A Personal Care Assistant is also known as a caregiver, who provides care in the patient’s home, according to the recommendations of a Public Health Nurse and your Health Plan Provider.

The services a PCA may provide include bathing, grooming, dressing, meal preparation, behavior monitoring, mobility and light housekeeping.

The types of care and how many hours per day for which you qualify are determined by the Public Health Nurse.

The patient’s PCA cannot be:

• A spouse
• A recipient of home health services
• The parent of a minor child
• A corporate guardian
• A step-parent
• The responsible party

Currently, Integra Health Care works with Medical Assistance, Medica, Health Partners and Blue Plus/Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans. However, as these partnerships change from time to time, it is best to call our office for confirmation. We also provide services to persons with Waivered services through their county.

You must be eligible for Medical Assistance. Please contact us or your local health agency to determine your eligibility.

You must be assessed by a Public Health Nurse in the County you live in to see if you need PCA services.

If you are the patient, you must be able to make decisions regarding your care or have a Responsible Party who can make decisions for you. For example, a minor child under the age of 18 or a person not able to make his or her own decisions due to a physical or mental disability requires a designated Responsible Party.

A Responsible Party is the formal designation for the person who will be making the health care decisions for the person requiring home health services. The requirements for a Responsible Party include:

Must be at least 18 years old Cannot be your PCA Must be available to the patient and the PCA and help to monitor care Must attend the Public Health Nurse Assessment and be prepared to sign any documents related to home health services.

Once you’re verified to receive services, we’ll begin the process of assigning a PCA who can best accommodate the needs of your loved one. All of our PCA’s must have the required training, complete our application materials, and pass our background check.

Integra will assign a Nurse Case Manager, who will visit you and, if required, train your PCA or PCAs to make sure your care needs are met. The Nurse Case Manager will also answer any questions you may have and make certain you’re happy with your services.

If you do not qualify for covered services, Integra Health Care can arrangement a self-pay account. Please contact our office at (952) 985-0672 for details.

All of our PCAs, also known as Caregivers, are employees of Integra Health Care and are bonded and insured.

Unlike some home health care agencies, we do not use outside contractors to provide our services. We use an in-house staff because doing so provides far greater quality control.

We also use our own employees as additional protection for you because we thoroughly screen our PCAs to ensure they meet our high standards.

The State of Minnesota goes to great lengths to ensure the protection of all workers within the state through strict requirements and regulations. We take great precautions to protect our clients from any violations of these requirements and regulations.

In addition:

• Integra Health Care complies with the State of Minnesota’s Industrial Welfare Commission’s Order, which strictly regulates the wages, hours and working conditions of household occupations.
• Integra Health Care provides all Minnesota Worker’s Compensation insurance to cover work related injuries for caregivers in your home.
• Integra Health Care provides unemployment insurance for our caregivers to protect our clients from being charged with back fees in the event a caregiver were to file for unemployment

Integra Health Care withholds and pays the employer portion of all federal, state and local taxes, as well as files all of the relevant paperwork.