The IHSS Glossary

IHSS time for a provider to take a recipient to and from medical appointments, and to other places where the recipient receives services that substitute for IHSS, and to stay during the visit if the recipient needs help there. It is authorized only when the recipient cannot make the trip alone and the provider is needed for the recipient’s care, not simply as a driver.

A protection that lets you keep receiving your current IHSS hours while you appeal a Notice of Action that reduces or terminates them — as long as you request your State Hearing before the action's effective date.

If you win the hearing, you keep the hours with no interruption. If you lose, the county may seek to recover the difference paid during the appeal, so this is a safety net for continuity of care, not a guaranteed final outcome.

A formal instruction from the California Department of Social Services to every county welfare department, telling counties how to carry out a law or regulation. ACLs are how most IHSS policy changes reach counties, from new wage rates to assessment rules, and they are public on the CDSS website. All-County Information Notices (ACINs) are the lighter, informational version.

The in-home visit in which a county social worker evaluates how much help a person needs with each IHSS service, using the Functional Index ranks and the Hourly Task Guidelines, and sets the monthly authorized hours. An initial assessment follows the application; a reassessment is normally done at least once every twelve months or when needs change.

The number of IHSS service hours per month the county approves for a recipient after the assessment, listed by service on the Notice of Action. Providers are paid only up to this total across all of a recipient’s providers. Hours are set by need and the Hourly Task Guidelines, not by how many hours a provider is available.

A person a recipient names in writing to act for them with the county: to apply, receive notices, attend the assessment and request a hearing. For IHSS it is set up through the county on its own form and is separate from a power of attorney or a conservatorship, which give broader legal authority.

The state agency that oversees the IHSS program statewide, sets the regulations counties must follow (including the Hourly Task Guidelines), and publishes the Manual of Policies and Procedures that governs how assessments are conducted.

CDSS sets the rules; your county social worker applies them during your in-home assessment.

The statewide database California uses to track IHSS case records, authorized hours, and provider payroll. Social workers enter your assessment results into CMIPS, and it's also the system that processes provider timesheets and issues paychecks.

One of four IHSS eligibility pathways, for Medi-Cal recipients who would otherwise need a nursing-home level of care. Most IHSS recipients are enrolled in CFCO. It allows up to 283 hours per month for severely impaired recipients, including Protective Supervision, and recipients automatically qualify for CFCO if they've been approved for Protective Supervision. CFCO differs from the other subprograms in one respect worth knowing: a non-severely impaired recipient who gets Protective Supervision can be authorized 195 hours of PS plus other services up to a total of 283 a month, where under IPO and IHSS-Residual that recipient would stay at 195.

The county social services department unit that takes IHSS applications, assigns the social worker, conducts assessments and issues Notices of Action. IHSS is state-funded but county-run, so every county has its own office, phone line and procedures. Applying for IHSS means contacting this office, not the state.

Payment of IHSS wages straight into a provider’s bank account instead of a mailed paper warrant. Providers sign up and change bank details in the Electronic Services Portal. New providers generally receive their first payments by mail until direct deposit is set up.

The IHSS service category covering light housekeeping tasks done on the recipient's behalf — sweeping, mopping, dishes, changing linens, and similar chores. Domestic Services has a time guideline cap (6:00 total per month per household, with possible adjustments) rather than the per-task Hourly Task Guideline ranges used for personal care tasks.

When more than one person lives in the household, hours may be prorated based on how many household members share the benefit of the task.

The state website, at etimesheets.ihss.ca.gov, where IHSS providers submit timesheets, check payment status and manage direct deposit, and where recipients review and approve those timesheets. Providers and recipients each register their own account; one person’s registration does not cover the other.

Since paper timesheets were phased out, ESP and the Telephone Timesheet System are the two ways to submit time.

A federal requirement (from the 21st Century Cures Act) that non-live-in IHSS providers electronically record the start time, end time, and location of each care visit — done through the IHSS EVV Mobile App, the Electronic Services Portal, or the Telephone Timesheet System. Live-in providers are exempt from EVV entirely. Location data is only captured when service is provided in the recipient's home, not in the community. Free step-by-step ESP registration guide →

The federal law that extended minimum wage, overtime, and travel-time pay protections to in-home care workers, including IHSS providers, starting in 2016. Under FLSA, IHSS providers earn overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, can be paid for travel time between recipients (up to 7 hours per workweek), and face workweek hour caps — typically 66 hours per week — unless a Workweek Exemption applies.

The 1–5 ranking system social workers use to measure how much help a recipient needs with a specific task, based on California's Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP §30-756.1):

Rank 1 — May have difficulty, but the task poses no substantial safety risk. No hours are authorized for this task.
Rank 2 — Needs verbal assistance only: reminding, guidance, or encouragement.
Rank 3 — Needs some physical, hands-on help to complete the task.
Rank 4 — Needs substantial physical assistance to complete the task.
Rank 5 — Cannot perform the task, even with help.

