What Disqualifies You From Being a Paid Caregiver in Michigan?

What disqualifies you from being a caregiver in Michigan? Under Home Help, you cannot be paid if you are the client’s spouse, under 18, unable to work legally in the United States, listed on a Medicaid exclusion list, or have certain criminal convictions found in the MDHHS background check. Lacking a CNA license or holding another job is no disqualifier.

On this page

1. What disqualifies you from being a caregiver in Michigan? Start with the background check
2. Spouse, legal guardian, and power of attorney restrictions
3. Age, residency, and work authorization
4. The excluded provider lists
5. Things that can end your eligibility after you enroll
6. Fixing common enrollment problems
7. Frequently asked questions

What disqualifies you from being a caregiver in Michigan? Start with the background check

Every Home Help individual provider goes through a criminal history check run by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) as part of CHAMPS enrollment, repeated periodically.

Convictions that disqualify

MDHHS focuses on offenses that indicate a risk to a vulnerable adult or to the Medicaid program:

• Abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child or vulnerable adult
• Medicaid, Medicare, or other health care fraud
• Violent felonies, including assault, robbery, and homicide
• Criminal sexual conduct
• Theft, embezzlement, or identity theft, particularly against a client or employer
• Certain drug distribution offenses

Some of these are permanent bars. Others only disqualify for a set number of years after the conviction or sentence. MDHHS weighs the offense, how long ago it occurred, and its relevance to caregiving.

What usually does not disqualify

• Old misdemeanors unrelated to violence, theft, or vulnerable adults
• Traffic offenses, including most driving-related misdemeanors
• Arrests that did not lead to a conviction
• Expunged records, which generally do not appear

If you are unsure, apply anyway and answer honestly. A record-based denial can be reviewed, and lying on the application is itself a reason for removal.

Agency caregivers

If you work for a home care agency instead of enrolling as an individual provider, the agency may run a fingerprint-based check under Michigan’s long-term care workforce background check rules, plus its own requirements such as a TB test, CPR training, and a driving record review. Those are agency conditions, not Home Help rules.

Spouse, legal guardian, and power of attorney restrictions

Spouses

Home Help does not pay a husband or wife to care for their spouse. This is a firm rule with no exception in the program. Under the MI Choice Waiver, spouses are generally excluded as well. Our post on whether a spouse can be a paid caregiver in Michigan covers the alternatives, including VA programs that do pay spouses.

Parents of minor children

A parent cannot be paid to provide Home Help to their own minor child. Once the child turns 18, the parent can enroll as a provider like any other relative.

Legal guardians

A court-appointed guardian is not automatically barred, but MDHHS reviews the arrangement. In general, the state will not pay a guardian who already receives a guardianship fee for the same duties, and MI Choice waiver agencies apply stricter limits. If you are your parent’s guardian, tell the caseworker up front so the case is set up correctly.

Power of attorney

Holding financial or medical power of attorney does not disqualify you. Many adult children are both the POA and the paid Home Help provider. The client, or the person authorized to act for them, still has to choose you as the provider on the case.

Age, residency, and work authorization

• Age. Individual providers must be 18 or older. There is no upper age limit as long as you can physically perform the tasks in the care plan.
• Work authorization. You need a Social Security number and must be legally able to work in the United States, because Medicaid payments are reported as income.
• Residency. Michigan does not require the caregiver to live in the state, but the care must be delivered in the client’s Michigan home and logged through EVV, which in practice means living nearby. Caregivers in Detroit, Dearborn, Warren, Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor, Flint, Lansing, and Grand Rapids commonly care for a parent across town.
• Physical ability. If the care plan includes transfers or bathing, you must be able to do them safely, as judged by the caseworker.

Note that these are rules for the caregiver. The person receiving care has separate rules, covered in who qualifies for Home Help in Michigan.

The excluded provider lists

Two lists automatically block Medicaid payment:

• The federal OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities. People placed on it, usually for health care fraud or patient abuse, cannot be paid by any Medicaid or Medicare program in any state.
• Michigan’s sanctioned provider list. MDHHS maintains its own list of providers removed from Michigan Medicaid for fraud, abuse, or program violations.

CHAMPS checks both lists at enrollment and on a recurring basis. If you were ever terminated as a Home Help provider for billing problems, expect to be on the Michigan list.

Things that can end your eligibility after you enroll

Providers lose their status most often for these reasons:

• Billing for hours when the client was in a hospital, nursing facility, or otherwise not receiving care
• Letting someone else provide the care while you clock in
• Repeated missed or altered EVV entries with no documentation
• A new disqualifying conviction found on a recheck
• Substantiated abuse, neglect, or exploitation findings from Adult Protective Services

Home Help pays for real hours of real care, verified through EVV. Bill only what you provided and the program works smoothly.

Fixing common enrollment problems

Most “denials” caregivers run into are paperwork stalls, not disqualifications.

1. Background check flagged an old record. Ask the caseworker exactly which conviction triggered the flag and whether it is time-limited. If the record is wrong, request a correction from the Michigan State Police. If it is expunged, provide the court order.
2. CHAMPS application stuck. Missing signatures, a mismatched name and Social Security number, or an incomplete address are the usual causes. Our CHAMPS enrollment guide lists the errors and fixes.
3. Not linked to the client’s case. Enrollment in CHAMPS does not automatically connect you to your parent. The adult services worker must add you as the provider on the case. Call the office if pay has not started.
4. EVV problems. A missed clock-in can be corrected with documentation, but a pattern of manual edits invites review. Set a reminder and log every visit.
5. Spouse or guardian issue. If you cannot be paid, another relative can be. Our get paid to care page explains how families split the paid and unpaid hours.

If you would rather work through a home care agency than as an individual provider, our careers page lists current openings, and how to become a paid caregiver compares both paths. Supportive Solutions Homecare supports caregivers in English, Arabic and Spanish.

Frequently asked questions

What disqualifies you from being a caregiver in Michigan?

For Home Help, the firm disqualifiers are being the client’s spouse, being under 18, lacking a Social Security number or legal work authorization, appearing on a federal or state Medicaid exclusion list, and having certain criminal convictions found in the MDHHS background check. Failing to complete CHAMPS enrollment or misusing electronic visit verification can also end your eligibility.

Do I need a certification or CNA license to be paid?

No. Michigan Home Help individual providers do not need a CNA license, nursing degree, or caregiver certificate. Lack of formal training is never a disqualifier. You must be able to do the tasks in the client’s care plan safely, and agencies that employ caregivers may require their own orientation, TB test, or CPR training as a condition of the job.

Can a friend or neighbor be a paid Home Help provider?

Yes. Home Help lets the client choose any eligible adult, related or not. A friend, neighbor, or member of your faith community can enroll as an individual provider as long as they are 18 or older, pass the background check, have work authorization, and are not the client’s spouse. The client, or their representative, signs off on the choice.

Can my wife or husband take care of me and get paid?

Not under Home Help. Michigan excludes spouses from paid individual provider status, and the MI Choice Waiver generally follows the same rule. A spouse can still coordinate care and be present, but Medicaid pays only a different eligible person, such as an adult child. If you are a veteran, VA caregiver programs can pay a spouse.

Can I keep another job while being a paid caregiver?

Yes. Having another job does not disqualify you. Home Help pays for specific authorized hours logged through electronic visit verification, so many caregivers provide care around a work schedule. The only rule is honesty: bill only for hours you actually provided care, and never for time the client was in a hospital, nursing facility, or otherwise not receiving your help.