If you're 60 or older and on Indiana Medicaid, the PathWays for Aging waiver can pay a family caregiver through programs like Structured Family Caregiving and Attendant Care. Your Medicaid health plan assigns a care coordinator, and a Level of Care review decides whether you qualify. You don't pay Paid Care for help with any of it, and we'll walk you through who qualifies and what happens at each step.
PathWays for Aging Waiver in Indiana and How It Pays Family Caregivers
The waiver is Medicaid money set aside to pay for care at home, so a loved one can stay out of a nursing home, residential care, or assisted living. When a family member provides that care, Medicaid can pay them for it. The caregiver doesn't need to be a stranger from an agency. It can be a daughter, a spouse, or a friend who already handles the daily routine.
Two programs are the usual routes, and they pay in different ways. Under Structured Family Caregiving, a qualified caregiver receives a flat, tax-free daily stipend, and the amount depends on the level of care your loved one needs. Attendant Care pays hourly instead, and the caregiver doesn't have to live with the person they're caring for. If you share a home with your parent and help with medication, hygiene, and housekeeping every day, the daily stipend usually fits that arrangement. If you live nearby and cover set hours, hourly pay is the better match.
Your loved one has to qualify before anyone gets paid, so the order matters. Approval for the care recipient comes first, then the caregiver's training, and then pay begins for the care given. Paid Care's team helps families through enrollment, approval, and payment, including Medicaid and waiver applications for people who don't have them yet. Once you're paid, it comes weekly on Fridays for your caregiving shifts, and we handle the administrative work.
For a broader look at how Indiana family caregivers get paid across programs, see our Indiana family caregiver pay overview.
Who Moved to PathWays at 60 and Older
Indiana moved Medicaid members who are 60 or older into PathWays for Aging, so your parent's birthday decides which waiver applies to your family. A 78-year-old father on Medicaid falls under PathWays. A 45-year-old sister with a disability doesn't, and a disabled child's care is routed through a different Indiana program.
If your loved one is 60 or older, the next question is what coverage they already have. Seniors with Medicare, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can be eligible recipients in Indiana's family caregiver program. Medicare by itself won't pay a family caregiver under current state regulations, so Medicaid is the piece that makes caregiver pay possible. If your parent has Medicare only, the Medicaid application comes first. We help families with Medicaid and Medicaid waiver applications when they haven't been completed yet.
Veterans and people receiving a pension can also qualify as care recipients. That matters if your parent served, because those benefits may already be part of the picture.
Your own situation matters less than you'd expect. You can be a daughter, a spouse, or a friend, and living in the same home affects which program fits, not whether you can be paid. Your loved one's coverage and care needs set the starting point.
If you're not sure where your family stands, it helps to gather your loved one's Medicaid or Medicare information and a rough list of the daily tasks you handle, such as medication, hygiene, and housekeeping. Our Indiana caregiver eligibility guide explains how those details line up with Structured Family Caregiving.
What the MCE Care Coordinator Does
Once your parent is enrolled in a Medicaid health plan, that plan (called a managed care entity, or MCE) assigns a care coordinator who becomes your main contact for the waiver. This person works for the health plan, not for Paid Care, and they're the one who builds your loved one's service plan and decides which home care services go on it.
Expect the coordinator to ask about daily life in specific terms. They'll want to know who helps with bathing, medication, meals, and housekeeping, how many hours each day that takes, and whether the caregiver lives in the home. Your answers help determine whether Structured Family Caregiving or Attendant Care fits better, so describe a normal week as it really is, including the hard days.
Keep a few things within reach when you talk with them:
- Your loved one's Medicaid and Medicare information
- A list of daily tasks and who does each one
- Names of doctors and any recent diagnoses
- Your own contact details, and whether you want to be the paid caregiver
The coordinator and your caregiver provider do different jobs, and families often mix them up. The coordinator manages the plan and the services. We help with the caregiver side, including qualification, training, your care plan, a care coach you can reach through the Paid.care App, and weekly payment. If the coordinator tells you something that doesn't match what you've heard elsewhere, ask them to explain it, then check with our team so everyone is working from the same information.