Each rank (2 through 5) corresponds to a range of authorized weekly hours from the Hourly Task Guidelines. Memory, Orientation, and Judgment are ranked on a separate 3-point scale (1, 2, or 5 only), which feeds into the Protective Supervision determination instead. See the full rank-by-rank reference, including where the line falls between Rank 3 and Rank 4.

An IHSS task covering occasional deep-cleaning needs beyond routine light housekeeping — such as cleaning a kitchen or bathroom that hasn't been properly maintained, often due to a recipient's prior inability to keep up with chores. Heavy Cleaning is authorized separately from regular Domestic Services and is excluded from certain IHSS hour-cap calculations used for CFCO eligibility.

The official time ranges California's social workers use to convert a Functional Index rank into a specific number of authorized hours per week for each task — bathing, dressing, meal preparation, ambulation, and more. The HTG is published by CDSS and grounded in regulatory authority under MPP §30-757.11 through 30-757.14(k).

For example, a higher Functional Index rank for a task (more assistance needed) maps to a higher range of weekly hours within the HTG table for that task.

An IHSS eligibility pathway specifically for recipients whose paid provider is their spouse or parent, or who receive an advance pay or restaurant meal allowance. IPO was originally a federal waiver program before becoming a standard Medi-Cal State Plan option.

An IHSS eligibility pathway for people who need in-home supportive services but aren't yet eligible for Medi-Cal. It provides a way to receive IHSS while a recipient's Medi-Cal eligibility is still being established or doesn't otherwise apply.

A statement of an IHSS provider’s earnings, requested from the county IHSS office or Public Authority for a landlord, lender or benefits agency. Counties usually require a signed release form, since IHSS pay records are held by the state payroll system. Pay stubs and the ESP payment history are the quicker alternatives when the requester accepts them.

The most common IHSS service delivery mode, in which the recipient directly hires, supervises, and can dismiss their own provider — including family members or friends. The two alternative modes are Contract Mode (the county contracts with an outside home-care agency) and County Homemaker Mode (the county directly trains and employs providers); recipients choose which mode they prefer.

The electronic fingerprinting used for the IHSS provider criminal background check, run through the California Department of Justice. It is part of provider enrollment; certain convictions (Tier 1 and Tier 2 crimes) bar a person from being an IHSS provider, and a recipient may waive some Tier 2 exclusions in writing.

An IHSS provider who lives in the same home as the recipient they care for. Live-in providers can self-certify their status using Form SOC 2298, which excludes their IHSS wages from federal and state income tax under IRS Notice 2014-7 — though Social Security and Medicare (FICA) withholding still applies. Live-in providers are also exempt from Electronic Visit Verification check-in/check-out requirements that apply to non-live-in providers.

The official regulatory text that governs the entire IHSS program — eligibility rules, the Functional Index ranking system, the Hourly Task Guidelines, Protective Supervision criteria, appeals, and more. When a social worker makes a determination about your case, the MPP is the underlying regulation behind it.

Division 30-700 of the MPP covers IHSS specifically; the needs-assessment and hours-authorization rules generally fall under sections 30-756 through 30-763.

California’s Medicaid program. IHSS is a Medi-Cal benefit, so active Medi-Cal coverage is a condition of IHSS eligibility; a change in Medi-Cal status can affect IHSS services, and a Medi-Cal share of cost becomes an IHSS share of cost.

The assessment finding that a person, because of a mental impairment, cannot recognize danger or judge the consequences of their actions well enough to keep themselves safe. It is one of the conditions for Protective Supervision: the person must be both mentally impaired and non-self-directing, with a need for continuous observation that someone else must provide.

The official letter your county sends whenever your IHSS case changes — approval, denial, a reduction in hours, or termination of services. A Notice of Action will state the reason for the decision and the deadline by which you must act if you want to appeal it.

Missing the deadline on a Notice of Action is one of the most common reasons people lose hours they may have been entitled to keep — the appeal window is strict and county-enforced.

Pay at one and a half times the regular wage for hours over 40 in a workweek, which IHSS providers have earned since 2016 under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Overtime is only paid within a recipient’s authorized hours and the provider’s workweek limit; a provider can be paid overtime for a single recipient up to the cap, and exceeding the cap is a violation.

A category of IHSS tasks that require services ordinarily performed by a licensed health professional — such as wound care, injections, tube feeding, or suctioning — but that a provider can be trained and authorized to perform at home under a physician's order. Paramedical Services are assessed separately from the standard Functional Index ranks 1 through 5; they're sometimes referred to as a distinct Rank 6 designation.

