Michigan Medicaid Home Help Program: Eligibility & How It Works

What is the Home Help Program?

The Michigan Home Help Program, administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), is a Medicaid entitlement — not a capped waiver — that pays a family member, friend, or neighbor to provide personal care at home.¹ The goal is simple: help people stay in their own home instead of moving into an adult foster care home, home for the aged, or nursing facility.

Who qualifies?

The person receiving care generally needs to:

• Be eligible for Michigan Medicaid
• Require physical assistance with at least one activity of daily living (ADL)

Minor children aren't excluded either, though the bar is stricter. See what qualifies →

An adult services worker completes an in-home assessment to confirm eligibility — it isn't self-reported.³

The caregiver generally needs to:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Be a relative, friend, or neighbor

Per MDHHS, a client's spouse, or a parent caring for their own minor child, cannot be paid under this program.²

If your loved one has questions about what this actually means for them, here's a guide written directly for them →

What kind of care counts?

Per MDHHS, the Home Help program may pay for these activities of daily living (ADLs):

• Eating or feeding
• Bathing
• Dressing
• Grooming
• Moving throughout the home
• Transferring from one position to another
• Using the toilet

If you qualify for one of the above, you may also get help with a few instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) — medication reminders (not administering prescriptions, which is a skilled nursing task), light housework, meal prep, and essential shopping. Heavy housework, home repairs, yard work, transportation, and pure supervision or reminders are not covered.¹

What about complex or medical care needs?

Some caregiving tasks that sound clinical — wound care, catheter or colostomy care, tube feeding, injections, range-of-motion exercises — can still be covered under Home Help as complex care, but two things have to be true first: the client's physician must document the need on the medical needs form, and the caregiver must be specifically trained by a health professional before performing the task. The in-home assessment uses a separate Complex Care Assessment (form MDHHS-5535) to evaluate these tasks.³

How does someone actually get approved?

Kinwell's process is built to get you through the state's system as quickly as possible:

1. Check eligibility. A quick screening shows whether your loved one's coverage and care needs likely qualify.
2. Paperwork. Your loved one signs the necessary authorization.
3. Clinical review. A clinician confirms the medical necessity of the care being requested.
4. In-home assessment. The actual care needs are reviewed in person — this determines the approved monthly hours.
5. Approval and pay begin. Once approved, the caregiver starts receiving pay for the approved hours.

Most families going through Kinwell start receiving pay within 1–2 months.

Getting paid: CHAMPS and Electronic Visit Verification (EVV)

Individual Home Help caregivers get paid through CHAMPS (the Community Health Automated Medicaid Processing System) — MDHHS's Medicaid provider enrollment system. Enrollment has to be approved through CHAMPS before a caregiver can be reimbursed for services.⁴ Kinwell's onboarding team handles this enrollment for you.

Michigan also requires Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for Home Help visits, under the federal 21st Century Cures Act. Individual caregivers have been required to use EVV for dates of service since September 3, 2024, with MDHHS moving to full enforcement of EVV compliance starting April 1, 2026.⁵ In practice, this means clocking in and out of each visit through an approved EVV system — Kinwell's onboarding team walks you through the specific tool you'll use.

Home Help vs. MI Choice Waiver

Home Help is often confused with the MI Choice Waiver, Michigan's other major Medicaid home-care program. They're not interchangeable — here's how they differ.⁶

In short: if you need paid personal care and nothing more, Home Help is usually faster since there's no waitlist. If you need the broader service menu — home modifications, adult day health, respite — MI Choice may be the better fit, even with a possible wait. Read the full MI Choice Waiver guide →

Common misconceptions

Why Kinwell

Most families never get there alone. With Kinwell:

Frequently asked

Is this the same as CDPAP? No — CDPAP is a New York program. Michigan's equivalent is the Home Help program. Read more on that distinction →

Is this the same as MI Coordinated Health? No — MI Coordinated Health is a separate program for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, and it's only available in certain counties. Read the MI Coordinated Health guide →

How much does it pay? Pay is based on the monthly hours approved in the care assessment. Kinwell confirms your hourly rate upon approval — guaranteed higher than the state's $17.13 per hour self-directed rate, per MDHHS. See a full breakdown →

Are Home Help wages taxable? Yes — Home Help wages are W-2 income. Some live-in caregivers may be able to exclude those wages from federal income tax under IRS Notice 2014-7's difficulty-of-care payment rules, but the requirements are specific. Read the full tax breakdown →

Related reading

• MI Choice Waiver: Eligibility, Services & How It Works
• MI Coordinated Health: Eligibility & How It Works
• Michigan Caregiver Application Checklist
• Full FAQ