Responsibilities of PCM agencies

• Conducting intake and orientation to MassHealth members to determine if the member is MassHealth eligible;

• Providing information to the member about the PCA program and the member's roles and responsibilities;

• Conducting PCA initial evaluations and re-evaluations and submit prior authorization requests to MassHealth;

• Conducting an assessment of the member's ability to manage the PCA program independently (i.e., does the member require a surrogate?);

• Developing a Service Agreement in conjunction with the consumer that: describes the roles and responsibilities of all involved parties (consumer, PCA, surrogate, PCM agency, FI); includes a description of the "back-up plan" that the consumer will use if a PCA suddenly quits or does not show up for work; includes the type and frequency the consumer needs to manage the PCA program successfully;

• Providing skills training in accordance with the Service Agreement to ensure that PCA consumers and their surrogates, if necessary, manage the PCA program successfully;

• Responding to requests for skills training from MassHealth, the FI, or the consumer in cases where the consumer appears to be having difficulty managing the PCA program successfully.