Veteran-Directed Care (hire your own caregiver)
A VA budget the veteran controls to hire caregivers, including family members, and buy the goods and services that keep them at home.
A directory listing, not an eligibility decision.
UniHealth can identify a possible match, but the responsible program makes the final decision.
What to know
- Why it may fit
- Your circumstances can be checked against the program’s published guidelines.
- What to do next
- A monthly VA budget you control to pay for help at home. You can hire your own workers, even family members. You must be in VA health care, and only VA can refer you.
- Who runs it
- VA Palo Alto Health Care System with Sourcewise
What the program may consider
- You are enrolled in VA health care
- You need help with daily activities to stay at home
- Program capacity through Sourcewise and VA Palo Alto
How to get it
A monthly VA budget you control to pay for help at home. You can hire your own workers, even family members. You must be in VA health care, and only VA can refer you.
Before you start
- You need this first VA health care (with County Office of Veterans Services help). You must be enrolled in VA health care first.
How to apply
- ReferralYour VA social worker or primary care teamThere is no form to apply. You ask your VA care team.
- PhoneSourcewise Veteran-Directed Care: (669) 230-4290Help getting connected to VA to see if you qualify.
- PhoneCounty of Santa Clara Office of Veterans Services: (408) 918-4980Free help from accredited staff with VA applications, appeals and other veterans' benefits, like the veterans' property tax exemption.
Getting help
A provider starts the request
Only VA can refer you, so ask your VA social worker. Once you are in, you or a person you choose can run the budget and hire workers. This is often a family member.
You can name one person (not an organization) to act for you.
What happens after you apply
Ask the VA social worker or primary care team about Veteran-Directed Care.
YouA helper can help with this
VA checks your care needs. VA must also find you eligible for community care, which is care outside VA that VA pays for.
The VAOnly you can do this
VA may ask you to sign form 10-10EC about your income. It decides any copay, which is your share of the cost.
If VA needs it to set a copay
The VAOnly you can do this
If you qualify and a spot is open, VA refers you to the agency that runs it.
The VA
A care advisor from that agency meets with you. Together you make a care plan and a monthly budget.
The program or providerOnly you can do this
You, or the person you chose, hire workers. They can be family members or a home care agency. Workers get paid through the program.
YouA helper can help with this
Care at home starts. Workers are paid from your budget.
The program or providerOnly you can do this
What only you can do
- Be enrolled in VA health care.
- Ask the VA social worker for a referral, and take part in the VA and agency needs checks.
- Approve your care plan and budget.
- Hire and supervise your workers, or name a person to do it. Approve their time sheets.
- How long it takes
- VA and the local agency do not publish a timeline. There are several steps: VA review, referral, planning, and hiring.
- You are enrolled when
- You are enrolled when your care plan and budget are approved. A worker you hired must also have given your first paid hours of care.
- To keep it
- Stay in VA health care. VA and the agency check your needs again from time to time. Stay within your budget and approve time sheets. Pay any copay. A family caregiver who lives with you can get VA respite, at least 30 days a year.