IADLs — Instrumental Activities of Daily Living — are the household-management tasks like meal preparation, light housekeeping, and laundry that Home Help also covers, but only as an add-on to an already-established ADL need, not as a qualifying need on their own.
What counts as an IADL under Home Help
- Meal preparation
- Light housekeeping tied to daily living
- Laundry
- Grocery shopping and errands connected to the recipient's care
- Medication reminders
Why IADLs alone don't qualify someone
Someone who needs help cooking or cleaning but still manages their own personal care independently generally won't qualify on IADL need alone. The program is targeted at people who also need physical, hands-on help with an Activity of Daily Living — IADL support gets layered on top of that.
How IADL hours get added to the total
Once a genuine ADL need is documented, the assessment can factor in additional IADL time on top of it. Our post on how many hours a caregiver can be approved for covers how that combined total gets calculated.
The line MDHHS draws around general chores
Home Help isn't a general housekeeping service. Approved IADL time has to reasonably connect to the recipient's daily living needs — it's not meant to cover a whole-house deep clean, yardwork, or tasks unrelated to the person actually receiving care.
