Personal Care Assistant in Michigan: Medicaid-Covered Help at Home

A personal care assistant in Michigan is a trained caregiver who helps your loved one with the physical tasks of daily life: bathing, dressing, toileting, eating, and moving safely around the home. Michigan Medicaid pays for personal care services through the MDHHS Home Help program, and a family member can be enrolled and paid as the assistant.

On this page

1. What does a personal care assistant do?
2. Personal care assistant vs caregiver vs home health aide
3. How does Medicaid pay for a personal care assistant in Michigan?
4. Can a family member provide this care and get paid?
5. Choosing a personal care assistant for your loved one
6. Personal care assistants across Michigan
7. Frequently asked questions

What does a personal care assistant do?

Personal care is defined by the activities of daily living (ADLs), the basic self-care tasks that a person must complete every day. When someone can no longer do these safely alone, a personal care aide steps in.

Activities of daily living a PCA helps with

• Bathing: showering, tub or bed baths, hair washing, and skin care.
• Dressing: choosing clothes, managing buttons and zippers, putting on braces or compression stockings.
• Grooming: brushing teeth, shaving, combing hair, and nail care.
• Eating: cutting food, feeding assistance, and monitoring for choking or swallowing problems.
• Toileting: getting to and from the bathroom, using a commode, and incontinence care.
• Transferring: moving safely from bed to chair, chair to wheelchair, or in and out of a car.
• Mobility: walking with a cane or walker, using stairs, and repositioning in bed to prevent pressure sores.

Instrumental activities a PCA also covers

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) keep a household running. A personal care assistant usually handles these in the same visit: meal preparation, light housekeeping, laundry, grocery shopping, medication reminders, and help getting to medical appointments. For a fuller breakdown, read what a personal care assistant does in Michigan.

Personal care assistant vs caregiver vs home health aide

Families hear these titles used as if they are the same job. They are not, and the difference decides who pays.

Role	What they do	Training or license	Who usually pays
Personal care assistant (PCA)	Hands-on help with ADLs (bathing, dressing, toileting, transfers) plus meals, housekeeping, and errands	Agency training and background check; no state license required; CHAMPS enrollment for Home Help	Medicaid Home Help, MI Choice Waiver, or private pay
Companion caregiver	Supervision, conversation, meal prep, light housekeeping, rides; no hands-on personal care	Agency orientation; no license	Private pay; some IADL tasks under Home Help
Home health aide (HHA)	Personal care delivered as part of a skilled home health plan; takes vitals and reports to a nurse	Federal HHA training and competency test when working for a Medicare-certified agency	Medicare (short term, doctor-ordered), Medicaid, or private pay

The short version: if your loved one needs help with bathing and toileting, you are looking for a personal care assistant, and Medicaid Home Help is the program that pays. If a doctor has ordered nursing or therapy after a hospital stay, you need a Medicare home health agency, which may send a home health aide for a limited time.

How does Medicaid pay for a personal care assistant in Michigan?

Michigan’s Medicaid personal care services are delivered through Home Help, administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Home Help pays the assistant directly for the hours MDHHS approves; there is no bill to the family.

Who qualifies for Home Help personal care

• Enrolled in Michigan Medicaid (apply through MI Bridges if not yet enrolled).
• Needs hands-on help with at least one activity of daily living listed above.
• Lives at home, with family, or in another private residence, not a nursing home or licensed adult foster care home.
• A doctor confirms the need for help with a medical needs form during the application.

How hours are decided

An MDHHS adult services worker visits the home and scores every ADL and IADL by how much help is needed and how often. Those scores become a monthly hour authorization. If needs go up, you can request a reassessment. Our Michigan Home Help program page explains the assessment and the paperwork step by step.

When Home Help is not enough

If your loved one needs a nursing-home level of care, the MI Choice Waiver can fund additional personal care hours plus respite, adult day services, and home modifications. You apply through your local Area Agency on Aging. Families without Medicaid can hire a personal care aide from us privately.

Can a family member provide this care and get paid?

Yes. Home Help lets the person receiving care choose their own personal care assistant, and most families choose someone they already trust: an adult child, sibling, grandchild, in-law, friend, or neighbor. The family PCA enrolls as an individual provider in CHAMPS, passes a background check, and logs each visit through Electronic Visit Verification (EVV). MDHHS pays them for the authorized hours.

Under current MDHHS rules, a spouse or the parent of a minor child generally cannot be paid as the Home Help provider. Everyone else who is 18 or older and legally able to work in the U.S. can apply. If the caregiver lives with the person they care for, payments may qualify as difficulty-of-care payments under IRS Notice 2014-7, which can make them excludable from federal income tax.

Supportive Solutions Homecare enrolls family caregivers, provides the training, and stays on as your agency for EVV and paperwork. Start at become a paid caregiver or read our complete Michigan Home Help guide.

Choosing a personal care assistant for your loved one

Whether you pick a relative or ask us to match a caregiver, look for these qualities:

• Comfortable with hands-on tasks like bathing and toileting, and trained in safe transfers.
• Reliable with time, because Home Help hours are verified visit by visit through EVV.
• Able to communicate in your loved one’s language; our caregivers speak English, Arabic and Spanish.
• Patient with memory loss or mood changes if dementia is part of the picture.

Every Supportive Solutions Homecare personal care assistant is background checked, trained, and supervised. If a caregiver is not the right fit, we replace them.

Personal care assistants across Michigan

We provide Medicaid personal care services in Detroit, Dearborn, Warren, Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor, Flint, Lansing, and Grand Rapids, and nearby communities. Find your city on our Michigan service area page.

Frequently asked questions

What services does Home Help cover?

Michigan Home Help covers hands-on personal care with activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, toileting, transferring, and mobility. It also covers instrumental tasks such as meal preparation, light housework, laundry, shopping, and medication reminders when they are tied to the care plan. Skilled nursing, therapy, and 24-hour supervision are not covered by Home Help.

Can a personal care assistant do light housekeeping?

Yes. A personal care assistant can do light housekeeping that keeps your loved one safe and healthy: washing dishes, wiping counters, cleaning the bathroom, changing bed linens, vacuuming living areas, and doing laundry. Under Home Help these are called instrumental activities and are authorized alongside personal care. Heavy chores such as yard work or deep cleaning are not included.

Do you need a license or certification to be a personal care assistant in Michigan?

No state license or CNA certificate is required to be a personal care assistant or Home Help individual provider in Michigan. You must be 18 or older, pass a background check, enroll as a provider through CHAMPS, and complete any training MDHHS requires. Supportive Solutions Homecare provides orientation and skills training for every caregiver we place or enroll.

How many hours of personal care will Medicaid authorize?

The MDHHS adult services worker decides hours at the in-home assessment. Each activity of daily living and instrumental task is scored by how much help is needed and how often, and the scores add up to a monthly hour total. A person who needs full help with bathing, dressing, and toileting every day receives more hours than someone who needs occasional help with meals.

Can a personal care assistant give medications?

A personal care assistant can remind your loved one to take medication, open containers, and bring water, but cannot decide doses, give injections, or administer prescription drugs. Those tasks belong to a nurse or the person themselves. If your loved one needs skilled medication management, a home health nurse under Medicare or a physician’s order may be added alongside personal care.

Is a personal care assistant the same as a caregiver?

In everyday use the terms overlap. A personal care assistant is a caregiver who is trained to provide hands-on help with bathing, toileting, transfers, and other physical tasks. A companion caregiver focuses on supervision, meals, errands, and social time without hands-on personal care. Home Help pays for the personal care tasks, so most Home Help caregivers work as personal care assistants.