Westchester County Department of Social Services

The department of Social Services is responsible for the needs assessment, eligibility determination and authorization of a wide range of medical and home-care services to Medicaid recipients.

All home-care services are designed to insure the health and safety of elderly, infirm, or disabled individuals by providing a range of home based services which assist in maintaining the recipient at home. Home-care services are physician ordered and supervised by a registered nurse. Licensed providers under contract with and monitored by Department of Social Services, are responsible for service delivery.

Below are the home-care services available to Medicaid recipients:

• Personal Care Services provide assistance with the activities of daily living: personal hygiene, dressing and feeding, household tasks and nutrition. They may be combined with other services such as visiting nurse or hospice.

• Consumer Directed Personal Care Assistance Program (CDPAP) enables the individual who can recruit, hire, and train their personal care aide, to manage the delivery of their own home care.
  
  
• Managed Care Long Term Program (MCLTP)provides a pre-capitated program of coordinated healthcare through the New York State approved MCLTP. The patient who is most appropriate for the MCLTP Program is frail-elderly; has a complex medical profile; is nursing home eligible or wishes to be discharged from a nursing home; has a community residence but has medical needs too costly for the Long Term Home Health Care Program.

  Patients who are admitted to MCLTP receive all their medical care from MCLTP medical staff. Medical day care is also available at that location. MCLTP participants also receive any home care; waivered services, hospital and nursing home care under the capitated fee.

• Assisted Living Program (ALP) serves individuals who are medically eligible for residential health care facility placement but whose needs could be met in a less restrictive setting. Care needs are met by combining the services of an adult home or enriched housing program with supportive home care services.

• Certified Home Health Services (CHHA) are health services such as nursing services, physical therapy or home health aide services provided at home rather than in a hospital or nursing home.

• Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) is a telephone electronic monitoring device that summons emergency assistance to homebound individuals. This device is used in conjunction with Personal Care or Long Term Home Health Care Services.

• Care-at-Home is a program designed to enable parents to care for their severely physically disabled child at home by providing medical assistance, case management, and respite care services to children aged 0-18 who would be Medicaid-eligible if institutionalized.

• Private Duty Nursing Services (PD NRSG) may be provided, as medically needed, to a medical assistance patient, in the patient’s home, when the patient is in need of continuous nursing care beyond that available from a home health agency. The services must be pre-approved by the local Department of Social Services (Medical/Home Care Services). All requests are based on a letter of medical justification from the ordering physician or nurse practitioner. A Department of Social Services (DSS) or Westchester County Department of Health (WCDOH) nurses assesses patients in their homes.

How to apply for home care services
Eligibility for all home care programs is determined by the Office of Medical Home Care Services located at 112 East Post Rd., 4th and 5th Floors, White Plains, NY 10601. The phone number is (914) 995-6431.

Nursing home care
Chronic Care Medical Assistance is a financial service available to meet the cost of nursing home care. Through our Deputized Worker Program, staff at a majority of homes and hospitals in Westchester have been trained to conduct eligibility interviews in their facility for the convenience of those  already residing there or hospitalized and in need of  placement. Eligibility is determined by the Institutional Assistance Unit located at 100 East 1st St., 6th Floor, Mount Vernon, NY 10550. The phone number is (914) 813-6618. To make an appointment or file an application, call (914) 813-6080.

Long-term care
NY Connects provides information about long-term care options for seniors and for disabled children and adults. The local contact number is (914) 813-6300.