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Eligibility
Who Decides IHSS Hours in California
Updated September 16, 2026. Reviewed September 16, 2026 against public CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, VA, and CareScout 2025 California tables. County wages, hours, and wait times still change. Official .gov pages decide.
How the county social worker authorizes tasks and hours, why the Notice of Action governs the plan, and what families can usefully describe.
About 4 minutes to read. Based on CDSS and DHCS public program pages retrieved 2026-09-16. County offices apply these rules. Hourly rates, hour totals, and wait times are local and change.
Short answer
A county IHSS social worker authorizes tasks and hours after an in-home assessment, using Functional Index Rankings, Annotated Assessment Criteria, and Hourly Task Guidelines. The Notice of Action is the plan that counts for a specific person. Families can usefully describe a typical day’s help. They do not assign hours, wage rates, or a statewide cap.
Who decides
The county social worker assigned to the IHSS case authorizes tasks and hours. The Notice of Action is the county’s written decision. Medi-Cal staff do not set IHSS hours. California Home Help does not set them either.
What to do next
Return SOC 873, prepare a typical-day description for the home visit, and read the Notice of Action when it arrives before you plan a work schedule or a paycheck.
Authorization is a county social-work decision
CDSS administers In-Home Supportive Services statewide. County social services offices send a social worker to the home. That worker assesses which daily tasks the person cannot safely do alone and authorizes service types and hours. Functional Index Rankings, Annotated Assessment Criteria, and Hourly Task Guidelines are the tools CDSS names for that work. They are not a public calculator you can run on this site.
That is why two neighbors with the same diagnosis can receive different plans. Eligibility decides whether the program applies. Hours decide how much authorized help the State will pay. Only the worker on the case combines those pieces into a Notice of Action.
What has to be true before hours can be authorized
Hours wait on the rest of the file. There must be a Medi-Cal eligibility determination. The person must live at home. SOC 873, or acceptable alternative documentation, must be received before services are authorized. The social worker still has to complete the in-home assessment.
If any of those pieces is missing, a family description of a hard week does not create a payable plan. Finish the packet, then describe the day.
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The short answer and first sections stay free. Create a free account to unlock the rest, including printable checklists and full planner detail. Education first. The county still decides.
Questions people ask
- Can I tell the social worker how many hours we need?
- You can describe the help that already happens on a typical day, task by task. The worker authorizes hours. Do not bring a total you invented from a forum.
- Is the Notice of Action just a summary?
- It is the authorized plan. Statewide service lists are educational. The notice is the list that counts for this person.
- Do Medi-Cal staff set the hours?
- No. Medi-Cal decides coverage and any share of cost. The IHSS social worker decides tasks and hours after the Medi-Cal determination and the rest of the file are in place.
Official sources for this guide
Related pages on California Home Help
Reviewed against CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, and CareScout public pages. We do not quote IHSS wages. County IHSS offices and Medi-Cal decide eligibility, hours, and pay. For current county wage rates, use the official CDSS wage page. CDSS county IHSS wage rates.
Official program pages: CDSS: In-Home Supportive Services, CDSS: IHSS for children, County IHSS offices, CDSS: IHSS providers, CDSS: county IHSS wage rates, CDSS: provider orientation, CDSS: Electronic Visit Verification, CDSS: Electronic Services Portal, DHCS: Medi-Cal, Apply for Medi-Cal, BenefitsCal, CDSS: hearing requests, CDSS: forms catalog, CDSS: IHSS overtime and workweek, DDS: regional centers.