Home Care

Long Term Home Care

The Rensselaer County Department of Social Services (DSS) administers the provision of home care programs to allow disabled individuals to remain in their own homes. Home care programs provide personal care aide and other health care services to Medicaid recipients who require less than 120 days of services. Clients receiving the service must have a medical problem/condition documented by a physician, which interferes with the ability to perform daily living activities, i.e. bathing, dressing, and meal preparation. This Department provides ongoing home care services for all others who require assistance with homemaking tasks.

DSS offers several programs that are designed to assist individuals of all ages with their activities of daily living and other health related services depending on the individual's medical needs. The programs/services that are offered by this Department are:

Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program

What Is It?

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program is a home care program which permits eligible individuals to select, train, supervise and terminate persons who provide services to them. A personal assistant is an individual who is paid to assist you with your daily living tasks. These tasks may include but are not limited to assisting with:

  • Dressing
  • Grooming
  • Health maintenance
  • Hygiene
  • Light housekeeping tasks
  • Mobility
  • Toileting
  • Transfers

Who Qualifies?

In order to participate in the patient managed home care program the individual must:

  1. Be eligible for or currently receiving long term care and services provided by a certified home health agency, long term home health care program, private duty nursing services program or personal care aide services program
  2. Be Medicaid eligible
  3. Have an expected home care length of stay of at least 180 days
  4. Reside in the district in which the social services contracts with approved consumer directed personal assistant
  5. Be medically stable and self-directing person which means an individual who is able, willing and capable of making choices about his/her clinical care and activities of daily living, understands the impact of the choices and assumes responsibility for the result of the choice; or has a designated guardian or adult willing and able, in an informed and reasonable way to assist in making choices and to carry out the patient's responsibilities, in accordance with State law

How to Apply?

Persons interested in participating in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program should contact the Home Care Unit at the Rensselaer County Department of Social Services.

To Qualify for Home Care Services

  • You must be in receipt of Medicaid or eligible for the Medicaid spousal impoverishment provision. For information on Medicaid contact DSS Medicaid Unit at 518-266-7991
  • You must have a medical need for the service certified by your physician
  • You must be residing in Rensselaer County

To Initiate the Process to Be Assessed for Home Care Services

  • A referral needs to be called into the DSS Home Care Unit at 518-266-7910
  • At this time we will ask for all:
    • Personal data
    • Medical condition/needs
    • Physician's name, address and phone
    • Emergency contacts
    • Other services you might be receiving
    • What areas you require assistance

Once the physician approves this referral, a joint home visit will be conducted by a Home Care Caseworker and a nurse from a certified home health agency. At this assessing visit, the parties will determine the scope of the individual 's needs and set up services accordingly.

For More Information

For more information on home care and all of the programs available to Rensselaer County residents, please contact the Home Care Unit.

For information on Managed Medicaid Long Term Care, please contact NY Medicaid Choice:

  • Dual Eligible: for dual (Medicare and Medicaid) eligible to assist with picking a plan, if they require Community Based Services for over 120 days, call 888-401-6582
  • Non-Dual Eligible: to assist with picking a mainstream managed Medicaid Plan, call 800-505-5678