Who Decides IHSS Hours in California

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.

What families can usefully describe

Speak in tasks, not in a hoped-for weekly total. Walk through a typical morning, afternoon, and night. Who helps with bathing, dressing, toileting, transfers, meals, medication reminders that are not skilled nursing, laundry, and housecleaning tied to staying safely home? What happens if that helper is not there? If a mental impairment creates a safety risk when the person is alone, describe incidents, not a label.

• Describe help that is already happening, including who does it now.
• Describe what the person can still do safely alone.
• Show the bathroom, kitchen, and sleeping space if the worker asks.
• Bring a simple day-of-week note if memory is hard. Do not bring a spreadsheet of invented hours.

An adult child can be present if the parent wants that. The recipient is still the person being assessed. If you will be the provider later, this visit is not enrollment. Enrollment is a separate packet after you know you will give the care.

The Notice of Action is the plan

The county sends a Notice of Action with authorized tasks and hours. Read it before you quit a job, set a live-in schedule, or promise a relative a paycheck. What IHSS covers explains service categories under state law. Your notice is the only list that counts for this person. If something on the notice does not match the visit, ask the worker how to request a review. This site does not invent an appeal deadline. The notice in your hand states the county’s process.

Wage rates are a different local fact. Unions negotiate with the county employer of record. Ask the county for the current rate. Do not copy a number from another county. If a share of cost applies, unpaid share of cost can come out of the provider warrant. Hours on the notice and dollars on the warrant are related, not identical.

What this page will not publish

This page will not publish a maximum weekly hour figure, a per-task minute table, or a “typical parent hours” average. Those figures go stale and are not your parent’s plan. The social worker applies Hourly Task Guidelines to the person in front of them. If you need the guideline that applies to a task, ask the worker on the case.

Official assessment sources

Read CDSS IHSS and reach the worker through the county office list. If you want help preparing a typical-day description for that visit, you can ask for help.