The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) is a Florida agency that administers a Medicaid Waiver Program through the Home and Community-Based Services waiver to the general Medicaid requirements. APD pays providers for services to persons with disabilities through the Florida Medicaid Program according to an established fee schedule. Recipients, as they’re called, can receive services ranging from personal care and companion to skilled care (nursing, therapies), dieticians and even environmental accommodations! The services are managed by a Waiver Support Coordinator, who assigns recipients to providers and manages communications regarding the services that have been approved for each individual.
The idea behind this waiver program (and really, all of them) is to provide person-centered and individualized assistance in the home to avoid the recipient’s institutionalization. The good news for providers is that there are fewer requirements than those for licensing as a home health agency (HHA) or nurse registry (NR). However, all care is limited to APD recipients through the APD Waiver Program and as assigned by APD. It’s important to note that HHAs and NRs cannot serve this population without approval as APD providers and specific policies & procedures as required by APD.
The process to establish an APD Provider may take significantly less time than for an HHA or an NR, depending on the number and types of services the client intends to provide.