Moving to Another California County with IHSS

Statewide program, local case

The California Department of Social Services administers IHSS statewide. County social services offices take applications, assess need, and authorize tasks. When your parent’s home moves from one county to another, the new county becomes the office that runs the file. That is ordinary administration. It is not a new eligibility theory. What IHSS is still applies. The door on the building changes.

Use the CDSS county IHSS office list for both numbers. Talking to the county office is the tone. You gather the addresses and the case numbers. The two offices tell you what they transfer.

Ask both offices the same short list

1. Give the old address, the new address, and the date the home actually changes.
2. Ask the old county what they send and what you should carry yourself.
3. Ask the new county how they open or receive a case from another county.
4. Ask whether Medi-Cal must be updated in the new county on its own track. Start with BenefitsCal if they point you there.
5. Ask whether a new SOC 295 or a new SOC 873 is required.
6. Ask whether a new home visit is required in the new county.
7. Ask how the provider file, timesheets, and EVV follow the move.

Write the answers into the folder. Tracking paperwork matters more during a move than during a quiet month. Do not invent a number of days for the transfer. Each office can tell you what is typical locally.

Bring copies. Do not assume the chart follows you.

Carry dated copies of the application, SOC 873, the latest Notice of Action, provider enrollment pages, and the listing that lets the county speak with you. The new county may already have some of this. Having your own copies prevents a week of empty callbacks.

Update the listed contact if the person the old county called no longer lives nearby. The new office cannot guess which adult child to use. Ask them to file the local authorization they accept.

Provider pay and local rules can change

Hourly rates vary because unions negotiate with the county employer of record. Workweek and overtime rules are also asked locally. A move can change the number on the next warrant even when authorized tasks look similar. Ask the new county rather than using the old stub as a promise. First payment still applies if enrollment has to be refreshed.

If the provider is changing because of the move, treat that as a provider change plus a county transfer. Two requests, one folder.

The home still has to be “own home”

IHSS remains for people living at home or in an abode of their own choosing. A move into a nursing facility or a licensed community care facility is a different setting. Eligibility states that line. If the move is a discharge from a hospital into a new house, read after hospital discharge as well.

Share of cost can also look different after a Medi-Cal county change. Ask the new Medi-Cal unit whether a share of cost applies before you treat the old warrant as a model. Ask the new IHSS office how you are listed there, even if the old county already had your name. Ask whether the provider must repeat orientation or only update an address on the existing file. The families page is still the adult-child path after the boxes are unpacked. If you want help lining up the two county calls and the folder, ask for help. The new county still decides the local case.