What to Send with an IHSS Application

Complete pages beat extra paper

County IHSS offices file what they can read. A signed SOC 295, a completed SOC 873 or acceptable alternative documentation, and matching names give a clerk something to open. A grocery bag of hospital records, lab results, and a diagnosis dump does not replace those pages. Extra records can slow the file because someone has to hunt for the signature line.

This is the same advice on the families checklist: mail or upload the pages the county asked for. Keep medical records for the county packet. Use a contact form only for a name and a way to reach you. The county still decides eligibility and hours.

The set that usually belongs in the first envelope

• SOC 295 with the applicant’s information and required signatures
• SOC 873, or acceptable alternative documentation, from a licensed health professional
• Any local cover sheet or extra page the county named in a letter or call
• A return address and a phone number the office can use

If Medi-Cal is still pending, you can say so on the application and keep working the Medi-Cal file on BenefitsCal or with the county Medi-Cal office. IHSS still needs that determination before services are authorized. Do not attach a guessed income worksheet or a printed wage chart. Those numbers are local and change. Leave hour totals and wages for the social worker and the county.