You just got the call. Now what?
Your parent fell. Or the doctor said the words "they shouldn't be living alone." Or you walked into their house and realized — really realized — that things have changed.
Now you're trying to figure out home care in South Carolina, and every direction you turn leads somewhere different. The state says call CLTC. CLTC says get on the waitlist. The waitlist has 23,000 people on it. Medicare covers skilled nursing but not the help your parent actually needs — someone to be there, every day, making sure they eat, take their medications, don't fall again.
Private-duty home care runs about $4,300 a month. That's not sustainable. But the Medicaid waiver that would fund it? There's a process for that, and nobody walks you through it start to finish.
The Home Care Coordination System
This guide exists because the information you need is scattered across six state agencies, buried in policy manuals, and written in a language designed for caseworkers — not families.
We rebuilt it as a single, step-by-step system: what to do first, what to do next, and exactly how to do each piece. It covers the legal documents you need in place before anything else, the waiver application that gets your parent in line for funded care, the interim options that keep them safe while you wait, and the financial preparation that determines whether Medicaid says yes or no.
What You Get — 12 Printable PDFs
- The Complete South Carolina Home Care Guide — 12 chapters covering legal authority, the Community Choices Waiver waitlist, interim bridging care, 2026 Medicaid limits, the Form 3400 / 3400-B application, self-directed Attendant Care, estate recovery, and a regional directory of all ten AAA regions and CLTC area offices.
- Legal Authority Checklist — Fillable tracker for Durable Financial POA and Healthcare POA execution under South Carolina law: witnesses, notary, Register of Deeds book/page, and who received copies.
- CLTC Waiver Intake Worksheet — Fill this in before you call (888) 971-1637. Parent details, ADL needs, intake call log, Phoenix referral ID, and Form 1718 assessment date.
- Home Care Agency Vetting Checklist — Side-by-side comparison of two licensed providers: DPH Regulation 60-122 license, SLED/FBI checks, insurance, bonding, Nurse Aide Registry, and OIG exclusion.
- Home Safety Assessment — Room-by-room walkthrough (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, throughout) with a write-in column for what still needs fixing before discharge or a waiver assessment.
- Financial Eligibility Worksheet — Classify income and assets against the 2026 South Carolina long-term care limits ($2,982 monthly income cap, $2,000 countable assets, $66,480 CSRA) and flag five-year look-back transfers.
- Miller Trust Setup Worksheet — Attorney and bank-account tracker plus a 12-month deposit log for over-cap income. Use only if gross monthly income exceeds $2,982.
- Medicaid Application Document Checklist — Packet tracker for Form 3400, Form 3400-B, 60 months of statements, and the 30-day appeal deadline if SCDHHS denies.
- Caregiver Agreement Worksheet — Fill-in contract fields (parties, tasks, fair-market rate, signatures) to sign before care starts — private-pay or waiver Attendant Care.
- Caregiver Hour Log — Landscape weekly log: date, shift, tasks, hours, amount paid, follow-up. Print a fresh copy each week.
- Estate Recovery Protection Worksheet — Titling inventory for the home and accounts, MERP deferral checkboxes, and a caregiver-child exemption document file.
- Quick-Start Checklist (Free Download) — Essential steps in order: legal authority, waiver waitlist, interim care, financial preparation, and key contacts.
Who This Is For
- Adult children coordinating home care for an aging parent in South Carolina
- Families facing a hospital discharge who need a home care plan fast
- Caregivers already providing unpaid care who need financial relief and respite
- Anyone trying to understand whether their parent qualifies for Medicaid-funded home services — and what to do while waiting
Why Not Just Google It?
You can. GetCareSC lists programs. SCDHHS publishes waiver rules. Your Area Agency on Aging has a phone number. The information exists.
But it exists in pieces — a program overview here, an eligibility threshold there, a form buried three clicks deep on a .gov site that hasn't been updated since last fiscal year. No one source tells you the order. No one source gives you the worksheets. And no state portal warns you that missing the five-year look-back window or forgetting to record your power of attorney at the Register of Deeds can cost your family months and thousands of dollars.
This guide puts the full sequence in your hands — legal setup through estate recovery — with every step referenced to South Carolina statute and current Medicaid thresholds. It's what an elder-law attorney would want you to know before your first consultation, organized so you can work through it on your own timeline.
No Risk
If the guide doesn't give you a clearer path forward for your parent's home care, email us and we'll refund the purchase. No conditions, no time limit.
The free checklist gives you the essential steps at a glance — what to do and in what order. If that's enough to get started, it's yours. The full guide goes deeper: chapter-length explanations, fillable worksheets, the complete Medicaid application walkthrough, and the regional directory that connects every section to the specific South Carolina office your family needs to contact.