North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services

Local Contact Agency

What is an LCA?

The Local Contact Agency (LCA) is a local, community organization that has been designated by the Division of Aging and Adult Services as an LCA. LCAs are responsible for contacting referred residents and providing information about community support options. The LCA will coordinate these face-to-face conversations with the person residing in the facility, the facility point of contact and as appropriate, family members or other supports.

MDS 3.0 Section Q Referral Process in North Carolina

As is required under MDS 3.0, facilities will make a referral when a person residing in a nursing facility

Effective October 1, 2010, nursing facilities can call 1-866-271-4894 (9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday) to submit Section Q referrals to trained call-center staff.

When submitting the referral, facilities will need to provide the following information:

• Resident’s name and phone contact information
• Name of referring facility’s contact, including:
• Name of staff contact
• Phone
• Email
• Name of facility
• Facility address
• County
• Following the logic in Section Q, information about who (if anyone) assisted the resident in completing Section Q:
• Family
• Significant other
• Guardian
• Legally Authorized representative
• Other
• Pay source/number
• Date of Admission
• Date of Birth

A facility will receive written confirmation that the referral was made and forwarded to the appropriate entities.

The Local Contact Agency

Call center staff will forward the facility’s referral to the appropriate local agency for a face-to-face follow up meeting with the interested person. The Local Contact Agency (LCA) will assign an LCA Options Counselor who will provide information about community resources based on the information collected from the resident using the MDS 3.0 Section Q Referral Response Toolkit and other person-centered tools.

Importantly, the MDS 3.0 Section Q referral process does not otherwise change a facility’s discharge planning responsibilities.