The Effect of Consumer Direction on Personal Assistance Received in Arkansas

The traditional system of providing Medicaid personal care services (PCS) through home care agencies gives consumers few choices about how and when their care is provided. Because some agencies do not provide care on weekends or outside business hours, consumers may not receive care when they need it. Moreover, worker shortages make it difficult to ensure that beneficiaries receive all the care they entitled to. This study of Arkansas's Cash and Counseling Demonstration program, IndependentChoices, examines how this model of consumer direction changes the way that consumers meet their personal assistance needs. [51 PDF pages]