What is Homemaker/Personal Care (HPC) in Ohio?
HPC is the service behind most of what day-to-day support actually looks like, and the certification families should ask about first. Here's what the state says it includes, what it specifically excludes, and who is allowed to deliver it.
Of all the acronyms in Ohio's developmental disability system, HPC is the one you'll see most often on a service plan, and the one least likely to be explained to you in plain English.
The state's definition
Ohio's administrative rule defines it this way:
"Homemaker/personal care" means the coordinated provision of a variety of services, supports, and supervision necessary to ensure the health and welfare of an individual who lives in the community. Ohio Administrative Code, Rule 5123-9-30
Read that once more and notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say housekeeping. It doesn't say babysitting. The operative words are coordinated, supervision, and health and welfare. HPC is the state's catch-all for the supports that keep a person safe, capable, and connected in their own home and community.
What HPC covers
The rule spans a wide range of supports. In practice, HPC includes:
- Daily living skills: household tasks, meal preparation, personal care, and medication management
- Self-advocacy and self-direction training: helping a person speak for themselves and make their own decisions
- Therapeutic interventions and behavioral support strategies
- Health care activities that are integral to the person's daily needs
- Emergency response training: knowing what to do, and who to call, when something goes wrong
- Community access: getting out into the community and taking part in it
- Help with personal finances, when it's combined with other HPC supports
That range is the point. A person who needs help cooking, remembering medication, and getting to a community class doesn't need three separate services and three separate people. HPC is designed to be delivered as one coordinated relationship.
What HPC does not cover
This part matters, because it's where expectations get set wrong. Ohio's rule explicitly excludes:
- Room and board
- Items of comfort and convenience
- Home maintenance, upkeep, and improvement costs
HPC also can't be billed for the same hours as certain other services, including money management, shared living, residential respite, and day services such as adult day support, employment supports, and vocational habilitation. If your plan includes several services, your Service and Support Administrator will make sure they don't overlap in a way the rule doesn't allow.
One-on-one or group? Either. HPC may be delivered one-on-one or as a group service. A provider may also carry out homemaker activities on the person's behalf at times when the person isn't physically present.
How HPC is different from home health care
Families often assume these are the same thing with different paperwork. They aren't.
Home health and nursing are clinical services organized around a medical condition and a physician's plan of care. The goal is treatment.
HPC is a developmental disability service organized around daily life. The goal is independence, safety, and participation: building skills where they can be built, and providing steady support where they can't. It's delivered by Direct Support Professionals and coordinated through your county board service plan, not a doctor's order.
A person can receive both. They're funded and planned separately.
Who is allowed to provide HPC
Not just anyone. In Ohio, HPC may be provided by independent providers and agency providers that meet the state's certification requirements and hold a Medicaid provider agreement.
Notably, county boards of developmental disabilities and regional councils of governments are not permitted to provide the service themselves. That's by design. It's what makes provider choice a real choice, and it's why the selection lands with your family.
The question to ask any provider: "Are you DODD-certified for HPC, and can I have your provider information to verify?" It should take them ten seconds to answer. If it doesn't, that's your answer.
How Sam Adult Care fits
Sam Adult Care is certified through the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities including certification for Homemaker/Personal Care. HPC and the supports around it, respite, personal care, community integration, transportation, skill building, and behavior support, are the core of what our Direct Support Professionals do every day.
We were started by a family raising a daughter with autism, so we came to this work from the receiving end of it first. If you want to talk through whether HPC fits your family member's situation, call 216-759-1032. No script, no pressure.
Frequently asked
What does HPC actually cover?
Daily living skills (household tasks, meals, personal care, medication management), self-advocacy and self-direction training, therapeutic and behavioral support strategies, health care activities integral to daily needs, emergency response training, community access, and help with personal finances when combined with other HPC supports.
What does HPC not cover?
Room and board, items of comfort and convenience, and home maintenance, upkeep, and improvement costs. It also can't be billed at the same time as certain other services, including money management, shared living, residential respite, and day services.
How is HPC different from home health or nursing?
Home health is clinical and organized around a medical condition and a physician's plan of care. HPC is a developmental disability service organized around daily life, delivered by Direct Support Professionals and coordinated through your county board service plan.
Who can provide HPC in Ohio?
Independent providers and agency providers that meet Ohio's certification requirements and hold a Medicaid provider agreement. County boards and regional councils of governments cannot provide it themselves.
Where are HPC services delivered?
In the person's home and out in the community. The service explicitly includes community access alongside in-home support.
How do I start HPC services with Sam Adult Care?
Call 216-759-1032 or use our contact page. If you already have a Service and Support Administrator, tell them you'd like to talk with us. If you don't yet, we'll walk you through how the county board process works.
Where this information comes from
- Ohio Administrative Code: Rule 5123-9-30, Homemaker/personal care
- Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities: Waivers
This guide is general information, not advice about your specific situation. Rules change, so confirm details with your county board or Service and Support Administrator.
Wondering if HPC fits your family member?
Call and describe the day you're actually having. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.