To participate in the Consumer-Direction option, employers must purchase financial management services from which entity?

Study for the Family and Self-Directed Services Support Broker Exam. Use flashcards and multiple choice questions with hints and explanations. Get prepared for success!

In consumer-directed care, you direct your own services and hire your workers, but someone has to handle the money side—payroll, taxes, and keeping records. That job is done by a Fiscal Employer Agent. The FEA acts as the employer of record for the workers, processing payroll, withholdings, tax forms, and timesheets, while you make the hiring and care decisions. This arrangement keeps you in control of your services while ensuring legal and financial compliance.

Private accounting firms can do bookkeeping, but they aren’t the designated entity funded by the program to run payroll for consumer-directed help. Medicaid managed care organizations handle health benefits and medical services, not payroll administration for consumer-directed workers. Public welfare departments oversee benefit programs, but they don’t provide the required financial management services.