Personal Care Aide (PCA) Services in NYC

What a Personal Care Aide Can and Cannot Do

Families are often surprised by where the line sits. A personal care aide is trained for hands-on daily living support, not clinical care.

A PCA can help with

• Bathing, showering, grooming and dressing
• Getting in and out of bed, walking and safe transfers
• Toileting and incontinence care
• Preparing meals and helping with eating
• Light housekeeping, laundry and changing linens
• Reminding someone to take medication at the right time
• Escorting to medical appointments and shopping

A PCA cannot

• Administer medication, injections or manage an IV
• Provide wound care, catheter care or other skilled nursing tasks
• Carry out physical, occupational or speech therapy

If clinical tasks are needed, the right fit is usually a home health aide or nursing visit. See HHA vs PCA: which does your loved one need for a side-by-side comparison.

How Many Hours of Personal Care Can You Get?

Hours are not chosen by the family or the agency. In New York they are decided by an independent assessment that looks at how much help a person needs with daily tasks, and are then authorised through a managed long-term care plan. Some people receive a few hours a day; people who cannot be left alone safely can be approved for far more, including around-the-clock care.

The assessment is the step that decides everything, so it is worth preparing for. Read what the assessment covers and how hours are decided.

How to Arrange a Personal Care Aide in New York

1. Call us and tell us what a normal day looks like — what is hard, and when.
2. If Medicaid is not in place yet, we help you start that process. See getting approved for Medicaid home care.
3. An independent nurse assessment determines the approved hours.
4. We match a caregiver on skills, language and schedule, and care begins — often within 24 to 48 hours once authorisation is in place.

Personal Care Services Through Medicaid: New York’s PCS Program

When people search for “personal care assistance” or “personal care services,” in New York that usually means one specific thing: the Medicaid Personal Care Services (PCS) program, sometimes called the personal care assistance program or the “home attendant” program. It pays for a trained aide to help with bathing, dressing, meals, mobility and errands at home, with weekly hours authorized after the NYIA nurse assessment.

Advantage Home Care provides PCS aides across all five boroughs and walks families through every step — eligibility, the assessment, and enrollment. Not sure whether you qualify? Take our 2-minute self-check or start with the getting-started guide.

Personal care aides are also the backbone of condition-specific care. With a progressive illness such as ALS, for example, hours typically grow from a few a day to around-the-clock — see our guide to ALS home care services in NYC.

Personal Care Aide Questions Families Ask

Is a personal care aide the same as a home attendant?

In everyday New York usage the terms overlap. Both describe someone who comes to the home to help with daily living rather than medical care. Here is how the roles differ.

Does Medicaid pay for a personal care aide?

For most families in New York, yes. Personal care hours are a covered Medicaid benefit, authorised through a managed long-term care plan once an assessment is complete.

What is a personal care aide?

A personal care aide (PCA) is a trained, non-medical caregiver who helps with the activities of daily living — bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, meals, light housekeeping and moving around safely. PCAs work under a licensed agency’s supervision and follow a written care plan.

What is personal care assistance?

Personal care assistance is the service a PCA provides: hands-on help with everyday tasks so someone can keep living safely at home. In New York it is most often funded by Medicaid through the Personal Care Services (PCS) program, with hours set by an independent assessment.

Can we choose the aide?

We match on skills, language and schedule, and if the fit is not right we will change it. Many of our caregivers speak Russian, Spanish and other languages spoken across the boroughs.

How quickly can care start?

Once authorisation is in place, care commonly begins within 24 to 48 hours. If Medicaid is not yet approved, the timeline depends on that process.

Which areas do you cover?

All five boroughs — Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island — from our Brooklyn and Bronx offices.