10 Benefits of Self-Directed Care
By PPL on March 19, 2021
Last Updated on November 3, 2026
Choosing self-directed for yourself or someone you love is one of the best ways to stay in control of your care, keep living in your own home, and hold on to your independence.
That kind of control changes things, not just for you, but for your loved ones, friends, and family too. Having peace of mind over everyday needs like bathing, preparing meals, physical therapy, and anything else you rely on is a big part of living a happy, healthy life.
These decisions are not easy. Choosing how you or your loved one gets support is personal, and it can feel overwhelming.
That is where self-direction can help. The following are the top 10 reasons self-directed may be the right choice for you or your loved one. Because every situation is different, it is worth exploring your questions about self-direction and how the right support team can help you succeed with it.
What Is Self-Directed Care?
Self-directed care, or self-direction, is a way of receiving care that puts participants, most of whom qualify for Medicaid, in charge of the long-term services and supports they need to stay in their own home. With agency care, by contrast, the agency makes most of those decisions for you, including who your caregiver is and when they work.
As Medicaid.gov explains, self-direction gives people real say over how their waiver and state plan services are delivered, including who provides that care and the way it is carried out. Participants have the authority to recruit, hire, train, and oversee the workers who support them.
How that works depends on your program’s model. In some programs, you act as your caregiver’s employer, and a Financial Management Services (FMS) provider handles payroll and taxes for you. In others, called Agency with Choice, an agency serves as the legal employer and takes care of the employer paperwork, while you still choose, schedule, and oversee your caregiver. It may sound like agency care, but it’s a form of self-direction, because the decisions about who supports you stay with you.
You may also hear self-directed care referred to by other names, such as participant direction, self-determination, consumer direction, or simply self-direction.
Instead of being limited to an institutional setting or a traditional home care agency that offers little say over who helps you and how, self-direction opens up another path, one where you decide.
To learn more about the ins and outs of self-direction, read our blog, “Understanding Self-Directed Care: What It Is and How It Works.”
10 Benefits of Self-Direction
Our goal is to give you the facts, information, and resources you need to make decisions about your care. This list doesn’t begin to cover all of the personalized benefits that you will see as a participant. With care that is so unique to your life, you could probably write a list that is 100 points long. These 10 benefits of self-directed care show the immediate impact this can have on your life, and why it’s worth taking the first step toward enrollment.
1. Live In Your Own Home And Community
There really is no place like home. It is where you are most comfortable and happy. Self-directed care means you get the care and support you need in your own home. You can take part in your community and benefit from your local support systems.
2. A Say in How Your Care Is Delivered
Your care plan starts with an assessment of the help you need. Self-direction gives you a voice in how that help is provided. Working with your case manager, you can often have input on when support happens and how things get done, so your care fits your routines and preferences. Within your program’s rules, your voice is heard and respected.
Your needs can change over time, and your plan can change with them. If something isn’t working, talk with your case manager. They can review your plan and request updates, and you don’t have to wait for your next scheduled review to bring it up.
3. A Wide Range of Support Options
Your care plan is based on an assessment of the help you need to stay safe at home. Self-directed programs can cover the hands-on personal care tasks people often need support with each day. That may include bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, moving around the home, getting in and out of bed or a chair, preparing meals, and eating. Depending on your state and program, it may also include help with medication, such as reminders or assistance, within what your program allows.
Some programs also cover items that help you do daily tasks more safely, such as certain equipment or changes to your home. Everything has to connect to your assessed needs and be part of your approved plan.
4. You Choose Your Personalized Care
You decide who helps you and delivers the services you require. Be confident you know and trust the people coming into your home to support you. Depending on where you live, you can hire your relatives or friends to do this.
Hire people who you can easily relate to, have similar interests as you, and share your culture. This connection with your in-home caregiver offers huge emotional benefits. For example, picture a young man with an intellectual or developmental disability who needs help with daily activities. He loves music. With self-direction, his family can look for a caregiver close to his age who shares that interest, so the person helping with his routine is someone he enjoys being around.
