·State program
Veteran Directed Care
Veteran Directed Care enables eligible Veterans enrolled in VA Puget Sound Health Care System to receive home and community-based services with an individual budget they control. Eligible Veterans must meet VA home and community-based services criteria with 3 or more ADL dependencies or 2 ADL dependencies plus additional risk factors, and may hire family members, friends, or neighbors to provide care.
What you get
Services, as recorded:
- An individual budget determined by VA Puget Sound Health Care System based on the medical criteria used to establish eligibility and the participant's location; unspent funds may be accumulated up to 100% of the total monthly budget for emergencies
Questions that decide eligibility
GiveCare prepares the questions; the program makes the decision. Bring these to the call or the application:
- 01
Does the person receiving care live in Washington?
Residency is usually the first thing a program checks.
- 02
Does your relationship to the person — other relative or non relative — count for this program?
- 03
What counts as a qualifying disability or level of care need, and what documentation shows it?
- 04
Does the VA disability rating meet the program’s minimum (our record lists null%)?
- 05
Do the work hours meet the minimum (our record lists null hours)?
- 06
Is there a caregiver-specific department, coordinator, or support line? Ask for it by name.
Many agencies have one that isn’t advertised on the website.
- 07
What documents do you need from us to start an application?
- 08
Is there a waitlist right now, and how long is it?
Who qualifies, in the source’s words
Where our record has a direct quote from the official source, here it is — otherwise, this is our best reading of the rule.
Disability of the person receiving care
“they must first be enrolled to receive primary care at a VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VA PSHCS) hospital or clinic, have a VA primary care team”
dshs.wa.gov →Minimum VA disability rating
Minimum VA disability rating: null%.
Work hours
Minimum work hours: null.
Relationship to the person receiving care
“you may hire family members and friends and neighbors (except spouses, legal guardians or the person you select to serve as your representative in VDHS, if you choose to have one)”
dshs.wa.gov →
How to apply
- 01
A Veteran must be enrolled in VA Puget Sound primary care, have a VA primary care team, meet VA eligibility criteria for home and community-based services, and receive a referral from the VDC liaison at VA PSHCS. A Care Consultant then conducts intake and a CARE assessment to build a Participant Spending Plan.