The Indiana PSA manager: duties, designees and the 24-hour phone

What the statute does not say

We read all of IC 16-27-4. On the manager it is silent about:

• Qualifications. No license, degree, years of experience, training or age.
• Hours and place. Nothing on full-time work, being at the office, or living near it.
• Other roles. Nothing stopping the manager from also giving care, training workers, or owning the agency, and nothing on managing more than one agency.
• An alternate. The words "alternate manager" do not appear; the alternate comes from IDOH’s form (below).
• A nurse. There is no nurse role anywhere in the chapter. A personal services agency "may not manage or represent itself as able to manage the client's medical or health condition" (IC 16-27-4-8(b)).

Two other rules still bear on the choice. The criminal history bar in IC 16-27-2-3 applies to anyone who operates the agency, and the statute does not define "operate"; CareRulebook’s manual applies the bar to the manager and alternates, along with everyone in the application’s ownership section, because they are the people IDOH asks reports for. Owner and manager checks → And IDOH may act against the license for a violation of the chapter (IC 16-27-4-19), so the person you choose has to be able to run the agency the statute describes.

Our suggestion: choose someone who knows IC 16-27-4 and your policies well enough to carry out the job description, and who can be reached when the alternate cannot.

Designees, named in writing

The manager "may designate in writing one (1) or more individuals to act on behalf of or to perform any or all the responsibilities of the personal services agency's manager under this chapter." (IC 16-27-4-9(b)). Three points follow from the wording:

• In writing. A designation counts only if it is written down.
• Any or all. A designee can take one task, such as satisfaction reviews or the after-hours phone, or every responsibility, as the alternate manager does in CareRulebook’s manual.
• The manager designates. The statute gives the power to the manager, not to the owner.

The statute does not say what the written designation must contain, or whether the manager stays responsible while a designee acts. CareRulebook’s manual uses one designation form: each line names the designee, the responsibilities, the start date and any end date, signed by the manager and the designee, and the manager stays responsible for daily operation. Those details are the manual’s choices.

The alternate manager

The alternate manager comes from IDOH’s forms, not the statute. The application form asks for "Alternate Manager 2nd, if applicable" as well as the manager and the first alternate (State Form 53391, Section III), and labels the alternate "Alternate Manager (as defined in IC 16-27-4-9 and IC 16-27-4-17 (b) (3))". Neither of those sections mentions an alternate; IC 16-27-4-9(b) is the part that lets the manager have someone act for them (State Form 53391, Section III.B). The renewal form also lists the manager and alternates (State Form 53591).

IDOH asks for the same criminal history report for each alternate as for the manager: "Submit a current (within the past three (3) months) lifetime expanded or lifetime national criminal history report for the staff listed below." (State Form 53391, Section III).

CareRulebook’s manual designates the alternate in writing, under IC 16-27-4-9(b), to act for the manager in all of the manager’s responsibilities whenever the manager is absent or cannot be reached. That is how we read IDOH’s request against the statute. Our suggestion: give the alternate a short handover note before any planned absence, with clients whose services are changing, open complaints and anything due that week.

Owner and manager

The statute lists owners and the manager as separate entries in its disclosure rule. Ownership and management information goes to IDOH at licensure, at each survey and when management or an ownership interest of more than 5% changes (IC 16-27-4-17(a)), and it includes "The name and address of the person responsible for the management of the personal services agency", plus the chief executive officer and the chair of the governing body responsible for that person (IC 16-27-4-17(b)(3)-(4)).

IDOH’s 2022 letter says "The application form must be signed and dated by the owner or officer of the applicant’s legal entity and the manager of the agency." (IDOH letter, page 1). The renewal form has the same two signature lines (State Form 53591).

Can one person be both? The statute does not say, and neither form says the two signers must be different people. By our reading one person can hold both roles if the agency employs them as its manager. How "employ" works for an owner managing their own business, for example a sole proprietor, is not addressed; ask IDOH at PSA@health.IN.gov before you apply (IDOH program page, Contact).

In CareRulebook’s manual the owner employs the manager, approves the job description, and reviews it with the manager each year; that division is the manual’s choice.

Who evaluates and trains workers

The statute says a worker’s competency "must be evaluated by the agency or the agency’s designee for each attendant care services task" that the agency chooses to have them perform, and "The agency has the sole discretion to determine if an employee or agent is competent to perform an attendant care services task." (IC 16-27-4-16(a)). The statute sets no qualifications for the evaluator or trainer, and no training hours.

What it does require is a record: the content of each evaluation and training, with the date and the signature of the person who conducted it, for every worker who performs personal services (IC 16-27-4-16(d)). IDOH’s form asks the training policy to say who conducts the training and how it is signed and dated by the trainer and the employee (State Form 53391, item 7).

In CareRulebook’s manual (Policy 1.7), the trainer you name conducts the training and evaluations, and the manager may name other evaluators in writing on the Policy 1.6 designation form. Before assigning a worker to a client, the manager checks the worker’s record lists every task in the client’s service plan. Those steps are the manual’s procedure. Training and competency in the start-up guide →

Changing manager

The statute requires disclosure to IDOH "when there is a change in the management or in an ownership interest of more than five percent (5%) of the personal services agency" (IC 16-27-4-17(a)(3)).

IDOH asks for more detail. Its 2024 document asks for staff changes with the agency’s license number and name, the new person’s name and title, whom they replace, the date and an expanded or national background check, sent by a manager, owner or other designated party on file with IDOH (IDOH-HCBC/PSA-1). Its 2022 letter asks for changes in owners, officers and managers on the agency’s letterhead with the criminal history check (IDOH letter).

How to send it: IDOH’s program page as archived in May 2026, in the section it said applied until May 1, 2026, said provider changes "Must be emailed to PSA@health.in.gov", with a background check for a staff change (IDOH program page, archived May 18, 2026). The current page has no section on changes. Our suggestion: update the written designation form and the client rights statement on the day of the change, and email PSA@health.IN.gov to ask how IDOH wants the report now. CareRulebook’s manual covers the report in Policy 2.8.