CFSS Series Part 2: The Budget Model – Podcast

Jason Dorow 

Welcome to the Champions of Homecare podcast. Today we’re excited to continue rolling along with a mini series. It’s episode number two, covering the new CFSS program and David, I’m excited that we get to get into more details of this new program coming to Minnesota.

David Hancox 

Absolutely, Jason, and just for our listeners, the Community First Services and Supports, or CFSS, if you haven’t heard, is a new self directed option developed by the state of Minnesota, and it’s offering those who need home services more choice, more control, and flexibility with their services and supports. On October 1, the transition to CFSS will begin. No more delays. People who receive services through the PCA or CSG programs will transition to CFSS during their regularly scheduled annual reassessments.

Jason Dorow 

And in preparation for those reassessments, we’re going to address three key components of CFSS through this mini series. We talked about the Agency Model in episode one, and now today, in episode two, we’re jumping to the Budget Model, and we have another rock star guest to help us out today. It’s Teresa Butler Schmidt, a Program Supervisor at Accra, she’s going to help us break down this component. Teresa, thanks so much for joining us. 

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Hi, Jason, David, thank you for having me. 

David Hancox 

Thanks, Teresa, for coming on to talk about this, because we know that the Budget Model is going to be an option that many, if not all, of current CSG and PCA recipients will want to consider. So to get us started, can you remind us what kind of services are available through CFSS, and specifically the Budget Model and which programs that CFSS is replacing?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yeah, so CFSS, Community First Services and Supports is going to replace the current PCA Choice and Consumer Support Grant program. Both the Agency Model and the Budget Model for CFSS will cover staffing supports to help an individual meet their assessed needs, covering ADLs and IADLs. What’s going to be really great for those families coming from PCA Choice is that they’re going to see an ability to purchase goods and services under CFSS that they can’t do right now under PCA Choice. Things that are really going to help the individual increase their independence, decrease that dependency on human assistance. The big advantage for our CSG families that are going to make the transition is that they’re going to see an increase in the funding available to them. Right now, the support grant is only funded by state funds, but under CFSS the Budget Model is supported by both federal and state funding, and so that’s going to really be a benefit for those families.

David Hancox 

Fantastic. And you know, if a client or their family chooses the Budget Model, but in the past, they’ve never had services or where they were, you know, employing their own workers before. Can they get help from Accra or another provider with recruiting, hiring, training, managing those direct care workers?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

 Yeah, absolutely. So Consultation Services is really going to be the team that helps with recruiting under the Budget Model. Accra is then going to help with the hiring piece of it. We’re going to make sure you get the application, all of the correct documentation, the background study and fingerprinting is complete, and we’re going to give you a lot of tools and resources so that you can work through training and, you know, advertising, we have supports for that. And then as you have questions throughout, you’ll have both your Budget Coordinator under the Budget Model and Consultation Services to really help guide through there.

David Hancox 

Wonderful, wonderful. And my assumption is that you still get to self direct your own care, write your own plan under the Budget Model, just like you do now, under CSG.

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Correct. Consultation Services is available so they can help with writing the plan, but it’s not required. So you get to choose, as the participant or the participant representative, how much assistance do you want from Consultation Services with writing your plan, and then you continue to self direct, so you’re really the one overseeing the caregivers that you hire, training them, ensuring that they’re meeting the needs that are set forth for your family member or for yourself.

David Hancox 

You know Teresa, it just occurs to me that for some of our listeners, CSG, or the Consumer Service Grant, might not be the phrase or the descriptor that they typically use. What might be more common to them is FMS. But this transition to CFSS covers FMS as well, right? So that for our listeners who may not recognize that CSG terminology, if they are receiving what they refer to as FMS, it’s covered under the CFSS transition as well? 

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Correct, correct, FMS services. So Financial Management Services is the provider service title for this program, and we’re providing that role, same as we do right now under CSG to family. So doing a lot of those admittance administrative tasks for payroll and tax withholdings, things like that, paying out expenses.

David Hancox 

Okay, Jason, I’m sure you have questions as well.

