No nursing background needed — just real help getting approved, so you get paid for the care you're already giving.
🏡 Answered 24/7 — serving Wayne, Oakland & Macomb County families
Four steps, start to finish. None of them require a medical license.
An MDHHS Adult Services Worker visits your loved one's home and completes the Adult Services Comprehensive Assessment (MDHHS-5534) to document the help they need with daily activities.
Based on that assessment, MDHHS approves a set number of monthly care hours — commonly up to 180 hours, depending on documented need.
The chosen caregiver — you, a sibling, or another family member — enrolls as an individual provider through the state's CHAMPS system. Approval typically takes 2–6 weeks.
Once approved and set up with EVV (electronic visit verification), you log your hours and get paid for the care you're already providing — $17.13/hr direct from the state if you self-direct, or up to $23/hr if you're placed with one of our licensed agency partners.
Most families assume in-home care means bringing in an outside agency. Home Help's self-direction option flips that — your loved one can choose who provides their care, and that person gets paid by the state to do it.
Eligibility runs through two tests: the Medicaid recipient's finances, and their functional need for hands-on help. Here's the short version.
Home Help supports both. Which one fits depends on your family's situation, schedule, and comfort level.
You (or another approved family member) become the paid caregiver directly, at the state's $17.13/hr individual provider rate.
An MDHHS-approved agency supplies and manages the caregiver — sometimes even a hired family member as their employee — and can pay up to $23/hr.
Yes. Michigan's Home Help Program lets an eligible person choose their own caregiver — including an adult child, sibling, grandchild, or friend — and pays that caregiver $17.13/hr direct from the state as of 2026, or up to $23/hr through one of CarePay Michigan's licensed agency partners. Spouses cannot be paid under this specific program.
The 2026 self-directed individual caregiver rate is $17.13 per hour. Placed with one of our licensed home care agency partners instead, caregivers can earn up to $23 per hour. Approved monthly hours are set after an in-home assessment and can run up to 180 hours a month depending on documented need.
After the home assessment, caregiver enrollment through CHAMPS typically takes 2–6 weeks from a complete application to an approved provider number.
No. Home Help is a Medicaid entitlement, not a capped waiver — unlike the MI Choice Waiver, there's no regional waitlist.
Electronic Visit Verification is now required for Home Help visits — caregivers clock in and out through the HHAeXchange+ app or a telephony line. It's part of enrollment, not an extra step you can skip.
Answer a few quick questions and a Michigan care specialist will follow up to explain your specific options — whether that's becoming a paid family caregiver or connecting with a licensed agency partner.