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Yes. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays for in-home care. Veterans enrolled in VA health care who need help with daily activities can receive in-home care from a licensed home care agency through the VA Community Care Network (CCN), with no agency fee to the veteran for authorized hours. The care comes from a local licensed agency the VA authorizes, and the veteran can ask for a specific agency. Here is how it works at the Washington DC VA Medical Center (DC VAMC) and across Maryland, step by step.

Step 1: Be enrolled in VA health care

Everything starts here. If the veteran is not enrolled, apply with VA Form 10-10EZ online at va.gov, by phone at (877) 222-8387, or in person at a VA medical center. Enrollment is not the same as having a disability rating. Many veterans with no rating are enrolled and eligible for home care.

Step 2: Tell the VA primary care provider or social worker you need help at home 

The VA does not send help because a family calls a home care agency. If you are an adult child trying to arrange senior care for an aging parent who served, this is the step to push on. It sends help because the veteran's care team decides it is needed. At the next appointment, say it plainly: "I need help with bathing, dressing, and meals. Can we talk about the Homemaker and Home Health Aide program?" If there is no appointment coming up, call the medical center's Social Work Service and ask for a home care consult.

Step 3: The VA assesses the need and sets the hours 

A VA clinician reviews what the veteran can and cannot do alone and decides how many hours a week the VA will authorize. That number belongs to the VA, not the agency. If hours later feel short, the way to raise them is back through the primary care provider. 

Step 4: The referral goes to a community agency, and you can ask for one by name

The VA does not staff these aides itself. It sends the referral to a licensed home care agency in its Community Care Network. You have a say in which one. If you want Specialty Care Services, tell the social worker: "Please send the referral to Specialty Care Services in Silver Spring." We accept the referral in the VA's system, call the family within one business day, and send a nurse to meet the veteran at home before care starts.

Step 5: Care starts, usually within days

An aide is matched and the schedule is set inside the authorized hours. The aide helps with personal care, light housekeeping, meals, and getting to appointments. The VA reassesses on its own schedule, and our nurse visits regularly in between.

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Everything starts here. If the veteran is not enrolled, apply with VA Form 10-10EZ online at va.gov, by phone at (877) 222-8387, or in person at a VA medical center. Enrollment is not the same as having a disability rating. Many veterans with no rating are enrolled and eligible for home care.

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