Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
Consolidated Waiver Program Provider Manual
Revision: 06-1
Effective: April 24, 2006
Section 7000
Emergency Response Services
7100 Introduction
Emergency Response Services (ERS) are provided through an electronic monitoring system used by functionally impaired adults 18 years and older who live alone or who are functionally isolated in the community. In an emergency, the participant can press a call button to signal for help. The electronic monitoring system, which has a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week monitoring capability, helps to ensure that the appropriate person or service agency responds to an alarm call from a participant.
7110 Program Purpose
The purposes of Emergency Response Services under the Consolidated Waiver program are to:
- enable aged and disabled persons to achieve or maintain dignity, independence, individuality, privacy, choice and decision-making ability; and
- prevent or reduce inappropriate institutional care by providing home-based care and other forms of less intensive care.
7111 Who is eligible for Emergency Response Services?
A CWP participant is eligible for services if the participant:
- is mentally alert enough to operate the equipment properly, in the judgment of the case manager;
- has a telephone with a private line, if the system requires a private line to function properly;
- is willing to sign a release statement that allows the responder to make a forced entry into the participant's home if asked to respond to an activated alarm call and has no other means of entering the home; and
- lives in a place other than an Assisted Living/Residential Care, 24-Hour Residential Habilitation, Family Surrogate Services or Adult Foster Care setting, or any other setting where 24-hour supervision is available.
7112 What are the contracting requirements?
Contracting requirements for Emergency Response Services are located in 40 Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Chapter 52, Contracting to Provide Emergency Response Services.
For more information, visit the Emergency Response Services Provider Manual at:
www.dads.state.tx.us/handbooks/ers/