If you don't know who your coordinator is, call the member services number on the back of your loved one's health plan card and ask. You can also ask our team to help you sort out where your family's application stands.
Level of Care Review Through Maximus
Before Medicaid will pay for home care, someone has to confirm your loved one needs the level of help a nursing facility would otherwise provide. In Indiana, that Level of Care review is handled by Maximus, a state contractor, so it comes from an outside assessor rather than your health plan or from us.
Plan on a conversation about what your parent can and can't do alone. The assessor will ask about the same daily tasks your coordinator does, such as bathing, dressing, medication, and meals, so your notes from that conversation will help again here. Your loved one should be part of the discussion, and it helps to have the person who sees their daily routine sitting next to them. That's often you.
Be specific and honest about the hard days. If your mother needs reminders to take her pills and sometimes refuses help with bathing, say so plainly. Downplaying what you do, which many caregivers do out of habit, can make the need look smaller than it is, and the result affects the services on the plan.
The review result matters for pay as well. Under Structured Family Caregiving, the daily stipend depends on the level of care required, so an accurate picture of your loved one's needs shapes what the caregiver can receive. Our team can't change the outcome, but we can help you understand the next step once you have it.
If the result isn't what you expected, ask your care coordinator what it means for the service plan and what options exist for a follow-up. You can also bring the paperwork to our team, and we'll help you work out where your application stands and what to do next.
Caregiver Programs PathWays Can Fund
Two caregiver programs come up most often for Indiana families on PathWays, and they differ in how the money reaches you. Structured Family Caregiving pays a flat daily stipend that's tax-free, while Attendant Care pays by the hour. Your care coordinator and Level of Care result point toward one or the other, and your own schedule decides which one you can realistically keep up.
Structured Family Caregiving is built for caregivers who provide daily support. It covers family and non-family caregivers, and the goal is to keep your loved one at home or with a qualified caregiver rather than in a nursing home. The stipend rate follows the level of care required, so a higher-need loved one means a different rate than a lower-need one.
Attendant Care is a better match when you don't share a home with your loved one. Eligible family or friend caregivers earn hourly pay for the hours they work. A son who stops by each morning and evening, or a neighbor who covers weekday shifts, can be paid for those hours without moving in.
Our Indiana pages also describe a broader Indiana Family Caregiver Program, Medicaid-funded and supported by a Medicaid waiver, that pays caregivers who live with and assist a loved one. It's the same idea as the daily stipend route, so ask your coordinator which program name appears on your parent's plan.
Before you call anyone, decide how many hours you can honestly commit each week and whether you can live in the home. Those two answers narrow the choice faster than anything else.
When you're ready to see which program fits your family, call our Indiana team at (812) 247-6017. We'll check eligibility with you, explain how pay works for your situation, and stay with you through enrollment, approval, and your first paycheck.
Common Questions
Do I have to complete training before I can be paid?
Yes, qualification includes training. Paid Care's expert team provides professional training and certification, and the program combines virtual and in-person sessions, with hands-on training at onsite locations. You also get free access to a library of online caregiver and personal care courses. You don't pay for any of it, and your care coach can point you to the right courses.
How do I track my caregiving hours?
You track them in the Paid.care App, where you clock in and out of care services and take notes in one place. The same app lets you chat with a care coach, check eligibility, and build your loved one's care plan. It works on smartphones, tablets, and computers, so you can log a shift from whichever device you have on hand.
What if my parent lives in Michigan or Illinois?
PathWays for Aging is an Indiana waiver, so it applies only to Indiana residents. Paid Care serves Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, and each state runs its own Medicaid and home care programs. If your parent lives in one of those states, we'll check which state programs they may qualify for. For any other state, we can't help with eligibility or pay.
Can I be paid for caring for a disabled child or a spouse under 60?
You may be able to, but PathWays won't be the program. It covers members 60 and older. Paid Care's Indiana pages describe pay for family caregivers of adults with disabilities and of children, including parents caring for disabled children. Our team checks eligibility across Indiana's Medicaid and home care programs, so tell us your loved one's age and coverage and we'll point you to the right one.