The half-month a timesheet covers: the 1st through the 15th, or the 16th through the last day of the month. A timesheet cannot be signed or submitted before the period ends, and timesheets sent early are not processed until it does. There are two pay periods a month, so two paychecks a month.

The IHSS service category for hands-on help with the body: bathing, dressing, grooming, bowel and bladder care, feeding, transferring, ambulation, repositioning and help with breathing equipment. These are the services where the Functional Index rank most directly sets the hours.

An IHSS eligibility pathway for Medi-Cal recipients who need personal care assistance but don't require a nursing-home level of care. Most IHSS recipients who don't qualify for CFCO fall under PCSP instead. Because PCSP follows federal program rules, minors enrolled in PCSP cannot have a parent as their paid provider — though they can be transferred to CFCO at their next reassessment to allow this.

The practice of dividing certain task hours (mainly Domestic Services and related shared chores) across everyone in the household who benefits from them — not just the IHSS recipient. If a recipient lives with other adults, their authorized hours for shared tasks may be reduced to reflect that the work also benefits the rest of the household.

Children under 14 generally aren't counted in proration calculations, with some exceptions for non-biological/adoptive children in the household.

An IHSS service for recipients who cannot be safely left alone due to a cognitive impairment, mental illness, or developmental disability, and who need continuous supervision to prevent injury from hazardous behavior the person cannot recognize as dangerous. Unlike most IHSS tasks, Protective Supervision hours aren't calculated from a weekly Hourly Task Guideline range — they're based on documented gaps in supervision throughout the day and night, subject to monthly caps.

Protective Supervision is closely tied to how Memory, Orientation, and Judgment are ranked on their separate 1/2/5 scale during the assessment.

It is not available for medical monitoring, for anticipating a medical emergency, or for behaviors a person engages in deliberately (MPP 30-757.172).

The person paid to perform a recipient’s authorized IHSS services. Providers are enrolled by the county (application, background check and orientation), chosen by the recipient, and paid by the state through timesheets. A provider can be a family member, a friend or someone found through the Public Authority registry. In most counties this is the Individual Provider mode.

The steps a person completes before they can be paid as an IHSS provider: the provider enrollment form (SOC 426), a criminal background check through the Department of Justice (Live Scan fingerprinting), the provider enrollment agreement (SOC 846) and a county provider orientation. Each county runs its own enrollment through the county IHSS office or Public Authority.

The required session every new IHSS provider attends before being paid, covering program rules, timesheets, fraud and the provider’s responsibilities. There is no statewide website or phone line to book it; each county schedules its own, in person or online, through the county IHSS office or the IHSS Public Authority.

A list of screened, available IHSS providers kept by the county’s IHSS Public Authority for recipients who do not already have someone to hire. Registry providers have completed enrollment; the recipient still interviews, chooses and supervises them. Not every county keeps an active registry, and the registry is not a home care agency.

Every California county with an IHSS program has a Public Authority — a county agency that maintains a registry of available, screened IHSS providers. If a recipient doesn't have a family member or friend available to provide care, the Public Authority can help connect them with a provider in their area.

The periodic in-home evaluation California counties conduct to redetermine a recipient's authorized IHSS hours — required at least once per year, and any time a recipient requests one due to a change in their needs. A reassessment follows the same Functional Index and Hourly Task Guidelines process as the original assessment, and the results are documented on an updated SOC 293.

The person who receives IHSS services: an aged, blind or disabled Californian who is eligible for Medi-Cal and, after a county assessment, is authorized a set number of service hours each month. In IHSS the recipient is also the provider’s employer for most purposes: they hire, supervise and, if needed, dismiss the provider, and they approve each timesheet.

One of California’s 21 nonprofit agencies, under the Department of Developmental Services, that coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities. A person can have both Regional Center services and IHSS; the two are meant to work together, and IHSS is generally used first for the personal care it covers, with the Regional Center covering needs IHSS does not.

The IHSS service category for meal preparation and cleanup, routine laundry, shopping for food and other errands. Like domestic services, related services are prorated when the recipient shares a home with others who also benefit from the task.

An optional IHSS benefit that lets an eligible recipient receive a fixed monthly allowance to purchase prepared meals instead of having a provider shop for and cook food at home. It's typically used by recipients who live alone and whose circumstances make in-home meal preparation impractical, and is one of the qualifying circumstances for the IHSS Plus Option pathway.

