In Michigan, a person enrolled in Medicaid who needs hands-on help with daily activities may be able to choose their own caregiver, and that caregiver may be paid through the Medicaid Home Help Program administered by MDHHS. In many cases the chosen caregiver is an adult child, a sibling, a grandchild, a friend, or a neighbor. Spouses and parents caring for their own minor child generally cannot be paid. Whether someone qualifies, and for how many hours per week, is decided by an MDHHS adult services worker after an in-home assessment. Trinity Home Assistance helps families in Warren, Sterling Heights, Farmington Hills, and across Oakland and Macomb counties move through that process.
The program has a name, and knowing it changes the conversation
Most families searching for this do not know what to call it. They type something like “can I get paid to take care of my mom” and end up on a page about a different state. The Michigan program is called Home Help. On the MDHHS website it sometimes appears under Independent Living Services. It is a Medicaid state plan benefit, not a waiver, and not a grant.
When you call your county MDHHS office, ask for the adult services unit and say you want to apply for the Home Help program. That sentence alone will move you further than an hour of general questions.
Who is allowed to be the paid caregiver
This is the part that surprises people. Michigan allows self-direction, which means the member generally chooses who provides their care. That person can be:
- An adult child
- A grandchild
- A sibling
- A parent of an adult child
- An aunt, uncle, cousin, or other relative
- A friend
- A neighbor
Two exclusions matter. A spouse generally cannot be paid to care for their husband or wife under Home Help. A parent generally cannot be paid to care for their own minor child. If you are a spouse in that position, it is worth asking whether a different family member could serve as the paid caregiver instead.
What you do not need
You do not need a nursing license. You do not need a CNA certification. You do not need prior healthcare experience. Home Help is non-medical personal care, and the requirements are that you are at least 18, legally authorized to work in the United States, enrolled as a provider in CHAMPS, cleared through a criminal background screening, and trained on the program rules.
A criminal record is also not an automatic disqualification. The nature and timing of the offense are reviewed. Plenty of people rule themselves out before anyone has actually looked.
What Home Help pays for
Medicaid splits the covered services into two groups. Activities of daily living, or ADLs, are the hands-on ones: bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, toileting, transferring, and mobility. Instrumental activities of daily living, or IADLs, are the surrounding ones: meal preparation, light housework, laundry, shopping, and medication assistance.
What it does not cover: skilled nursing, therapy, care for other people in the household, and ongoing 24-hour or live-in arrangements. Approved hours are set by the assessment and distributed across the week.
The path from here to a paycheck
The sequence is consistent across families:
- Confirm the person receiving care has active Michigan Medicaid, or apply through MI Bridges.
- Contact the adult services unit at your county MDHHS office and request Home Help.
- Complete the application and the medical needs certification.
- An adult services worker completes an in-home assessment of ADL and IADL needs.
- If approved, MDHHS issues a written service plan with approved tasks and weekly hours.
- The member names their chosen caregiver.
- The caregiver enrolls in CHAMPS and clears the background screening.
- Service verification is set up, which for many caregivers means Electronic Visit Verification.
- Care is delivered under the plan and payment follows verified services.
- A reassessment happens roughly every twelve months.
Where most families lose weeks
CHAMPS is the wall. It stands for Community Health Automated Medicaid Processing System, and it is Michigan’s Medicaid provider enrollment portal. It was designed for healthcare organizations, not for a son in Clinton Township trying to get paid to help his father shower. Selecting the wrong enrollment category, mismatched identity information, or an email address you never check will each cost you time. Without a completed CHAMPS enrollment, no payment is issued even if MDHHS has already approved the hours.
The second common stall is the assessment. Families underprepare for it, and the person being assessed often minimizes their own difficulty out of pride. What the worker observes that day drives the approved hours. Write down what a hard day looks like, not an average one, and bring it with you.
The third is giving up after a denial. Denials can be appealed, and appeals supported by better documentation are frequently successful.
Doing it alone versus working with an agency
Michigan allows both. You can enroll as an individual provider, submit directly to Michigan Medicaid, and manage your own paperwork and tax documents. Or you can work through an enrolled home care agency that employs or contracts you, handles enrollment support, provides training, issues your tax documents, and can send a backup caregiver when you are sick or need a week off.
There is no cost to the member either way. Home Help is a Medicaid benefit. The difference is how much administrative weight you want to carry while also providing the care.
If you are in Warren, Sterling Heights, or nearby
Trinity Home Assistance works with Medicaid members and family caregivers across Warren, Sterling Heights, Southfield, St. Clair Shores, Mount Clemens, Macomb, Madison Heights, Clinton Township, Utica, and Farmington Hills. Most of the families who call us are not looking for a stranger to send to the house. They already have someone. They need help turning that arrangement into an approved and paid one.
One thing we will not do is tell you we can get you approved. No agency can. MDHHS makes that decision. What we can do is help you prepare well, submit accurately, and avoid the delays that cost most families weeks.
Download the free guide: How Family Members Can Get Paid to Care for a Loved One. It covers the whole process in plain language, with worksheets for the assessment and the paperwork.
Or talk to us. Call (248) 506-0968 or request a free eligibility conversation at trinityassist.com. Trinity Home Assistance serves Warren, Sterling Heights, Southfield, St. Clair Shores, Mount Clemens, Macomb, Madison Heights, Clinton Township, Utica, and Farmington Hills.
Trinity Home Assistance
32300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 215, Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Phone: (248) 506-0968 · Email: info@trinityassist.com · trinityassist.com
Serving Warren, Sterling Heights, Southfield, St. Clair Shores, Mount Clemens, Macomb, Madison Heights, Clinton Township, Utica, and Farmington Hills.
