Ohio Administrative Code › Title 5123 - Department of Developmental Disabilities › Chapter 5123-9 - Home and Community-Based Services Waivers › Section 5123-9-13 - Home and community-based services waivers - career planning under the individual options, level one, and self-empowered life funding waivers

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) Purpose
This rule defines career planning and sets forth provider
				qualifications, requirements for service delivery and documentation of
				services, and payment standards for the service. The expected outcome of career
				planning is the individual's achievement of competitive integrated employment
				and/or career advancement in competitive integrated employment.
(B) Definitions
For the purposes of this rule, the following definitions
				apply:
(1)
									"Acuity assessment group" means one of four groups (i.e.,
			 group A-1, group A, group B, or group C) to which an individual is assigned
			 based on the individual's score resulting from administration of the acuity
			 assessment instrument in accordance with rule
			 5123-9-19 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(2) "Adult day support"
			 has the same meaning as in rule
			 5123-9-17 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(3) "Agency provider"
			 means an entity that directly employs at least one person in addition to a
			 director of operations for the purpose of providing services for which the
			 entity is certified in accordance with rule
			 5123-2-08 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(4) "Career planning"
			 means individualized, person-centered, comprehensive employment planning and
			 support that provides assistance for individuals to achieve or advance in
			 competitive integrated employment. Career planning is a focused and
			 time-limited engagement of an individual in identification of a career
			 direction and development of a plan for achieving competitive integrated
			 employment and the supports needed to achieve that employment. Components of
			 career planning include:
(a) Benefits
			 education and analysis. Benefits education and analysis, also known as "work
			 incentives planning," provides information to individuals, families, guardians,
			 advocates, service and support administrators, and educators about the impact
			 of paid employment on a range of public assistance and benefits programs,
			 including but not limited to supplemental security income, social security
			 disability insurance, medicaid buy-in for workers with disabilities, medicare
			 continuation benefits, veteran's benefits, supplemental nutrition assistance
			 program, and housing assistance. A maximum of four benefits education and
			 analyses may be funded through the individual's waiver in a waiver eligibility
			 span.
(b) Career discovery. Career
			 discovery is an individualized, comprehensive process to help an individual,
			 who is pursuing individualized integrated employment or self-employment, reveal
			 how interests and activities of daily life may be translated into possibilities
			 for integrated employment. Career discovery results in identification of the
			 individual's interests in one or more specific aspects of the job market; the
			 individual's skills, strengths, and other contributions likely to be valuable
			 to employers or valuable to the community if offered through self-employment;
			 and conditions necessary for the individual's successful employment or
			 self-employment. This service culminates in development of a written career
			 discovery profile summarizing the process, revelations, and recommendations for
			 next steps to be used to develop the individual's vocational portfolio. A
			 maximum of four career discovery processes may be funded through the
			 individual's waiver in a waiver eligibility span.
(c) Career exploration. Career exploration
			 assists an individual to interact with job holders and observe jobs and job
			 tasks. Career exploration may include informational interviews with and/or
			 shadowing persons who are actually performing the job duties of the identified
			 occupation. When possible, the individual will be given an opportunity to
			 perform actual job duties as well.
(d) Employment/self-employment plan.
			 Employment/self-employment plan is an individualized service to create a clear
			 plan for employment or the start-up phase of self-employment and includes a
			 planning meeting involving the job seeker and other key people who will be
			 instrumental in supporting the job seeker to become employed in competitive
			 integrated employment. The service may include career advancement planning for
			 individuals who are already employed. This service culminates in development of
			 a written employment plan directly tied to the results of career exploration,
			 if previously authorized, situational observation and assessment, and/or career
			 discovery. For individuals seeking self-employment, this service culminates in
			 development of a self-employment business plan that identifies training and
			 technical assistance needs and potential supports and resources for those
			 services as well as potential sources of business financing given that medicaid
			 funds may not be used to defray the capital expenses associated with starting a
			 business. A maximum of four employment/self-employment plans may be funded
			 through the individual's waiver in a waiver eligibility span.
(e) Job development. Job development is an
			 individualized service to develop a strategy to achieve competitive integrated
			 employment. The job development strategy will reflect best practices. The
			 service may include analyzing a job site, identifying necessary accommodations,
			 and negotiating with an employer for customized employment. This service is
			 intended to result in achievement of competitive integrated employment
			 consistent with the job seeker's or job holder's personal and career goals as
			 identified in the individual service plan, as determined through career
			 exploration, situational observation and assessment, career discovery, and/or
			 the employment planning process. This service will not be provided to an
			 individual on place four of the path to competitive integrated employment as
			 described in paragraph (D)(2)(d) of rule
			 5123-2-05 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(f) Self-employment launch.
			 Self-employment launch is support to implement a self-employment business plan
			 and launch a business. This service is intended to result in the achievement of
			 an integrated employment outcome consistent with the job seeker's or job
			 holder's personal and career goals as identified in the individual service
			 plan, as determined through career exploration, situational observation and
			 assessment, career discovery, and/or the employment planning process. This
			 service will not be provided to an individual on place four of the path to
			 competitive integrated employment as described in paragraph (D)(2)(d) of rule
			 5123-2-05 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(g) Situational observation
			 and assessment. Situational observation and assessment is observation and
			 assessment, not to exceed thirty days, of the individual's interpersonal
			 skills, work behaviors, and vocational skills through practical, experiential,
			 community integrated, paid work experiences related to the individual's
			 preferences as established in the individual service plan. Information gathered
			 through situational observation and assessment provides a context to further
			 determine the skills or behaviors to be developed by the individual to ensure
			 success in the individual's preferred work environment. A maximum of four
			 situational observations and assessments may be funded through the individual's
			 waiver in a waiver eligibility span.
