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Home Health Care

Eligibility Requirements for Receiving Personal Care Assistant Services in Minnesota

Receiving Personal Care Assistant Services allows you to receive support with non-medical, health-related needs and daily activities. As with other homecare options, the primary goal of PCA services is to allow individuals to live independently at home and as part of their community, rather than being stored in a facility.

People of all ages with special healthcare needs can qualify for PCA services. Here are the eligibility requirements of each PCA Minnesota program.

Participating Programs

You must first participate in one of the following four programs to be eligible for PCA:

1) Minnesota Medicaid (also known as Medical Assistance)

2) Elderly Waiver

3) Minnesota Alternative Care

4) Minnesota Managed Care Program, such as Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO)

Each organization has its own application process, but they all follow the same PCA eligibility requirements.

Eligibility Criteria for PCA

To be eligible to receive PCA services in Minnesota, you must:

  • Live in the state of Minnesota
  • Be eligible to receive medical assistance or MinnesotaCare
  • The ability to make decisions about your care or the ability to have someone else make decisions for you.
  • Get a PCA Assessment by an appropriate Public Health Nurse in your county.

For services you must be dependent with at least one ADL or exhibit Level 1 behavior in order to qualify for services. You will receive more help with several ADLs if you need assistance with more than two ADLs. Assistance with the five critical ADL’s (eating, transfers, mobility, toileting) will get you more help than Non-Critical ADL’s (grooming, dressing, bathing, positioning).

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) Include:

  1. Grooming;
  2. Dressing;
  3. Bathing;
  4. Transferring;
  5. Mobility;
  6. Positioning;
  7. Eating; and
  8. Toileting.Being “dependent” in one of the above activities means either:
    1. You need: “hands-on assistance”, “constant supervision”, or “cueing”;
    2. Every time you complete the activity
    3. There is no need to do the activity every day, but if you need assistance, constant supervision, or cuing every time the activity is done, you have a dependency on the ADL.

      Get a Personal Care Assistant who will support your needs

      A Public Health Nurse (PHN) will evaluate your needs during a PCA Assessment. During this assessment, a PHN will ask you questions and determine your eligibility for PCA services.

      We can help you determine your eligibility for PCA services in the Twin Cities and help you evaluate your homecare options. Contact All Home Health to get started. Then, once we determine that you meet all homecare requirements, we’ll train and hire the caregiver of your choice.