Personal Care Attendant Program

The Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program seeks to help individuals direct their own health care by providing home-based assessment, evaluation, care planning, and education tailored to the unique physical, emotional, and social needs of its participants. In doing this, the program helps participants to coordinate the supports they need in order to continue living as independently as possible in their own homes.

PCA is a community-based program reimbursed through MassHealth to provide consumer directed services to elder and disabled adults residing in their own homes. The design of this program allows participants to hire, train and supervise their own caregiver. They can also opt to designate someone to manage their program for them.

The Personal Care Attendant can help the consumer bathe, dress, take medication, eat, ambulate, transfer, toilet, exercise, and perform other medically necessary tasks. The PCA may also be authorized to assist with housekeeping, laundry, shopping, and meal preparation.

Individuals may be eligible for the PCA program if they are MassHealth recipients (Standard or Commonhealth), have a chronic or permanent disability, and have at least two personal care needs. Approval for program services must be given by the individual’s primary care physician.