Parents as Paid Caregivers Arizona

What the PPCG Program Covers

Arizona's Parents as Paid Caregivers (PPCG) program allows eligible parents of DDD members to receive Medicaid reimbursement for attendant care and habilitation services they provide at home. The research specifically describes the HB 2945 guardrails for minor members, so confirm with DDD whether the current program applies to an adult member. Originally launched as a temporary COVID-era measure, the program was made permanent under Arizona's Section 1115 demonstration waiver and is now administered through the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) and the integrated DDD Health Plans — Mercy Care and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan.

The program pays parents to deliver the same services a non-family direct care worker would provide: personal hygiene assistance, feeding support, mobility help, community integration, skill-building (habilitation), and behavioral management. The critical distinction is that PPCG hours are authorized through the individual's Person-Centered Service Plan (PCSP), meaning the parent caregiver bills against hours that have already been clinically approved by the DDD support coordinator.

If your young adult is transitioning from school-based services to DDD adult supports, the Arizona SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide walks through the full ALTCS and DDD enrollment sequence that determines whether PPCG hours are available.

HB 2945 Oversight Rules

House Bill 2945 introduced strict billing guardrails after state audits identified significant program overruns. The research describes these rules for parent caregivers of minor members:

You cannot bill when a minor child is:

• Attending school (including virtual school hours on record with the district)
• Receiving clinical therapies (speech, occupational, physical, behavioral)
• In inpatient hospital care or residential treatment

You cannot bill for standard parenting tasks that any parent would perform regardless of disability. Housekeeping, laundry, and general meal preparation for a minor child are excluded. The research does not establish a separate adult exception to these billing restrictions; do not assume HNT age rules make ordinary household tasks billable. Any billing still has to match a clinically authorized service category (attendant care or habilitation), not general household upkeep.

Separate billing modifiers track whether services were delivered by a parent or a non-parent caregiver, and whether the service was attendant care or habilitation. Keep those records consistent with school attendance and therapy schedules, and ask the health plan how mismatches are reviewed.

The EVV Requirement

Every PPCG shift must be logged through Arizona's Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) system. Parent caregivers should follow the health plan's current clock-in and clock-out process and record the required time, service-type, and location information. Unverified time may not be payable.

Common EVV pitfalls that delay or deny payment:

• Forgetting to clock out — this can leave an incomplete EVV record requiring correction or review
• Overlapping shifts — this can create an EVV or billing mismatch requiring review
• Location mismatches — follow the health plan's current location-verification rules for community-based habilitation hours

Weekly Hour Caps

As of July 1, 2026, the PPCG program's cap is 20 hours of paid care per child per week. Before that date, the cap was 40 hours per week.

The 20-hour cap applies specifically to parent-provided care. If your child's PCSP authorizes 35 hours of weekly attendant care, the parent can deliver up to 20 of those hours through PPCG, and a non-parent caregiver must cover the remaining 15. Families who rely on PPCG as their primary (or only) care arrangement should recruit and train backup direct care workers to cover hours beyond the cap.

The hour reduction does not change the total authorized hours on the service plan. It only restricts how many of those hours a parent can deliver and bill for.

Who Qualifies for PPCG

The research reports do not provide a complete current PPCG eligibility checklist. Confirm with DDD or the health plan that the member is enrolled in the required programs and has attendant care or habilitation hours authorized in the PCSP. Ask which of these requirements apply:

• Whether DDD-approved parent caregiver training is required
• Whether a Level One fingerprint clearance card background check is required
• Whether registration as an approved provider with the contracted DDD Health Plan is required
• Whether EVV access and EVV onboarding are required

Ask DDD or the health plan whether any caregiving certification is required beyond the training. The parent remains subject to the applicable provider standards and audit requirements.

Planning Around the Transition

For families navigating the school-to-adult transition, confirm with DDD when PPCG hours become available after the member's program enrollment and initial PCSP authorization. The sequence commonly involves:

1. DDD eligibility redetermination at age 18 (Form DDD-2114A)
2. ALTCS financial and clinical screening (PAS score of 40+ required)
3. DDD Health Plan selection (Mercy Care or UnitedHealthcare)
4. Support coordinator drafts the PCSP with authorized hours
5. Parent completes PPCG enrollment, training, and EVV setup

Timing varies, so starting the DDD redetermination paperwork early — ideally six months before graduation — helps prevent a gap between school services ending and PPCG hours beginning. The complete Arizona adult benefits guide includes a transition timeline worksheet that maps these deadlines against the SSI redetermination and AHCCCS enrollment calendars.

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