What is Medicaid Personal Care?
The Medicaid Personal Care Program (PCS) is an important program available to Medicaid recipients who need help with bathing, dressing, feeding, walking/transferring, going to the bathroom, or who have bladder or bowel incontinence. To qualify for services, you must need hands on help from a home care aide for at least two of these needs. The services must be provided in your private home. The services are only for you and not for other members of your household.

Who Provides these Services?
Only home care agencies licensed and enrolled by the State of North Carolina can provide these services. Your primary care physician must authorize these services. A registered nurse will then visit you in your home and assess your needs and abilities to see if you qualify for the services. If you do qualify, the registered nurse will talk with you about your needs and the services that are available to you in the program.

What are the Medicaid Personal Care Services?
Personal Care Services are home care aide assistance with bathing, dressing, helping you walk or move about, helping you eat, helping you go to the bathroom, and keeping you clean and dry should you be incontinent of urine or stool. If you need personal care, then the home care aide can also help meet some of your home management needs – like cooking a meal for you, keeping your bathroom clean, washing your bed linens, shopping for groceries or picking up prescriptions for you. Home management services are only available if you first have personal care needs and the services are not for other members of your household.

The registered nurse will discuss your home management needs with you when the nurse visits your home. This program is not a maid service, day care service or transportation service. If you need help getting to your medical appointments, Medicaid has a transportation program available to you. Discuss your medical transportation needs with your Medicaid case worker.

Also, there are limits in the service hours available to you per day and per month. The registered nurse will discuss this with you. It is not guaranteed that you will receive the maximum hours available in the program. Your amount of service time is dependent on your needs and what your physician authorizes.

Who Oversees Personal Care Services?
Both the NC Division of Facility Services and the NC Division of Medical Assistance oversee agencies providing personal care services. These state agencies require that the home care aides be competent to deliver your care; that the registered nurse supervises the care; and, that your primary care physician authorize the care.

Important Things to Know About PCS

• There are restrictions on family members being your nurse aide. Discuss this with the registered nurse.
• No agency should come to your door promoting their personal care services to you. This is not allowed.
• Be sure and let the registered nurse know about any other services you are receiving at home.
• Let your physician and the registered nurse know if your needs change.
• Keep your physician appointments so that the physician can stay up to date on your needs.

Call the NC Care Line if you have questions about services available to you in North Carolina or need to reach the State agencies. You may reach the CARE-LINE, Monday-Friday, except state holidays by calling 1-800-662-7030 (English/Spanish) or 1-877-452-2514 (TTY). For local calls, you may dial 919-855-4400 (English/Spanish) or 919-733-4851 (TTY).