Get paid to care for a family member in Florida

In Florida, paying a family member to give care goes through the Participant Direction Option (PDO) inside Medicaid long-term care. The Florida pages we could read describe PDO but do not say which relatives you may hire, so ask your plan before you plan around it.

The route in Florida

Florida does not run a separate paid family caregiver program on the pages we read. Long-term care at home is delivered through the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-term Care program (SMMC LTC), described on our Florida overview. Inside that program, some participants can direct their own workers.

The Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA) describes PDO as an option the long-term care plan provides to participants who have at least one of these services on their care plan:

• adult companion care
• attendant care
• homemaker
• intermittent and skilled nursing
• personal care

PDO allows participants to choose who provides their services and how and when. It puts participants in control of hiring, training and supervising their direct service workers.

What you do under PDO

DOEA's slides say enrollees in PDO must live in their own home or a family home. They are responsible for:

• recruiting, interviewing, training and hiring the direct service worker or workers;
• preparing a job description;
• scheduling the worker's hours;
• telling the case manager when they intend to end a worker; and
• telling the case manager if they no longer want PDO.

Who can be hired

This is the question families ask first, and the Florida pages we could read do not answer it. DOEA's slides say PDO lets you choose who provides your services, but they do not list relatives or exclusions. Florida's Medicaid agency, AHCA, publishes the plan contract rules, and its pages were not available to our fetch tools. Ask the case manager at your long-term care plan these questions in writing:

• Can my adult child, sibling or other relative be my paid worker under PDO?
• Is there a limit for a spouse or a person who lives with me?
• What screening does the worker have to pass before being paid?
• Who handles payroll and taxes?

Who qualifies for the underlying program

To receive SMMC LTC services, Florida Statutes 409.979 says the person must be 65 or older, or 18 or older and eligible for Medicaid by reason of a disability, and must be found by CARES to need nursing facility care. HCBS enrollment runs through a statewide wait list that DOEA maintains, with a few groups given priority. DOEA's slides say the Department of Children and Families decides financial eligibility.

How to start

1. Contact your local Aging and Disability Resource Center for a screening. DOEA says the Elder Helpline, 1-800-96-ELDER, can help.
2. Apply for Medicaid. DOEA's slides name the item as "Medical assistance for individual in HCBS/Waiver" unless you already receive SSI.
3. When you are enrolled with a plan, tell the case manager you want PDO.

What we left out

We do not describe pay rates, hours, family hiring rules or structured family caregiving for Florida. We could not read an official page that states them. Ask your plan for the current rule.

Carevo is a connection platform and directory. We do not enroll anyone in PDO or advise on eligibility. If you need agency help in the meantime, see home care in Florida.

Related in Florida

• Florida Medicaid programs for care at home
• Home care providers in Florida
• How family members get paid to give care, across the United States