Personal care attendant tasks · Missouri CDS

What your attendant can help with

A Missouri CDS attendant helps with the non-medical personal care on your authorized care plan: bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, transfers, meals, laundry, light housekeeping, errands and essential rides. Nursing tasks and therapy are not covered.

Your care plan is what counts. The state visits you, decides which tasks you need help with, and sets a time for each one.

Below is what the program usually covers. But your plan, not this page, decides what your attendant can be paid to do.

Personal care

Mobility and physical support

Household tasks

Does CDS cover rides and transportation?

Rides are covered when the trip matters: doctor visits, groceries and errands, school, or work. This is not a taxi service. The trip has to be for one of those reasons.

What is a CDS attendant not allowed to do?

• Nursing tasks: shots, sterile wound care, IV therapy, feeding tubes.
• Physical, occupational or speech therapy.
• Judging or diagnosing a medical problem.
• Care for anyone but you. Your attendant is not the household’s helper.
• Heavy repairs, yard work, or big cleaning jobs.
• Anything not on your care plan.

Medicine is a common gray area. Your attendant can usually remind you and help you open bottles. Giving you the medicine is a nursing task. Ask your case manager where the line sits in your plan.

How are care plan hours decided?

The state does not hand out hours in a lump. It goes task by task, guesses how many minutes each one takes a day, and adds them up.

That is why the detail you give matters. Saying “I need help bathing” gets you less than describing what actually happens when you try to get into the tub.

It also explains something families find odd: why a plan can cover help with bathing but not the shopping, or the other way around. Each task is judged on its own. The plan is just the ones that got approved.

Tasks your attendant may not do for other people

This one causes genuine friction, so it is worth stating plainly. Your attendant is authorized to help you. They are not the household’s cleaner. Cooking a meal you will eat is authorized; cooking for four is not. Doing your laundry is authorized; doing the family’s is not. Light housekeeping in the rooms you use is authorized; cleaning the whole house is not.

Attendants find this hard to say, especially when they are family living in the same house. If you are the one getting care, make it easy on them. Say it out loud first.

What if your care needs change?

Care plans are not set in stone. If you have gotten worse, been in the hospital, or your situation has changed, you can ask the state to look again.

State law says you must report big changes within ten days anyway. A new visit is how an out-of-date plan gets fixed.

Frequently asked questions

What are the responsibilities of a personal care attendant?

A CDS personal care attendant helps with the non-medical tasks on your authorized care plan: bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, moving between bed, chair and wheelchair, meals, laundry, light housekeeping in the rooms you use, groceries, errands and essential rides. Your care plan, not a general job description, decides what your attendant can be paid to do.

Can a personal care attendant give medication?

Usually not. Your attendant can typically remind you to take your medicine and help you open bottles, but giving you the medicine is a nursing task, and nursing tasks fall outside CDS. Medicine is a common gray area, so ask your case manager where the line sits in your own care plan.

Can my attendant cook and clean for the whole family?

No. Your attendant is authorized to help you, not the household. Cooking a meal you will eat is covered; cooking for four is not. Doing your laundry is covered; doing the family’s is not. Light housekeeping in the rooms you use is covered; cleaning the whole house is not. Saying this out loud early makes it easier on everyone.