Self-direction is a system of medical care for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) which gives them or their representative control over the services they receive and support they receive. As against traditional systems, self-direction uses a person-centered planning process and gives the decision-making authority to determine the type of support and services that work best for their needs. Self-Direction software gives such individuals control over the services they get and how they receive these services including who provides them. Here’s how the self-direction system compares with the traditional Medicare service.
Comparison between Self-Direction and Traditional Services
Choosing Caregivers
This is one of the fundamental areas where traditional healthcare differs from self-direction. Under the traditional system, caregivers are recruited or hired by the agency and individuals have no over the hiring process of who is hired. This means you will have to accept the agency supplied caregiver whether you know or trust the person or not. Also, it isn’t uncommon for agency selected caregivers to be unavailable due to shortages.
With self-direction, you can choose your caregivers. This can be a professional, or just a trusted neighbor or loved when. Self-directed care also allows you to choose backup caregivers for situations when the primary caregiver is unavailable.
Choosing the Services
In traditional systems, individuals have little or no say over the types of services they get. This is determined entirely by the case managers. The situation is different for a self-directed service. An individual will be able to work out details of the services he/she needs with the help of the case manager. This allows you to factor in your specific needs and individual challenges in choosing the health care services to be received.
Setting Tasks
In addition to choosing the caregivers and the services you get, the self-direction also gives you the freedom to determine the tasks that your caregivers perform. in the traditional system, this is determined by the agency and is subject to several restrictions. Caregivers assigned by an agency will only perform specific tasks stated in their contract due to liability issues. Hence, your caregiver might be unable to assist you with some tasks even when you need them. In a self-directed system, participants can determine the types of tasks they need their caregiver to perform so that they can live the most comfortable life possible.
Click here for more on getting self-direction help from OPWDD (Office for People With Developmental Disability.
Caregiver Pay Rates
Agencies set how much caregivers are paid in a traditional system. In most cases, this is a lot less than what caregivers get under the self-directed system and this has huge implications on the quality of service delivered. Lower rates mean finding qualified caregivers will be difficult.
Self-direction allows you to set the pay rate you want for your caregiver. Although there are still guidelines that must be adhered to for specific programs, the final decision on how much you want to pay your caregiver is still up to you. Being able to set higher pay rates increases the chances of recruiting and maintaining better-qualified caregivers which are quite important.
Training Caregivers
The self-direction also gives you control over how caregivers that will tend to you are trained. In the traditional program, the agency trains the caregivers. In most cases, participants may not be satisfied with how agency hired caregivers are trained. With self-direction, you can tailor the caregiver’s training to your specific needs and personal preferences.
The Schedule
Like everything else, the schedule of caregivers in the traditional scheme is set by the agency. This may pose several problems including the possibilities of having no caregivers to cover some shifts or changing caregivers assigned to you at any time based on the agency schedule. The self-direction allows you to choose who attends to you and when. You can determine the schedule that works best for you based on your specific needs.
Follow this link for more self-direction guidelines https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/ltss/self-directed/index.html
Conclusion
Although self-direction offers several benefits over traditional systems, that’s not to say it is without its problems too. While it gives you the total authority of decisions it also requires more effort on your part than the traditional system which takes the stress of decision making off your hands. You might want to put that into consideration when comparing both systems.
