Direct Support Worker Affiliations

Revised: April 9, 2025

Overview

Direct support worker (DSW) affiliations refer to when an organization requests to affiliate with an individual DSW through the organization’s portfolio in the Minnesota Provider Screening and Enrollment (MPSE) portal. DSWs are also known as personal care assistants (PCA), Community First Services and Supports (CFSS) workers, Consumer Directed Community Supports (CDCS) workers, or Consumer Support Grant (CSG) workers. All individual DSWs must be enrolled with MHCP before providing services.

Use these steps to add or update an affiliation to a direct support worker:

· Add a new organization to direct support worker affiliation

· Update an existing organization to direct support worker affiliation

Online Video Training for Adding an Affiliation

An online video is available to take you through the steps of requesting a new DSW affiliation for a provider who is already enrolled with Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP). It can be helpful to watch the video first and then use the following steps to complete the process. Click Adding an Affiliation to a Direct Support Worker in MPSE (13 min., 5 sec.) to access the video.

Steps to Add a New Organization to Direct Support Worker Affiliation:

1. When you log in to MPSE, you will start on the Manage Portfolio page. Click on the Manage Organization to Individual Affiliations button in the middle of the Manage Portfolio page.

2. Click Create a New Organization to Individual Affiliation at the bottom of the page.

3. In the Enrolled MHCP Provider Search section, enter the individual DSW’s Social Security Number and Date of Birth. The NPI/UMPI field is optional but can help narrow your search results.

4. Click Search.

5. There will now be three paths to choose from to complete your request:

· MPSE search contains results: Go to Manage Individual Provider Portfolio.

· MPSE search contains no results: Go to Create New Individual Profile Request.

· MPSE search contains results AND the results are for an enrollment record type that is not direct support worker. Go to Search Result is not DSW.

Manage Individual Provider Portfolio

1. Click the Manage Individual Provider Portfolio link in the User Actions column of your search results.

2. Complete the Attestation and click Continue.

3. Click the Create a New Request button at the bottom of the Manage Affiliated Individual’s Portfolio page.

4. Enter a Request Effective Date and click Continue. Note that the answer to the question Is this a Revalidation Request? should not be changed unless the provider is responding to a Revalidation Notice.

5. Complete the request by following the DSW Provider Enrollment.

Create New Individual Profile Request

1. Click the Create New Individual Profile Request button at the bottom of the Search for an MHCP-Enrolled Individual Provider page.

2. Complete the Attestation and click Continue.

3. Enter a Request Effective Date and click Continue. Note that the answer to the question Is this a Revalidation Request? should not be changed in this circumstance.

4. Complete the request by following the DSW Provider Enrollment.

Search Result is not DSW

1. Click the Cancel button at the bottom of the Search for an MHCP-Enrolled Individual Provider page. This opens the Manage Organization to Individual Affiliations page.

2. Click the Add Organization to Individual Affiliation button at the bottom of the Manage Organization to Individual Affiliations page. This opens the Search for an MHCP-Enrolled Individual Provider page.

3. Do not use the search function on this page. Click Create New Individual Provider Portfolio button.

4. Complete the Attestation and click Continue.

5. Complete the request by following the steps in the DSW Provider Enrollment manual page.

Online Training Video for Updating an Affiliation

An online video module is available to take you through the steps of submitting a request to update an existing organization to DSW affiliation. It can be helpful to watch the video module first and then use the steps below to complete the process. Click Managing Existing Affiliations to an Individual Provider in MPSE (9 min., 32 sec.) to access the video.

Steps to Update an Existing Organization to DSW Affiliation:

1. When you log in to the MPSE portal, you will start on the Manage Portfolio page. Click on the Manage Organization to Individual Affiliations button in the middle of the Manage Portfolio page.

2. Use the options in the Existing Organization to Individual Affiliation Search section to find individuals that are currently affiliated to your organization. All fields in this section are optional. To find all individual providers who have ever had an affiliation with your organization, click Search without entering any search criteria.

3. Locate the individual provider you wish to update the affiliation or enrollment information for.

4. There will now be two paths to choose from to complete your request:

· To end an existing affiliation: Go to End Existing Affiliation.

· To update an individual’s portfolio: Go to Update Individual’s Portfolio.

End Existing Affiliation

1. Click View/Edit in the Request Actions column of the individual provider.

2. Enter an End Date and click Submit Request.

3. Click Continue to return to the Manage Organization to Individual Affiliations page, where you can update or add additional affiliations if needed.

Update Individual’s Portfolio

1. Click Manage Individual Provider Portfolio in the Request Actions column of the individual provider.

2. Complete the Attestation and click Continue

3. Complete the request by following the steps in DSW Provider Enrollment.