Personal Care Assistance (PCA)

Personal Care Assistance (PCA)

Personal care assistance (PCA) is a Minnesota health care program that provides services to seniors and people with disabilities to help them remain independent in the community. PCA workers provide covered services in a person’s home or in the community.

Services

PCA covers these four basic categories of services:

• Activities of daily living (ADLs): Activities a person needs to carry out on a daily basis to remain healthy and safe. The covered ADLs are dressing, grooming, bathing, eating, positioning, transfers and mobility.
• Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs): Activates a person needs to carry out on a regular basis to remain independent. Examples include shopping, paying bills and meal preparation.
• Health-related procedures and tasks: Tasks such as supporting a person with self-administered medications or help with range of motion exercises.
• Observation and redirection of behaviors: Monitoring a person’s behaviors and redirecting them to more positive behaviors when needed.

Eligibility

To be eligible for PCA, a person must:

• Live in the community and not a facility, such as a hospital or nursing home.
• Be able to direct care or have a representative who can direct care on their behalf.
• Be enrolled in one of Minnesota’s health care programs (Medical Assistance, MA waiver/Alternative Care). Some people on Minnesota Care are also eligible.
• Have an assessment that determines they are eligible. The person’s county, tribal nation or managed care organization conducts the assessment.

Options

All people who use PCA select from two service options, traditional PCA and PCA choice.
Similarities
In both options:

• The person selects a PCA provider agency.
• The person directs their services.
• The person has a say in who their PCA worker is.

Differences

In traditional PCA, the agency is responsible for all employment-related tasks. In PCA Choice, the person is responsible for some employment-related activities:

• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Training
• Supervising
• Scheduling
• Arranging for backup workers.
• Access