By Shannin Prather
April 2019 | 2019 Spring Newsletter
Santa Clara County has a large In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) population. The large number of IHSS recipients and Independent Care Providers (IPs) reaching out to IHSS each day often leads to long wait times on the phone or waiting at the lobby when visiting the IHSS office.
IHSS Program Manager Terri Possley suggests IPs enroll in Electronic Timesheets (ETS) and Direct Deposit. By doing so, IPs can submit their timesheets and receive their pay more quickly than when done via mail.
Using Direct Deposit and Electronic Timesheets also decreases the amount of time IHSS staff spend responding to payroll and timesheet questions, which are very common. IHSS staff is then available to work on other needs for consumers and providers.
The current state of the IHSS population in Santa Clara County illustrates why long wait times may be experienced when calling IHSS, when consumers contact their social worker, or when a consumer requests a list of providers from the Public Authority Registry.
As of February 1, 2019:
- 24,567 individuals are receiving IHSS in Santa Clara County
- 360 new consumers have joined IHSS each month, on average
- 24,885 IHSS providers are enrolled in Santa Clara County
- 441 new providers have enrolled to be IHSS providers each month, on average
- 566 calls are received by IHSS each day, on average
- 407 visitors have been served at the IHSS lobby window each week, on average
- 350 consumer cases are managed by each IHSS social worker in Santa Clara County
- 1061 consumers receive ongoing assistance from the Public Authority Registry to find IHSS providers
- 209 providers listed on the Registry are available to work for additional consumers.
- 4 Registry Specialists at Public Authority Registry build individualized provider lists for IHSS consumers per each request.
Care Providers can enroll in Direct Deposit by calling (866) 376-7066, option 2, or request an SOC 829 form to be mailed to you. To enroll in the ETS system visit: etimesheets.ihss.ca.gov.