Delaware EVV Requirements: Electronic Visit Verification for Home Care

What EVV Is and Why Delaware Requires It

Electronic Visit Verification is a federal mandate under the 21st Century Cures Act that requires every state to track in-home Medicaid care visits electronically. Delaware implemented its EVV system through the Sandata platform, and it applies to all personal care services and home health services delivered under the Diamond State Health Plan Plus (DSHP-Plus) program.

Before EVV, verification depended on paper timesheets signed by the client and the caregiver. That system was easy to falsify and impossible to audit at scale. EVV replaces it with real-time digital records that capture six data points for every visit: who provided the service, who received it, what service was delivered, when it started and ended, and where it took place.

If your parent receives Medicaid-funded home care in Delaware — whether through an agency or the self-directed care option where a family member is the caregiver — EVV compliance is mandatory.

How the System Works

Delaware uses two primary verification methods, depending on the caregiver's situation:

Mobile app (GPS-based): The caregiver opens the Sandata mobile application on their smartphone at the beneficiary's home. The app captures GPS coordinates to confirm the caregiver is physically at the correct address. They tap to clock in when arriving and clock out when leaving.

Landline telephony: If the caregiver does not have a smartphone or if GPS signal is unreliable in rural parts of Kent or Sussex County, they can call a toll-free number from the beneficiary's home landline. The system identifies the phone number and records the call time as the clock-in or clock-out.

Both methods feed into a central Sandata portal that the MCO (Highmark Health Options, AmeriHealth Caritas Delaware, or Delaware First Health) monitors. The care coordinator can see in near-real-time whether authorized visits are being completed.

What Gets Recorded

Every EVV entry must capture:

• Caregiver identity — verified by the app login or caller ID
• Beneficiary identity — matched to the authorized plan of care
• Service type — personal care, homemaker, or skilled nursing
• Start time and end time — actual clock-in and clock-out
• Location — GPS coordinates or the landline phone number registered to the beneficiary's home

The service type is important because each authorized hour in the plan of care is categorized. If a caregiver logs "homemaker" hours but the care plan only authorizes "personal care," the MCO may flag a discrepancy.

Common Problems and How to Avoid Them

Missed clock-ins. If a caregiver forgets to clock in and tries to log the visit retroactively, the system flags it as a manual exception. Too many exceptions trigger an audit. Keep the routine simple: clock in on arrival, clock out on departure, every visit.

GPS drift. In some rural areas, GPS accuracy can place the caregiver outside the acceptable radius of the beneficiary's home. If this happens consistently, contact the MCO to register the landline telephony option as the primary verification method.

Multiple caregivers. If your parent has more than one caregiver (common when a family member handles weekday mornings and an agency aide covers afternoons), each person must use their own EVV login. Sharing credentials is a compliance violation.

Payment delays. The MCO processes caregiver payments based on verified EVV records. An incomplete or flagged record can delay payment by one to two pay cycles. For family caregivers operating through the self-directed option, this delay hits the household budget directly.

EVV for Self-Directed Family Caregivers

Family members hired as paid caregivers through Delaware's self-directed care program are subject to the same EVV rules as agency employees. There is no exemption for relatives.

This catches some families off guard. Caring for a parent at home feels informal, but once Medicaid is paying for those hours, every shift must be documented with the same precision as a professional aide working through a home health agency.

The fiscal intermediary that manages payroll for self-directed workers will provide EVV training and login credentials as part of the enrollment process.

If you are working through the Medicaid eligibility process and want to understand how home care authorization fits into the broader DSHP-Plus system, the Delaware Medicaid Long-Term Care & Asset Protection Guide covers the full pipeline — from financial eligibility through MCO enrollment and care plan authorization.

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