The Complete Guide to Home Care Services in Detroit

Detroit has one of the most accessible home care systems in the country — thanks to Michigan’s Home Help Program, which pays family members directly to provide care without the intermediary layers that complicate the process in other states. If your family needs home care in the Detroit area, here’s the complete picture.

Two Main Programs for Detroit Families

Michigan Home Help Program

The Home Help Program is Michigan’s largest and most straightforward home care program. If your loved one is on Medicaid and needs help with daily activities, the state will pay a caregiver —including a family member, and in some cases a spouse— to provide that help at home.

What makes Home Help stand out nationally: there’s no agency in the middle. The state assesses your loved one’s needs, authorizes hours, and pays the caregiver directly.

In our experience at CareChoice, Home Help is the right starting point for most Detroit families.  It’s faster to access than MI Choice, simpler to navigate, and covers the core personal care and daily living support that families need most.

MI Choice Waiver

For families whose loved one has more complex needs — requiring not just personal care but also adult day services, home modifications, skilled nursing visits, or a broader range of community-based supports — the MI Choice Waiver provides a more comprehensive package. MI Choice is administered through the Detroit Area Agency on Aging (DAAA) and includes a self-determination option that allows paid family caregiving.

MI Choice requires a nursing-facility level of care — a higher threshold than Home Help — but the additional services make it worth exploring for families dealing with complex care situations.

What Home Care Services Are Available
Whether through Home Help or MI Choice, Detroit families can access personal care (bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, eating), mobility assistance and fall prevention, meal preparation and feeding support, medication reminders, light housekeeping and laundry, grocery shopping and errands, companionship and supervision, and transportation to medical appointments.
MI Choice adds adult day services, home-delivered meals, personal emergency response systems, home modifications (ramps, grab bars, accessible bathrooms), assistive technology, skilled nursing visits, respite care, and community transition services for individuals leaving nursing facilities.

Who Pays for Home Care in Detroit

Medicaid covers the vast majority of home care in Detroit through the programs above. If your loved one is enrolled in Medicaid (apply through
MI Bridges at newmibridges.michigan.gov), the services are covered at no out-of-pocket cost.

Private pay home care in the Detroit area runs approximately $22 to $30 per hour from most agencies. But given Michigan’s generous Medicaid home care programs, private pay should be alast resort — not a first assumption. Many Detroit families we work with assumed they’d have to pay out of pocket and were surprised to learn Medicaid covered everything.

VA programs serve eligible veterans through the Homemaker/Home Health Aide Program and Veteran-Directed HCBS (which allows paid family caregivers). The John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit is the primary VA facility for the area.

Getting Started in Detroit

Step 1:  Confirm Medicaid eligibility through MI Bridges or your local MDHHS office.

Step 2:  Contact MDHHS to request a Home Help assessment, or contact DAAA at (313) 446-4444 for MI Choice information.

Step 3:  Name your family caregiver during the assessment process.

Step 4:  Complete provider enrollment (background check, employment paperwork, time keeping setup).

Step 5:  Begin providing care and receiving weekly payment.

Timeline: approximately four to eight weeks from initial contact to first paycheck.

What Makes CareChoice Different in Detroit

CareChoice understands Detroit’s home care system at the neighborhood level. We work with families from the East Side to Southwest Detroit to Dearborn to Inkster. We know the
Wayne County MDHHS offices, the DAAA team, and the specific patterns that help or hinder enrollment.  If your family needs home care in Detroit, we make the system work for you.

Contact CareChoice → Detroit team

Written by Shamere Dunswell, Community Relations Manager | CareChoice

Related:  Get Paid to Care for Family in MI →| Michigan Home Help → |MI Choice Waiver →