Home Care Costs for Seniors in Saskatchewan

Two Systems, Vastly Different Price Tags

Home care in Saskatchewan operates on parallel tracks: a publicly subsidized program through the Saskatchewan Health Authority and a fully private market. Which one your parent can access — and what it costs — depends on their clinical assessment and how quickly care is needed.

SHA Home Care: The Public Program

The Saskatchewan Health Authority delivers home care through regional CPAS (Client Patient Access Services) teams. A clinical assessment in your parent's home determines what services they need and what they pay.

The financial structure splits into two categories:

Professional services — free for eligible clients. Registered nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and social work visits are provided at no charge. If your parent needs wound care, medication management, or post-surgical follow-up, there is no bill for the eligible professional service.

Personal support services — cost-shared. Help with bathing, dressing, meals, housekeeping, and respite care is charged on a two-tier scale:

• First 10 hours per month: $9.60 per hour, flat rate, regardless of income
• Hours beyond 10: Charged on an income-tested sliding scale, from $0 for low-income clients up to a maximum of $576 per month for high-income earners

A parent receiving 20 hours of personal support per month would pay $96 for the first 10 hours, plus a sliding-scale amount for the remaining 10. Even at the maximum rate, the combined monthly cost caps at $576 — far less than the private alternative.

Private Home Care: Market Rates

When SHA home care hours are not enough, or when families want more control over scheduling and staffing, private agencies fill the gap. Current Saskatchewan market rates:

At 20 hours per week of personal care at $40/hour, the monthly bill reaches roughly $3,200. Full-time live-in care can exceed $8,000 per month — more than double the maximum charge at a public Special-Care Home.

How to Apply for SHA Home Care

You do not need a doctor's referral. Self-referrals by your parent or direct referrals by a family member are accepted. Contact your regional CPAS office:

• Saskatoon region: 306-655-4346
• Regina region: 306-766-7200

A CPAS assessor will schedule an in-home evaluation. The initial response and triage call typically occur within 2 to 5 business days; the assessor then evaluates your parent's physical and cognitive needs using a standardized clinical tool and builds a care plan with specific hours and service types.

Individualized Funding: An Alternative to SHA Staff

For families who want to hire their own caregivers rather than receiving SHA-assigned workers, the province offers Individualized Funding for Home Care. After CPAS completes the clinical assessment and determines a monthly funding allocation, the money is paid directly to the client or their representative.

The family then hires, schedules, and manages private care providers of their choosing. Professional clinical services — nursing, therapy — remain delivered by SHA staff and are excluded from the individualized funding amount.

This option gives families far more flexibility over who enters their parent's home and when, but it comes with the administrative burden of being an employer: scheduling, backup coverage, payroll, and quality oversight.

When SHA Home Care Stops Being Enough

The SHA home care program is designed to support independence, not replace institutional care. If your parent's needs exceed what the community care plan can safely manage — frequent falls, wandering, 24-hour supervision requirements — the CPAS coordinator will recommend a transition to a Special-Care Home.

At that point, the clinical assessment shifts to placement triage, and the financial picture changes to the income-tested resident charge system. Our Saskatchewan Long-Term Care Costs & Subsidies Guide covers both tracks — home care fees and institutional charges — so you can compare the real cost of keeping a parent at home against what a public placement would cost.

See more Saskatchewan guides →