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PCA Choice and Traditional PCA: What’s the Difference?

Clients/Responsible Parties/Program Participants

You are ultimately responsible to decide whether PCA Choice or traditional PCA is best for you, your care needs, and your care staff. Many clients and responsible parties have said that they have not been fully informed of the options available to them, or the impacts of this decision on their caregivers. The information on this page is meant to help you to make an informed decision.

Choosing a PCA Agency

There are hundreds of PCA agencies in Minnesota, and you can choose to sign on (or “affiliate”) with any agency that serves your area and personal care needs. When choosing an agency, remember that you are hiring them for a service and that you are free to end that relationship and choose another agency at any time. There are two primary types of service model an agency can provide: PCA Choice and traditional PCA. When you affiliate with an agency, you should ask whether they offer traditional, Choice, or both. If the agency offers both Choice and traditional, you should be given the ability to choose which option works best for you and your caregivers. The information below will help you to better understand these options.

If you are already working with a PCA agency, the written agreement between you and your agency will reflect your current choice between traditional PCA and PCA Choice. However, you can change which model you’re using at any time. It should be your decision how you want to access your care, and what your caregivers have access to. If you want to change your service model, tell your agency which model you want to use and they’ll tell you if they offer that option. If they do, you’ll simply need to sign a new agreement with the agency. If your current agency does not offer the model you want, you can choose another agency that does. You’ll find a link to a recent list of PCA Choice agencies at the bottom of this page.

PCA Choice & Traditional PCA

Same Reimbursement Rate

In both PCA Choice and traditional PCA, caregivers and Clients use a PCA agency to process timesheets and payroll. When a caregiver submits a timesheet, the PCA agency reports those hours to the state and receives reimbursement for each hour the caregiver has worked. From this reimbursement, the agency pays the caregiver their wage and any benefits, and keeps the rest of the reimbursement rate for administrative costs, overhead, and any profits.

Both service models receive the same reimbursement rate from the state. Regardless of whether the agency offers PCA Choice or traditional PCA, this is what the PCA agency is reimbursed for every hour a caregiver works:

What’s the Difference?

For the Client, the main difference between PCA Choice and traditional PCA is a matter of who is responsible for making decisions about your care staff. In traditional PCA, the agency is responsible for employment-related activities such as finding, hiring, discharging, and setting wages for staff. In PCA Choice, the Client is responsible for finding, hiring, and discharging their staff, while the wage and benefit standards for PCA Choice care staff are mostly determined by the Home Care Workers Union Contract (summarized below, but the full contract can be viewed here: SEIU Home Care Workers Union Contract).

What are the benefits for caregivers in PCA Choice?

The wages and benefits outlined below, which are part of the current union contract between SEIU Healthcare MN/IA and the State of Minnesota, are only guaranteed to caregivers in the PCA Choice, CDCS and CSG programs. Home care workers whose clients are in the traditional PCA program are not guaranteed these wages and benefits, as the wages and benefits in traditional PCA are decided by the agency.

Training & Stipends