SECTION 317:35-15-8.2. State Plan Personal Care Eligible Provider Exception

  The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) Aging Services (AS) may authorize a member's legal guardian to be eligible for SoonerCare (Medicaid) reimbursement when he or she is hired by a home care provider agency as a personal care service provider. Authorization for a legal guardian as a provider requires the criteria in (1) though (4) of this Section and monitoring provisions to be met.

(1)   Authorization for a legal guardian to be the member's care provider may occur only when the member is offered a choice of providers and documentation demonstrates:

(A)   Another provider is not available; or

(B)   The member's needs are so extensive that the legal guardian providing the care is prohibited from obtaining employment.

(2)   The service must:

(A)   Fall under the State Plan Personal Care (SPPC) program guidelines;

(B)   Be necessary to avoid institutionalization;

(C)   Be a service and/or support specified in the person-centered service plan;

(D)   Be provided by a person who meets provider qualifications;

(E)   Be paid at a rate that does not exceed what would be paid to a provider of a similar service and does not exceed what is allowed by Medicaid (SoonerCare)for the payment of personal care or personal assistance services; and

(F)   Not be an activity the legal guardian would ordinarily perform or is responsible to perform.

(3)   The legal guardian service provider complies with:

(A)   Providing no more that forty (40) hours of services in a seven (7) calendar day period;

(B)   Planned work schedules that must be available in advance for the member's home care agency. Variations to the schedule must be noted and supplied to the home care agency two (2) weeks in advance unless the change is due to an emergency;

(C)   Utilization of the Electronic Visit Verification System (EVV) also known as the Interactive Voice Response Authentication (IVRA) system; and

(D)   Being identified and monitored by the home care agency.

(4)   The home care agency is required to submit a request and obtain approval for eligible provider exceptions to OKDHS AS prior to employing a legal guardian as a member's personal care assistant (PCA). Eligible provider exceptions require the home care agency to:

(A)   Provide monitoring and complete the Eligible Provider Exception Six Month Review document, when in the member's home completing the six-month Nurse Evaluation document in the Medicaid waiver information system; and

(B)   Annually complete the Eligible Provider Exception Request and submit it with the annual Service Authorization Model (SAM) documentation no later than forty-five (45) calendar days prior to the previous eligible provider exception service authorization end date.

[Source: Added at 37 Ok Reg 1660, eff 9-14-20]