Jason Dorow 

I do! In episode one, we talked about managing service units in the Agency Model. Over in the Budget Model now we have a budget that’s being managed. Can you tell us a little bit more about the details of managing a budget for clients?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yeah, of course. So the PCA units will be transitioned into a dollar amount, and so that dollar amount is going to be used to cover staffing, wages, and then those goods and services. So when you’re writing the plan, you’ll get to identify what your caregivers hourly rate is, how many hours they can work, and make that fit into the plan and your needs, and make adjustments too throughout the year if those needs change.

David Hancox 

And to be really clear, to follow up on Jason’s point, under the Budget Model, it’s the recipient, the client and or their family, who is really responsible for managing that budget with supports from Budget Model staff providers. 

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yes, the family or the participant, those are going to be the individuals who are directing what they want to have as part of their program services, and then we are supporting them and making those decisions and helping guide them through writing the plan and getting those approvals in place. 

David Hancox 

Well, Teresa, does that guidance and that support, does that include, for example, if a family or a client is using the Budget Model and say, one of the line items in their budget is getting close to spending all of the resources assigned to that line item. If they’re getting close to, you know, spending all those funds, does the Budget Model provider have the responsibility to kind of check in with them and let them know that they’re getting close to that, help them manage the budget, in that sense, so that they’re maintaining those line items within the budget?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yeah, so we’re going to send out, we’re going to help them develop their budget, and then we’re going to help them monitor it. So we’ve got a spending summary that will will indicate what was approved and what they spent. And then we’re going to help them monitor it too, so that they can know when we’re coming close to using up all the funds in those lines, what we have left is we’re getting towards the end of the year and making sure that they’re getting the best use out of the budget that they have.

David Hancox 

Wonderful. Okay, and we know that the transition, as we’ve already stated, to CFSS, starts on October 1, but that doesn’t mean that everybody in the PCA or the CSG programs will automatically switch to CFSS on that date. As we mentioned earlier, clients make that transition during their annual reassessment. So as people are preparing for that annual reassessment and that transition to CFSS using Consultation Services, but facing that decision of the Agency or the Budget Model, do you have any thoughts, suggestions, tips, tricks for people who are preparing for that reassessment and switching to CFSS, any suggestions to share?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yeah, so I would say, paying attention to that reassessment date. You know, those should happen 60 days prior to the end of the renewal and getting that scheduled is going to be really important. So if you’re coming up on that 60 day window and you haven’t heard from the county or the assessor, reach out so that gets on the calendar right away. The other piece, I would say, is taking a few minutes a day, a week, and reading through the communications that all of us providers are sending out, or listening to the podcasts, checking in with DHS, because that’s going to really help you be prepared and know what questions to ask when you get to that reassessment, and have a better idea of what’s coming up during the transition. But yeah, I think it’s going to be really exciting for everybody. So the more we can help folks be prepared, and the more they can follow up on those communications, I think the more prepared they’ll be for the reassessment.

Jason Dorow 

Great. Teresa, when you’re explaining the Budget Model to people who are, you know, a little bit anxious about this shift to CFSS, do you have a summary for them? Like a quick 30 second or 60 second summary, like this is what the Budget Model is. You’ll hear more about it from your consultation provider, but here’s a quick synopsis.

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s probably less unfamiliar for our families coming from the support grant, but really what it does is it gives you a budget based off of your assessed needs that you can use for hiring staff or getting goods and services to help you be independent. And that gives you more flexibility. Then in how you direct your program, there’s benefits to you know, we can have the paid parent of minor or spouse work. You have a little variety and what you set your staff’s rate at.

Jason Dorow 

That’s a great summary for the folks who are new to the Budget Model in CFSS as we wrap up here. Teresa, any final thoughts or things you wanted to share?

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Yes, so I’d like to say that those who are having an assessment 10/1, going forward, those are the ones who are going to start to see that CFSS transition take place. So just really being willing to ask questions and follow up with your current providers as that time is coming up.

David Hancox 

Wonderful, excellent. Teresa, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing some information for our listeners about the Budget Model and just anticipating the transition to CFSS in general. Thanks for taking your time today. It’s been very, very helpful and very informative. So thank you very much.

Teresa Butler Schmidt  

Thank you for having me.