Illinois Overtime Implementation May 2016 Letter for HSP Customers & IPs

A letter reiterating the State of Illinois overtime policy for Home Services Program Customers and Individual Providers (IPs) was sent on May 2. You can view the letter below and print the PDF version of the letter from the following link:

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5/2/2016

 State of Illinois

Dear Home Services Program Customer or Individual Provider:

As indicated in the Department's March 31, 2016 correspondence, and after a five-month grace period, the Department wants to remind you that the overtime policy distributed in November 2015 is now being fully implemented as of May 1, 2016.

Beginning May 1, occurrences will now be applied for unjustified uses of overtime. As noted in the Home Services Program (HSP) Overtime Policy, any Individual Provider who receives three occurrences of unjustified overtime will no longer be funded by the program and can no longer provide services to customers under the program.

The Home Services Program Overtime Policy also states it is not an appropriate use of overtime when a customer cannot or does not hire enough Individual Providers to cover the weekly hours on his/her Service Plan. This applies to all customers, including those who are approved under Category A and those who submit overtime justification forms under Category B. As indicated in the Department's March 31, 2016 letter that we sent to you, customers have been given a five month period to hire additional Individual Providers and back up Individual Providers. Customers who do not comply with these policy requirements will now have occurrences applied for unjustified uses of overtime beginning May 1.

It is important you address the following requirements if you have not already done so:

1. Identify and hire additional Individual Providers and back up Individual Providers to cover the weekly hours on your Service Plan.
   • If you are having difficulty locating additional Individual Providers, please contact your local office or the local Center for Independent Living in your area. If you have questions about the number of weekly hours on your Service Plan, please contact your local HSP office.
   • Nearly 5000 new IPs have signed up with the program since our efforts to recruit and expand supply began at the end of last year.
2. If you qualify for Category A exception, but have not submitted the Home Services Program Overtime Qualification Form, please submit the form to your local office for processing. To qualify for Category A, you must have Being Alone Hours on your Service Plan, as well as one of the following:
   • an Exceptional Care rate;
   • a Determination of Need score of 70 or more; or
   • a court-ordered Service Plan that exceeds HSP's Service Cost Maximums.
3. All Individual Providers who work overtime (more than 40 hours in a work week) must submit the Home Services Program Overtime Justification Form to the appropriate local office.
4. Individual Providers who serve more than one HSP customer on the same day and plan to claim travel time must submit the Home Services Program Travel Agreement. A Home Services Program Travel Time Sheet cannot be paid until a Travel Agreement has been submitted and reviewed by HSP Central Office.
5. As noted in previous letters, the Over Hours on Service Plans compliance policy also remains in effect and will be enforced.

The Home Services Program Overtime Policy and all forms related to Overtime and Travel, as well as helpful tools for customers and Individual Providers is posted on the Department of Human Services website at http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=81451 or by contacting your local HSP office.

The Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) wants to ensure that customers remain cared for in the community and DRS will continue to assist in any way possible through implementation of this policy. This policy is essential for the long-term viability and sustainability of the Home Services Program.

If you have questions regarding the Overtime or the Over Hours policies, please do not hesitate to contact your local office.

Sincerely,
Home Services Program Staff

• HSP Overtime Letter 5-2-2016 (PDF)