The finding that decides whether your monthly IHSS ceiling is 283 hours or 195. Under MPP 30-701(s)(1) you are severely impaired if you have a total assessed need of 20 or more hours per week across non-medical personal services, meal preparation, meal clean-up (only where meal preparation and feeding are both required), and paramedical services. Housework, laundry, shopping and accompaniment do not count toward the 20; need met outside IHSS, such as at an adult day program, does. It counts assessed need rather than authorized hours. You can check which applies to you from the starred box in the lower middle of your Notice of Action. Severely impaired: 283 hours a month (WIC 12303.4(b)(1), MPP 30-765.111). Non-severely impaired: 195 (WIC 12303.4(a)(1), MPP 30-765.121). Protective Supervision counts inside that ceiling, not on top of it.

A monthly amount some Medi-Cal recipients must pay toward their own care before Medi-Cal — and by extension IHSS — begins covering costs, similar to a deductible. Whether you have a Share of Cost, and how much it is, depends on your income and the Medi-Cal program category you qualify under.

Not everyone on IHSS has a Share of Cost; many qualify for $0 SOC Medi-Cal. Being on Social Security does not automatically mean $0 SOC — regular Social Security and SSDI income counts differently than SSI. See our full Share of Cost article for how it's paid and how it affects your provider's pay.

The official county assessment form used to record a recipient's Functional Index ranking for each task and calculate authorized IHSS hours. The SOC 293 includes a specific line (Line H) for Memory, Orientation, and Judgment rankings, which determines Protective Supervision eligibility. Recipients have the right to request a copy of their own SOC 293 from their county case file — useful when preparing for a reassessment or appeal.

The Health Care Certification form. A licensed health care professional completes it to confirm that the applicant has a condition that makes them unable to perform some activities of daily living without help, and that without IHSS they would be at risk of placement in out-of-home care. The county needs it on file to authorize services.

The county IHSS employee who conducts the assessment, decides the authorized hours, issues the Notice of Action and handles changes to a recipient’s case. Recipients and providers contact the social worker, or the county IHSS office, for anything about the case; wages and timesheets are handled separately by the state payroll system.

The formal appeal process you can request after receiving a Notice of Action you disagree with. A State Hearing is conducted by an Administrative Law Judge and gives you the opportunity to present evidence — medical records, your own testimony, and supporting documentation — explaining why the county's decision should be changed.

Requesting a hearing before your Notice of Action's effective date preserves your right to Aid Paid Pending.

SSI is a federal cash benefit for low-income individuals who are 65 or older, blind, or disabled. SSP is California's state-funded supplement added on top of the federal SSI payment. Many IHSS recipients also receive SSI/SSP, since both programs serve overlapping populations of aged, blind, and disabled Californians — but qualifying for one doesn't automatically qualify you for the other.

The phone-based alternative to the Electronic Services Portal: providers enter time and recipients approve it by calling a toll-free number from the recipient’s registered phone. It records the same information as an online timesheet and counts as electronic submission for Electronic Visit Verification.

The record a provider submits for each recipient and each pay period showing the hours worked. Non-live-in providers also enter a start time, end time and location (home or community) for each day. The recipient reviews and approves it, and the State Controller’s Office pays from it. Hours above the recipient’s authorized hours are not paid.

Paid time for a provider who works for two or more recipients to travel directly from one recipient’s home to the next on the same day, up to seven hours a week. It is paid at the provider’s regular wage, claimed on a separate travel claim form, and does not count against either recipient’s authorized hours.

A formal finding that a provider exceeded the workweek or travel-time limits. The first violation is a warning; the second requires a one-time training; the third suspends the provider for three months; the fourth suspends for a year. Providers can dispute a violation with the county within ten days of the notice.

A separate Medi-Cal program that can add care hours above the IHSS monthly maximum for people enrolled in the Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) Waiver. WPCS hours are authorized by the waiver agency, not the county IHSS office, and WPCS providers follow the same workweek limits as IHSS providers.

For IHSS overtime purposes, a fixed seven-day period from 12:00 a.m. Sunday through 11:59 p.m. Saturday. A provider’s hours across all recipients are added up by workweek; over 40 hours is overtime, and a provider working for two or more recipients cannot exceed 66 hours in a workweek without an exemption.

An approved exception that allows certain IHSS providers to work beyond the standard 66-hour weekly cap, up to 90 hours per week (360 hours per month). The Live-In Family Care Provider exemption applies to a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian living with the recipients they serve; the Extraordinary Circumstances exemption applies to providers serving two or more recipients at risk of out-of-home placement due to complex needs, rural location, or language barriers. Providers who exceed workweek limits without an approved exemption can receive escalating violations, up to a one-year suspension from IHSS provider eligibility.

An IHSS task limited to removing safety hazards in a recipient's yard that could prevent a provider from safely entering or exiting the home — such as overgrown walkways or debris — rather than general yard maintenance or landscaping. Like Heavy Cleaning, it's excluded from certain hour-cap calculations used for CFCO eligibility.