(h) Worksite accessibility. Worksite
			 accessibility includes:
(i) Time spent
			 identifying the need for and ensuring the provision of reasonable worksite
			 accommodations that allow the job seeker or job holder to gain, retain, and
			 enhance employment or self- employment; and
(ii) Time spent ensuring the provision of
			 reasonable worksite accommodations through partnership efforts with the
			 employer and, when appropriate, the opportunities for Ohioans with disabilities
			 agency.
(5) "Competitive
			 integrated employment" means work (including self- employment) that is
			 performed on a full-time or part-time basis:
(a) For which an individual is:
(i) Compensated:
(a) At a rate that is not less than the
			 higher of the rate specified in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,
			 29 U.S.C.
			 206(a)(1), as in effect on
			 the effective date of this rule, or the rate specified in the applicable state
			 or local minimum wage law and is not less than the customary rate paid by the
			 employer for the same or similar work performed by other employees who do not
			 have disabilities, and who are in similar occupations by the same employer and
			 who have similar training, experience, and skills; or
(b) In the case of an individual who is
			 self-employed, yields an income that is comparable to the income received by
			 persons without disabilities, who are self-employed in similar occupations or
			 on similar tasks and who have similar training, experience, and skills;
			 and
(ii) Eligible for
			 the level of benefits provided to other full-time and part- time
			 employees;
(b) At a
			 location where the individual interacts with persons without disabilities to
			 the same extent as employees who are not receiving home and community-based
			 services;
(c) That is not performed
			 in:
(i) Dispersed enclaves in which
			 individuals work in a self-contained unit within a company or service site in
			 the community or perform multiple jobs in the company, but are not integrated
			 with non- disabled employees of the company; or
(ii) Mobile work crews comprised solely of
			 individuals operating as a distinct unit and/or self-contained business working
			 in several locations within the community; and
(d) That, as appropriate, presents
			 opportunities for advancement that are similar to those for persons without
			 disabilities who have similar positions.
(6) "County board"
			 means a county board of developmental disabilities.
(7) "Customized
			 employment" means competitive integrated employment designed to meet the
			 specific abilities of an individual with a significant disability and the
			 business needs of an employer that is carried out through flexible strategies
			 such as job exploration by the individual and working with an employer to
			 facilitate placement including:
(a)
			 Customizing a job description based on current employer needs or on previously
			 unidentified and unmet employer needs;
(b) Developing a set of job duties, a work
			 schedule and job arrangement, and specifics of supervision (including
			 performance evaluation and review), and determining a job location;
			 and
(c) Providing services and
			 supports at the job location.
(8)
			 "Department" means the Ohio department of developmental disabilities.
(9)
			 "Fifteen-minute billing unit" means a billing unit that equals fifteen minutes
			 of service delivery time or is greater or equal to eight minutes and less than
			 or equal to twenty-two minutes of service delivery time. Minutes of service
			 delivery time accrued throughout a day will be added together for the purpose
			 of calculating the number of fifteen-minute billing units for the
			 day.
(10) "Group employment
			 support" has the same meaning as in rule
			 5123-9-16 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(11) "Independent
			 provider" means a self-employed person who provides services for which the
			 person is certified in accordance with rule
			 5123-2-09 of the Administrative
			 Code and does not employ, either directly or through contract, anyone else to
			 provide the services.
(12) "Individual"
			 means a person with a developmental disability or for purposes of giving,
			 refusing to give, or withdrawing consent for services, the person's guardian in
			 accordance with section
			 5126.043 of the Revised Code or
			 other person authorized to give consent.
(13)
			 "Individual employment support" has the same meaning as in rule
			 5123-9-15 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(14) "Individual
			 service plan" means the written description of services, supports, and
			 activities to be provided to an individual.
(15) "Mentor" means a
			 person employed by or under contract with the agency provider who has
			 experience providing direct services to persons with developmental disabilities
			 and who is available on a regular basis to provide guidance to new direct
			 support professionals regarding techniques and practices that enhance the
			 effectiveness of the provision of career planning.
(16)
									"Pay stub" means
			 a document issued by an employer that shows, for a specified period of time, an
			 employee's gross earnings, deductions from those earnings, and net
			 pay.
(17) "Service and
			 support administrator" means a person, regardless of title, employed by or
			 under contract with a county board to perform the functions of service and
			 support administration and who holds the appropriate certification in
			 accordance with rule
			 5123-5-02 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(18) "Service
			 documentation" means all records and information on one or more documents,
			 including documents that may be created or maintained in electronic software
			 programs, created and maintained contemporaneously with the delivery of
			 services, and kept in a manner as to fully disclose the nature and extent of
			 services delivered that includes the items delineated in paragraph (E) of this
			 rule to validate payment for medicaid services.
(19) "Vocational
			 habilitation" has the same meaning as in rule
			 5123-9-14 of the Administrative
			 Code.
(20) "Waiver
			 eligibility span" means the twelve-month period following either an
			 individual's initial waiver enrollment date or a subsequent eligibility re-
			 determination date.