Monthly Contacts Policy Waiver

Policy Statement

Public Guardianship Office (PGO) Man 5800, Section 2020 – Monthly Contacts, requires monthly face-to-face contact with the person under guardianship.

This waiver applies to this policy for a limited time, for a limited group of clients.

Effective Dates

January 15, 2016 through June 30, 2016.

Applicability

For the remainder of State Fiscal Year 2016, monthly, face-to-face contact is waived for any client who 1) lives in a personal care home, group home, host home, community living arrangement, or assisted living facility, and 2) has weekly contact with at least two other licensed, community-based service providers.

Rules for Waiver

  1. PGO staff must:

    1. Make face-to-face contact every other month with clients to whom the waiver applies;

    2. For in-person contact months, follow all requirements of policy MAN 5800, Section 2020 – Monthly Contacts;

    3. For a “waiver month,” in which no in-person contact is required, follow all requirements of MAN 5800, Section 2020, except visiting the client in-person that month;

    4. Interview at least two of the licensed, community-based service providers who have weekly visits with the client to monitor provision of service to the client and the client’s progress and/or status on a monthly basis.

      In MAN 5800, Section 2020, contact with a “family member, significant other or agency from which the ward receives or may receive services” is mentioned but does not specify the number of contacts that must be made or who must be contacted. For waiver months, at least two “licensed, community-based service providers” must be contacted;

    5. Speak to the operator of the home in which the client resides at least once in the waiver month;

    6. Speak by telephone to any client to whom the waiver applies who can use a telephone at least once in the waiver month; and,

    7. Document all case contacts in the Harmony system in a timely manner, as defined by PGO MAN 5800, Section 2002 – Documentation Timeliness.

  2. The waiver is not applicable to clients who experience health, residential, or other crises.

  3. PGO Supervisors must review case records to verify that clients who are visited every other month meet all criteria for the waiver.

References

PGO MAN 5800, Section 2002 – Documentation Timeliness
PGO MAN 5800, Section 2020 – Monthly Contacts