Earlier this year, the State announced that providers who did not return the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program Provider Enrollment Agreement (SOC 846) were no longer in jeopardy of being terminated from the IHSS program.
The State has now reinstated a deadline for the form. It must be signed and returned to your local county office by April 29, 2017. This deadline applies to all IHSS providers who were enrolled in the program before February 1, 2016 and have not yet turned in form SOC 846.
Providers who do not return SOC 846 by the deadline will no longer be eligible to work as IHSS caregivers as of July 1, 2017. In the event this happens, there are two ways a provider can be reinstated:
- If the signed SOC 846 is postmarked on or before July 31, 2017, the provider will be reinstated and eligible for retroactive pay for hours worked during the month they were ineligible.
- If the signed SOC 846 is postmarked on or after August 1, 2017, the provider will be reinstated. However, the provider will only receive pay for hours worked on and after the date the form was postmarked.
Avoid disruptions in your work and your clients’ care by making sure your signed form SOC 846 is postmarked by April 29, 2017. Click here for more information from the Department of Social Services, and here for SOC 846.
The state recently announced its plan to offer an option for providers to submit timesheets electronically instead of using the current paper system. Electronic timesheets could help alleviate the stress, headaches, and hardships that come when IHSS providers are forced to wait for late paychecks. A new system could ensure we are paid correctly and on time.
In this proposal, providers would be able to access and submit timesheets using a computer, tablet, or smartphone.
The state plans to first conduct a pilot to test the new electronic system in one or two counties beginning in May 2017. If this pilot is successful, the goal would be to roll out the electronic option to all IHSS caregivers by July 1, 2017.
UDW is working closely with the state as they develop this new process. We want to ensure that electronic timesheets are an improvement over paper timesheets. The best way to do so is to work with caregivers, so UDW will host a small focus group of IHSS providers in early December to test the new technology and give the state feedback.
We will keep you posted on any new developments or changes here at www.udwa.org and on Facebook – www.facebook.com/UDW.
