Can I Get Paid to Care for My Parent in Utah?

In Utah, families usually start with Employment-related Personal Assistant Services (EPAS), a consumer-directed option under Utah Medicaid. Your parent has to qualify for Medicaid on both medical need and finances, and Utah sets those rules. If your parent is a Veteran, the VA's Veteran-Directed Care program is a second route.

EDITORIAL STANDARDS SOURCES

Consumer-directed Medicaid in Utah

Under Employment-related Personal Assistant Services (EPAS), the person receiving care, or a representative, chooses and directs the caregiver.

Utah Medicaid says a personal assistant cannot be a legal guardian, which rules out a spouse or a parent of a minor child. A parent can be the paid personal assistant once the participant turns 18. The state page does not address adult children as their own category.

Utah also lists self-directed personal assistance under Utah's other Medicaid waivers, including New Choices, Physical Disabilities, Community Supports, Acquired Brain Injury, and the Aging Waiver. Ask the Utah Department of Health and Human Services which fits your family before you apply.

Self-directed Medicaid services, also called consumer-directed or participant-directed, give the participant or a representative control over who provides care and how it is scheduled.

Who qualifies

The person receiving care has to meet Utah Medicaid's financial rules and pass a level-of-care or functional-needs assessment. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services publishes the current income and asset limits.

Self-direction usually sits inside a state plan personal-care benefit, Community First Choice, or an HCBS waiver, and openings, wait lists and service budgets vary by program.

Veteran-Directed Care

Veteran-Directed Care is a VA program that gives eligible Veterans a budget for home and community-based services, managed with counselor support. Veterans may hire workers, which can include a family member, where the program is offered.

The VA decides eligibility and availability, and not every medical center offers it, so ask a VA social worker.

How this differs from agency home care

In agency home care, a licensed agency employs the caregiver and bills for the visit. In a consumer-directed model, the participant or a representative recruits and supervises the worker, with payroll handled by a financial management service the program provides.

Private-pay agency rates and Medicaid self-direction wages are not the same thing, so compare the program's rules with any agency quote before you plan around a number.

How to apply

Start with the program page linked under Sources below, then call the Utah Department of Health and Human Services if it is not clear which option fits.

If your parent served in the military, ask the VA about Veteran-Directed Care at the same time.

See every state at a glance in the caregiver pay estimator.

Sources

Medicaid.gov. Self-Directed Services. Self-directed Medicaid services also called consumer-directed or participant-directed give participants decision-making authority over certain LTSS and home- and community-based services, including recruiting hiring training and supervising workers under employer authority and budget authority as an alternative to agency-delivered care
VA. Veteran-Directed Care. Veteran-Directed Care lets eligible Veterans receive a budget for home and community-based services and hire workers, which may include a family member, when the program is available at their VA location
Medicaid.gov. Federal Medicaid framework for long-term services and supports; joint federal–state program; states set many eligibility details within federal rules
Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Utah Medicaid official program entry point; publishes the current income and asset limits and eligibility rules
Utah Medicaid EPAS. Employment-related Personal Assistant Services (EPAS) official program description and application entry point in Utah

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