Policy Directive                                                                          Issuance Number: MS 09-04

Medical Services Policy Manual                                             Issuance Date:       01/16/09

From: Joni Jones, Director                                             Expiration Date: Until Superseded

Subj:  Adult Family Home – Service within ElderChoices

Effective 10/1/08, the Division of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) has renamed the service of Adult Foster Care to Adult Family Home.  The ElderChoices’ recipient who participates in this service will be required to contribute to the cost of care.  A patient liability amount will be calculated according to the procedures in the Assisted Living Facilities Waiver policy (MS 26230) which provides the allowable deductions that may be subtracted from gross income. 

The Adult Family Home is a statewide program with an estimated 6 homes that will provide care for three persons per home. This is only an estimate and may grow into a larger service; however, DAAS does expect the service to begin small and grow slowly.

Since a patient liability is not required for the ElderChoices category, a spreadsheet “EC Liability Worksheet” was developed which can be accessed in ANSWER to determine the patient liability.  This spreadsheet was developed only to assist the county worker to compute the patient liability.  This does not require the applicant/recipient’s signature and should not be given to the applicant/recipient. 

The following provides the procedures in completing the task of computing the recipient’s cost of care: 

• The DAAS RN will send to the county worker a DHS-3330 requesting a patient liability to be calculated for a potential recipient of the Adult Family Home service.

• The county worker will compute the patient liability using the current income by accessing the spreadsheet and narrate in ANSWER.  If additional information is required from the applicant/recipient per MS 26230, the county worker will send a DHS-3330 informaing the DAAS RN of this action.

• The county worker will send a 10 day notice via the DCO-700 when additional information (per MS 26230) is needed to determine the patient liability.  The DCO-700 will explain what information is needed to determine the patient's liability for the Adult Family Home service.  If not received by the 10th day, then the patient liability will be computed without allowing these expenses and narrated in ANSWER.

• The county worker will send the DHS-3330 providing the liability amount under “other”.  If this amount was computed without allowing any expenses as the county worker had not received a response from the applicant/recipient, this must also be noted on the DHS-3330.

• The county worker will send a DCO-700 to the applicant/recipient providing the patient liability amount which is the applicant/recipient’s contribution of care.

• DAAS will key the patient liability amount to the Recipient Waiver screen which provides this amount to MMIS and will notify the Adult Family Home provider.

Any action taken on an active ElderChoices case record that changes the amount of patient liability must be reported to the DAAS RN the same day as the new liability amount and the effective date of the change.

If you have any questions, please contact your Program Support Specialist.

Inquiries:         Judy Dauterman, 501-682-8259

                         Carmen Banks, 501-682-8258

                         Carla Droughn, 501-682-8254

                         Dona Young, 501-682-1562