The IHSS Backup Provider System: Extra Pay for Covering Urgent Gaps

When a recipient's regular provider is suddenly out and the need cannot wait, the county can send a backup provider for a limited number of hours, and that provider earns an extra $2 an hour. The Backup Provider System started as a pandemic measure and became permanent under ACL 22-65. For a provider with open hours in the week, it is a steady way to earn more; here is how it works.

When a recipient can use it

The recipient has to have an urgent need: an immediate need for personal care that the regular provider cannot meet (the provider is sick, has an emergency, or has just left), or the recipient is leaving a hospital or nursing facility and has not yet found a provider. "Urgent" means a delay would threaten the recipient's health or safety, or could lead to emergency services or placement out of the home. Backup hours are not for ordinary scheduling or to replace a provider long term; the county works to find a permanent provider as soon as possible.

The hour limits

• 80 hours per state fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) for most recipients.
• Up to 160 hours for recipients who are severely impaired (20 or more hours a week of certain services), when the year's state budget funds the higher limit.
• The hours reset on July 1. There is no monthly cap, only the yearly one.

What a backup provider earns

Your county wage plus a $2.00-an-hour differential for backup hours, and overtime applies if those hours take you past 40 in a workweek. The differential is only for providers sent through the county's backup registry; if a recipient with two regular providers simply assigns hours to their other provider, that is allowed without county approval, but it is regular pay, not backup pay.

How to become a backup provider

1. Be an enrolled IHSS provider in that county (SOC 426, orientation, SOC 846, Live Scan), with no Tier 1 or Tier 2 conviction in the last 10 years. Criminal-background waivers are not accepted for backup work.
2. Ask your county IHSS office or Public Authority to join the backup provider list. Many Public Authorities run it through their provider registry, so you may already be close. Tell them your availability, languages, and how far you will travel.
3. When a request comes in, the county or Public Authority refers the recipient to at least one available backup provider. You and the recipient agree on the days and hours.

The weekly limits do not change for backup work: 66 hours a week across all your recipients (70 hours 45 minutes if you only have one), and never more than each recipient's own weekly maximum without county approval. Going over earns a violation like any other hours; our overtime and hour limits guide covers the ladder.

What it means for your regular recipient

If you are the one who is out sick, your recipient can call the county for a backup provider rather than going without care, and your paid sick leave can cover your own hours that day. Make sure the recipient and any family contact know the county's number before it is needed; it is on your county guide on this site.