How CareChoice Supports Dallas Families Through STAR+PLUS Home Care

Most Dallas families who find CareChoice are somewhere in the middle — they know
their loved one needs help at home, they’ve heard something about Medicaid paying for
it, but they don’t know how to make it actually happen. Texas’s Medicaid waiver system
is layered: HHSC, MCOs, STAR+PLUS, HCBS, CDS, FMSAs — each acronym representing
another entity the family has to interact with. CareChoice exists to cut through that
complexity.

What We Do for Dallas Families

We identify the right program. STAR+PLUS HCBS is the most accessible pathway for
most Dallas families, but some loved ones qualify for CLASS, MDCP, or other waivers.
We assess the situation and point your family toward the fastest, most appropriate path.
We navigate the MCO relationship. Dallas is served by four STAR+PLUS MCOs —
Superior, Molina, Amerigroup, and United. Each has its own enrollment process, service
coordinators, and CDS procedures. We work with all four and know how to get things
moving within each system.

We set up Consumer Directed Services. The CDS option is where paid family
caregiving lives, and it involves designating an employer of record, connecting with an
FMSA, completing background checks, and establishing payroll. We facilitate every step
so the family caregiver starts getting paid without unnecessary delays.

We prepare families for the assessment. The functional assessment determines your
loved one’s authorized hours — and ultimately how much the family caregiver earns. In
our experience, families who prepare (describing the worst days, having documentation
ready, ensuring the caregiver is present) get more accurate, more generous results.
We stay involved. Reassessments, hour adjustments, MCO changes, FMSA issues —
the care relationship doesn’t end when the first paycheck arrives. CareChoice remains a
resource throughout.

What We See Across Dallas

The DFW metroplex is enormous and diverse, and the families we serve reflect that. In
Oak Cliff, we work with Hispanic families where a daughter has been caring for her
mother for years without any compensation — and the cultural expectation of family
care is so strong that agency-based care was never considered. CDS is a natural fit: the
family structure stays intact, and the daughter starts earning income.

In Garland and Irving, we serve families from South Asian and Middle Eastern
communities where multigenerational living is the norm. The paid family caregiver model
aligns perfectly with how these families already operate.

In Carrollton and the northern suburbs, we work with families who are surprised to learn
Medicaid applies to their situation. An aging parent on Social Security living with their
adult child may well qualify, regardless of the child’s income — and CDS rates, while
lower than some states, still represent meaningful income for care that was previously
uncompensated.

Across every neighborhood and community, the pattern is the same: families doing the
work without knowing they could be getting paid. CareChoice changes that.

Get started → Contact CareChoice in Dallas

Written by Gary Murray, Chief Marketing Officer | CareChoice

Related: Get Paid to Care for Family in TX → | CDS in Texas → | STAR+PLUS in Dallas →