How to Find Dementia Home Care: A 6-Step Checklist

To find good dementia home care for a parent, first write down what help they need, then check who will pay, then get names from your Area Agency on Aging, the Alzheimer's Association and your parent's doctor. Interview two or three providers with the same questions, start with a short trial, and review how it is going after a few weeks.

The six steps below follow that order. Each one ends with something you can write down, and the checklist near the end pulls them together on one page you can print or keep on your phone.

Home care comes in different kinds, and the right one depends on the day your parent actually has. The Alzheimer's Association lists four: companion services for supervision, activities and visiting; personal care for bathing, dressing, toileting and eating; homemaker services for housekeeping, shopping and meals; and skilled care, such as wound care or injections, given by a health professional such as a nurse.

The first three are non-medical. The National Institute on Aging calls this home care and says aides help with daily activities, light housekeeping, errands and company, but do not give skilled medical care. Home health care is different: part-time medical services, such as nursing or therapy, ordered by a doctor for a specific condition.

Stage gives you a rough guide. In the early stage a person may still function independently, so a few hours of company and help with errands is often enough. In the middle stage they can still take part in daily activities with assistance, and wandering becomes more likely, so supervision and personal care matter more. In the late stage the Alzheimer's Association says people need extensive care, including constant help with daily personal care.

Write down four things before you call anyone, using the areas the Alzheimer's Association suggests: safety (can they cook or be left alone), health (medicines and other conditions), daily care (bathing, dressing, toileting) and social contact. Add the hours you need covered and the times of day that are hardest. Involve your parent in these decisions wherever you can.

Most families pay for non-medical home care themselves. The CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released in March 2026, put the national median for non-medical caregiver services at $35 an hour, up 3 percent on the year before. Real rates vary by state, city and provider, so ask each one for its rate in writing.

Medicare is narrower than most people expect. It covers part-time or intermittent skilled home health care for someone who is homebound, when a doctor orders it and a Medicare-certified agency provides it. Medicare.gov says it does not pay for 24-hour care at home, for homemaker services unrelated to the care plan, or for personal care like bathing and dressing when that is the only care needed.

Medicaid may help if your parent qualifies. Through home and community-based services waivers, states can offer homemaker, home health aide, personal care and respite services, but each state sets the maximum number of people it serves. Some states also let older adults with limited means choose and pay their own provider, often called participant-directed services; your Area Agency on Aging can say whether yours does.

Two more sources are worth checking. Private long-term care insurance may cover personal care and housekeeping at home, so read the policy and call the insurer. Veterans may be able to use the VA Homemaker and Home Health Aide program, which sends an aide to help with daily activities, or Aid and Attendance, a monthly amount added to a VA pension for people who need help with bathing, feeding and dressing.

Start with your Area Agency on Aging. The Eldercare Locator, a public service of the Administration for Community Living, connects you to it by phone or text at 1-800-677-1116, or by online chat. Ask for a list of home care providers, adult day programs and any waiver or caregiver programs your parent might qualify for.

Call the Alzheimer's Association helpline at 800-272-3900, and search its Community Resource Finder at communityresourcefinder.org for dementia care providers, community services and support groups near your parent. Ask your parent's doctor and other caregivers you know which providers they would use again.

If your parent needs skilled home health care, use Medicare's Care Compare tool to compare Medicare-certified home health agencies in your area. If a doctor orders home health care, Medicare says the provider should give you a list of agencies that serve your area.

Before you sign with anyone, check for complaints. The National Institute on Aging suggests contacting the community, county or state agencies that regulate health services and the Better Business Bureau. Ask each home care agency whether it is licensed in your state and look the license up on the state health department's website.

A home care agency employs the caregiver, sets the schedule and usually sends a replacement when the regular caregiver is off. That cover is the main advantage. The trade off is cost, as agency rates include the agency's own overhead, and you may see a different face more often than you would like.

Hiring a caregiver privately usually costs less per hour and gives you full say over who comes. It also makes you responsible for the checks an agency would run: references, work history, any criminal background check you choose to do, and a plan for sick days. The IRS says a household worker whose work you control is your employee, and that if you pay one cash wages of $3,000 or more in 2026, you generally must withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes.

A matching service sits in between. It introduces caregivers and you choose, but the arrangement after the match varies from one service to the next. Ask who employs the caregiver, who handles taxes and payroll, and what happens if the match does not work. Whichever route you take, interview the person who will actually come, not only the office.

Dementia experience: How many people with dementia have you cared for, and at what stage? What dementia education have you had? Ask the caregiver, not just the agency, to describe a hard day with a past client and what they did.

Behaviors: What do you do when someone becomes confused or upset in the late afternoon? How do you keep someone safe who tries to leave the house? What do you do if they refuse a bath or a meal? A good answer is specific and calm, and does not involve arguing or restraint.

Consistency and backup: Will the same caregiver come each visit? Who covers if they are sick, on vacation or quit, and how much notice will we get? The Alzheimer's Association lists the backup question among the first to ask.

Communication: How will you tell us how each visit went? Who do we call with a concern, and how fast will they reply? How are care plans made and reviewed, and are we and our parent part of that?

Money and terms: What is the hourly rate, is there a minimum number of hours per visit or per week, and are nights, weekends and holidays priced differently? How much notice is needed to change or end the arrangement? Ask for at least three references, and call them.

Begin with a trial: a few visits a week at the time of day your parent is usually most settled, with a family member there for the first visit or two. A familiar face helps a person with dementia accept someone new, and you get to see how the caregiver works.

Before the first visit, share who your parent is: their routine, food likes and dislikes, the names they use for people, what calms them and what upsets them. The Alzheimer's Association offers a Personal Facts and Insights form for exactly this.

Keep simple notes after each visit: what went well, any change in mood or sleep, anything missed. After three or four weeks, sit down with the caregiver or agency, look at the notes and decide whether to keep going, change the hours or try someone else. Needs change as dementia progresses, so plan to repeat this review every few months.

1. Needs written down: safety, health, daily care and social contact, plus the hours and times of day you need covered and your parent's stage.

2. Payment checked: private budget, Medicaid waiver screening, long-term care insurance policy, VA benefits if your parent is a veteran, and whether any skilled home health care qualifies under Medicare.

3. Names gathered: Area Agency on Aging via the Eldercare Locator, the Alzheimer's Association and Community Resource Finder, your parent's doctor, Care Compare for home health, and people you know.

4. Route chosen: agency, private hire or matching service, with a note of who is the employer and who covers sick days.

5. Questions asked: dementia experience, sundowning and wandering, same caregiver, backup, communication, rate and minimum hours, three references called, state license looked up.

6. Trial started: profile of your parent shared, notes kept after each visit, review booked for three or four weeks in.

If you need to talk this through now, the Alzheimer's Association helpline at 800-272-3900 and the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 are free. Your parent's doctor can also tell you whether any skilled home health care would qualify under Medicare.

If you would like help finding a non-medical caregiver, Dementia In Home sends 3 to 5 video profiles of caregivers with dementia experience within 48 hours, free. Call (689) 333-6079.