AASD and DSD eList announcement

Date: May 28, 2026
To: People who receive personal care assistance (PCA) and Community First Services and Supports (CFSS) services, families, providers, lead agencies and other interested parties
From: DHS Aging and Adult Services and Disability Services divisions
Purpose: To announce changes to budgets for some people who use the CFSS budget model
Contact: DSD Contact Form

CFSS budget increases

On June 1, 2026, some people who use the CFSS budget model will get more money in their budgets. DHS is making this change to help cover higher wages for direct support workers with more than 1,000 hours of experience.

Note: People who do not have workers with more than 1,000 hours of experience since July 1, 2017, will not receive a budget increase.

DHS’ actions

DHS will:

· Calculate increases each calendar quarter, based on each worker's experience tier and hours worked in the previous calendar quarter.

· Make a one-time retroactive budget increase to offset the cost of higher wages in the 11 months before May 2026.

Person’s actions

The person does not need to take action to access the one-time retroactive budget increase or the budget increase each calendar quarter.

For the one-time retroactive budget increase, the person can use the additional funds for covered services under their current service agreement. If the service agreement has already ended, the person cannot use the retroactive increase.

The person must work with their financial management services (FMS) provider to ensure their employees are paid at least the new minimum wage for hours worked on or after Jan. 1, 2026.

FMS provider’s actions

The FMS provider must pay direct support workers retroactively for hours worked since Jan. 1, 2026. This retroactive pay is necessary to comply with the new minimum wage floor increases after federal approval of the reimbursement rates.

Additional information

For more information and a tool people can use to estimate their quarterly budget increases, refer to DHS – PCA and CFSS tiered rates and wage floors.

Previous eList announcements

AASD LEAD AGENCY ARCHIVE | DSD LEAD AGENCY ARCHIVE | DSD STAKEHOLDER ARCHIVE