5. You Lead Your Care Team
In many self-directed programs, you (or a representative you choose) act as your caregiver’s employer. That means you share what’s needed for your care, supervise the work, and review and approve your caregiver’s timesheet. Your care plan still sets the services you’re approved to receive, but day to day, you’re the one guiding how your caregiver supports you.
You don’t have to handle the paperwork alone. Your FMS provider takes care of payroll and taxes, so your caregiver gets paid correctly and on time. That matters to caregivers. When they know what’s expected and can count on a steady paycheck, they’re more likely to stay, which means more consistent care for you.
If you’d rather not take on the employer role yourself, many programs let you choose a representative to help.
6. Care Close to Home, Even in Rural Areas
Home care worker shortages can make it hard for agencies to staff every area, especially in rural communities. With self-direction, you can look for a caregiver in your own community, and in many programs that can include a family member or friend. That can open up options where agency staffing is limited. Your program’s rules still apply, so ask your case manager who you can hire where you live.
7. More of Your Budget Can Go Toward Care
In many self-directed programs, you have an individual budget based on your assessed needs. Within your program’s rules, you decide how to use it on the approved services and supports in your plan. Some programs use a set number of approved hours instead of a budget.
Agencies have administrative costs, like scheduling and overhead, built into their rates. In many self-directed programs, there’s no agency in the middle, so more of the funding can go directly toward the person providing your care. Your FMS provider handles payroll and taxes, so the money gets to your caregiver correctly and on time.
8. Your Caregivers Benefit, Too
Whether you hire a family member, a friend, or someone else, self-direction can be a good fit for them, too. They work for someone they know and understand, and they often have more flexibility than they would with an agency’s schedules and restrictions.
Research points the same way. A 2024 study found that self-direction was associated with improved wellbeing for family caregivers, fewer unmet needs for the person receiving care, and a stronger intention to keep providing care over time.
9. Better Quality of Life for You and Your Family
When your care needs are met in a way that works for you, the people close to you often feel the difference, too. Worry about your day-to-day and long-term care can ease for you and your family. Learn more about how in-home care can improve quality of life.
10. Self-Direction Can Fit Many Different Needs
Self-direction is used by people of many ages and backgrounds. That includes children and adults with disabilities, [older adults who want to stay in their homes], veterans, and people with chronic health conditions, along with the family members who support them. Instead of fitting into the routine of an institution or agency, you have a say in how your care is delivered and who provides it, within your plan.
Who qualifies, and what’s covered, depends on your state, your program, and your assessment. Check your state’s rules, including any limits on hiring certain family members. If you have questions, contact us. We’re happy to help.
Explore Programs by State
Is Self-Directed Care Right for You?
Self-direction gives you control over who provides your care and how your budget is used, and the best next step is to see which programs are available where you live. Take our quick questionnaire to find out whether self-directed care could be a fit for you or your loved one.
Take the QuestionnaireAbout PPL
We are a Financial Management Services provider that supports self-directed care across roughly 50 programs nationwide. PPL doesn’t provide direct care or assign in-home caregivers. Instead, PPL handles the administrative side of self-direction, including payroll, tax compliance, and enrollment, so participants can hire the people they trust and stay in the home and community they love.
Frequently Asked Questions
The benefits of self-directed care include letting you choose, hire, and manage your own care workers, including trusted friends or approved family members, and direct an approved budget toward the support you need. This means more control over your daily schedule, care that fits your life, and the ability to keep living at home instead of moving into a facility.
In many programs, an eligible family member or friend can be hired and paid to provide care through self-direction. The rules about which relatives qualify, such as a spouse or parent, vary by state and program, so it is important to check your state’s guidelines.
Within your program’s rules, an approved budget can pay your care/support workers and may also cover services like transportation, home modifications, or adaptive equipment that help you live independently. Every program has its own list of approved services, so confirm what is covered where you live.
Self-direction works best when you or a representative are ready to take an active role in hiring and managing your care, which is more responsibility than an agency model. Support is built in to make this manageable, since a Financial Management Services provider handles payroll, taxes, and enrollment paperwork on your behalf.
