixed rates!
As you know, moving to fixed rates has many benefits, including:
- Allowing one SPA to have multiple different rates across the date range of the SPA, which eliminates the need to create new SPAs whenever a rate changes.
- Eliminating time spent referencing the Expenditure Guidelines to find the right rate to enter on a SPA.
- Preventing accidental errors when manually entering rates, which reduces payment issues.
And now, there's something for PSWs that is designed to make your work even simpler!
|
Know the Difference!
A PSW can have many different types of credentials. Each of these credentials gives a specific Pay Differential which increases the PSW's pay. Understanding these differentials and which ones can or can't be paired together added another challenge when manually entering PSW Rates.
Now, our team will be moving this work into eXPRS so that it is done automatically when creating a SPA! We'll be adding a background table to eXPRS that will automatically check which differentials apply for a given PSW provider, and update the Fixed Rate on their SPA accordingly. You and the PSW will even be able to see what differentials apply by looking at the View SPA > Rates section of the SPA itself:
 And as shown below, when looking at a paid claim on the Claim View page, the PSW will be able to see both the Base Rate (1) and Differential Rate (2).
Remember, these major changes have not been released yet, but they are headed your way in the future! In our next communication, we’ll look at some details about the CEN program, PSW Provider Records and rates, and more of what’s coming in 2024!
eXPRS-Related Questions or Feedback?
Click the Survey button below to submit your eXPRS-related questions about these changes here. We’ll try to address them in the next update!
For any other policy related questions, please email the following inbox:
|
