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A clearer next step for home and community support

Practical guides for people, families, and case managers. Find the question you are working through, then take a worksheet into your next conversation.

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30 guides. 27 editable worksheets. No sign-up.

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These overviews help you choose the service or prepare an initial referral.

IHS without training

Prepare for support with everyday routines, household activities, and getting out in the community.

  1. Planning daily routines with IHS without training

    Describe the reminders and assistance that help a daily routine work. Includes an editable routine-planning worksheet.

    Includes: daily routine discussion sheet

  2. Planning community activities with IHS support

    Prepare a community activity around the person’s interests, access needs, support preferences, and travel questions.

    Includes: community participation brief

  3. Household support: preparing an IHS conversation

    Separate help with household routines from cleaning requests and skill-learning goals using a task-by-task worksheet.

    Includes: household task conversation sheet

  4. Questions to ask an IHS without training provider

    Use a focused provider interview to discuss routines, worker fit, location, schedules, and support preferences.

    Includes: ihs provider interview record

  5. Preparing for a first IHS support visit

    Agree on introductions, routines, privacy preferences, and follow-up before the first IHS without training visit.

    Includes: first-visit preparation note

IHS with training

Turn a person's priorities into useful conversations about goals, practice, and progress.

  1. Writing useful IHS skill goals

    Turn a broad wish for independence into a skill-goal discussion with the person, case manager, and IHS provider.

    Includes: skill-goal conversation worksheet

  2. Planning IHS skill practice around the person

    Prepare questions about practice opportunities, tools, pacing, and feedback for an agreed IHS learning goal.

    Includes: skill-practice planning brief

  3. Reviewing progress in IHS with training

    Use observations and the person’s feedback to prepare an IHS goal review without reducing progress to attendance.

    Includes: ihs goal-review notes

  4. Preparing money-management goals for IHS training

    Discuss everyday budgeting skills with a worksheet that keeps learning goals separate from control of someone’s money.

    Includes: money-management goal brief

  5. Planning transportation skills with IHS training

    Organize questions about route planning, practice support, access, and travel responsibilities before setting a transportation goal.

    Includes: transportation learning brief

Night supervision

Work through overnight arrangements, handoffs, provider questions, and coverage changes.

  1. Awake or asleep night supervision: questions to settle

    Clarify the overnight staffing arrangement, expected assistance, and confirmation process before relying on coverage.

    Includes: overnight staffing confirmation sheet

  2. Preparing an overnight support handoff

    Create a concise handoff discussion covering the current plan, relevant changes, privacy, and next-shift questions.

    Includes: overnight handoff discussion sheet

  3. Planning for changes in overnight coverage

    Clarify who to contact, how coverage changes are confirmed, and which questions belong in the existing backup plan.

    Includes: coverage-change questions and contacts

  4. Questions to ask a night-supervision provider

    Compare provider responses about overnight tasks, staffing, communication, and readiness using a focused interview sheet.

    Includes: night-supervision provider comparison

  5. Night supervision or respite: preparing the right questions

    Separate assessed overnight assistance from caregiver-relief needs before discussing the appropriate Minnesota service.

    Includes: overnight service discussion worksheet

For people and families

Prepare for assessments, compare providers, and make the person's preferences part of the conversation.

  1. Preparing for a MnCHOICES conversation

    Organize everyday needs, preferences, current help, and questions before speaking with a Minnesota assessment team.

    Includes: assessment conversation preparation

  2. Preparing for your first case-manager conversation

    Make a short agenda that keeps the person’s priorities, service questions, and next decisions visible.

    Includes: first-conversation agenda

  3. A support-team meeting agenda that starts with the person

    Prepare a focused meeting with priorities, accessible participation, decisions, and named follow-up responsibilities.

    Includes: support-team meeting agenda and actions

  4. Sharing communication preferences with a support team

    Create a short introduction that explains how the person wants to communicate, make choices, and receive information.

    Includes: how i prefer to communicate

  5. Comparing Minnesota HCBS providers

    Use the same questions to compare service fit, staffing, communication, and outstanding confirmations across providers.

    Includes: hcbs provider comparison sheet

  6. HCBS terms to clarify before choosing support

    A practical question sheet for service names, assessments, authorizations, providers, and schedules in Minnesota.

    Includes: my service-language question sheet

For case managers

Keep referrals, authorizations, schedules, transitions, and follow-up decisions clear.

  1. Writing a concise HCBS referral service brief

    Prepare a provider-fit conversation with a short brief separating requested services, known facts, and unresolved questions.

    Includes: provider referral service brief

  2. Authorization and staffing: two separate confirmations

    Track service decisions and provider availability separately before relying on an IHS or night-supervision start date.

    Includes: authorization and staffing status sheet

  3. Planning a change of HCBS provider

    Prepare a transition discussion that records the person’s choice, open decisions, proposed dates, and handoff responsibilities.

    Includes: provider-transition discussion record

  4. Mapping a week of home and community support

    Make service times, purposes, responsible contacts, and unresolved overlaps visible in a weekly planning worksheet.

    Includes: weekly support-map worksheet

  5. Following up on an HCBS referral

    Track the last confirmed fact, missing information, responsible contact, and next decision without repeatedly resending the same packet.

    Includes: referral follow-up log

  6. Preparing an IHS or night-supervision service review

    Bring the person’s experience, planned-versus-actual support, and clear decisions into a structured service-review conversation.

    Includes: service-review decision record