Ohio Family Caregiver Training: What You Need to Get Paid

Ohio family caregiver training isn't one statewide course. In Ohio Structured Family Caregiving, for example, a family caregiver at an Ohio Department of Aging certified agency can qualify with at least eight hours of training chosen by the person receiving care.1

The hours depend on which Ohio Medicaid service pays you and what kind of agency employs you, and every number on this page comes from a specific rule you can show the agency. If you're about to move in with a parent, or you've been doing this work unpaid for years, knowing the exact rule is what lets you ask the right questions before you sign up for anything.

In This Guide

• Why Ohio Sets Your Training, Not a National Certificate
• Ohio Family Caregiver Training Routes Side by Side
• Structured Family Caregiving: The 8-Hour Route
• Personal Care Aide Qualifications in Ohio
• PASSPORT's 30-Hour Limit in Ohio Law
• When the Federal 75-Hour Aide Rule Applies in Ohio
• Before You Pay for a Caregiver Course
• Free and Low-Cost Family Caregiver Training in Ohio
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Why Ohio Sets Your Training, Not a National Certificate

It's natural to assume there's one official caregiver certificate you need before anyone will pay you. Federal Medicaid rules point the other way. Under 42 CFR 441.302(a), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approves a 1915(c) waiver only if the state assures adequate standards for every type of provider. CMS guidance on family caregivers in 1915(c) waivers says CMS does not dictate personal care worker qualifications, requires each state to set its own, and says family caregivers must meet the state's minimum qualifications to deliver waiver services.3

PASSPORT, the Ohio Home Care Waiver and the MyCare Ohio Waiver are among the programs listed in OAC 5160-44-32, an Ohio rule that governs home and community-based services waiver programs authorized under section 1915(c).4 So the training a paid family caregiver needs in Ohio is written into Ohio's own rules: the Ohio Medicaid rule for Structured Family Caregiving, and the Ohio Department of Aging rule for personal care aides.

If you want the bigger picture first, our national guide on whether you need training or certification to be a paid family caregiver compares Ohio's rules with other states.

Ohio Family Caregiver Training Routes Side by Side

Ohio's provider rules set training for two paid roles a family member can hold through an agency: the live-in Structured Family Caregiving caregiver, under OAC 5160-44-33 and 173-39-02.25, and the personal care aide, under OAC 173-39-02.11 and ORC 173.525.1,2 Here's what each route requires before and after you start.

Paid caregiving through consumer direction, where the person receiving care hires you directly, works differently. Our Ohio consumer direction guide covers how that enrollment works, and our guide to getting paid to care for a family member in Ohio compares the programs that pay.

Structured Family Caregiving: The 8-Hour Route

Structured Family Caregiving is the Ohio Medicaid waiver service built around a caregiver who lives with the person. Under Ohio's rules, an agency provider employs or contracts that live-in caregiver, and Structured Family Caregiving is available only to an adult 18 or older enrolled on the MyCare Ohio, Ohio Home Care or PASSPORT waiver who needs help with daily personal care and household support and who chooses the service.5

Your training as a Structured Family Caregiving caregiver depends on the type of agency that employs you, under OAC 5160-44-33(B)(2).1

• ODA-certified or otherwise-accredited agency: you complete at least 8 hours of initial training that the person receiving care decides you need, by a deadline that person sets.
• ODA-certified agency, alternative: OAC 173-39-02.25 lets you qualify instead by meeting the personal care aide initial qualifications described in the next section.
• Medicare-certified home health agency: you must meet the federal home health aide trainings in 42 CFR 484.80, as in effect on October 1, 2023.

The 8-hour route puts your parent, or whoever is receiving care, at the center. The rule ties the training to what that person needs from you, so a caregiver for someone with dementia and a caregiver for someone recovering from a stroke can end up learning different things. Talk with your loved one and the agency about what those 8 hours should cover before you sign on.

You also aren't left on your own after training: the provider must give you structured training tailored to your loved one's assessed needs and keep records that you completed it. Under OAC 5160-44-33, an Ohio Structured Family Caregiving provider must employ coaching staff (a registered nurse (RN), a licensed practical nurse (LPN) working at an RN's direction, a licensed social worker (LSW) or a licensed independent social worker (LISW)) who make an initial in-person home visit, contact you and your loved one every month, and let no more than 60 calendar days pass between in-person visits.1

If the caregiver you have in mind is a spouse, or a relative who holds legal decision-making authority, Ohio applies separate criteria in OAC 5160-44-32 before that person may provide Structured Family Caregiving.5 Our guide to getting paid to care for your spouse in Ohio walks through those conditions.

Personal Care Aide Qualifications in Ohio

If an ODA-certified agency hires you as your family member's personal care aide, your training rule is OAC 173-39-02.11, effective July 1, 2024. OAC 173-39-02.11 lets an ODA-certified agency put you to work as an Ohio personal care aide only if you meet at least one of five initial qualifications.2

1. You completed an Ohio-approved nurse aide training and competency evaluation program (the State Tested Nurse Aide, or STNA, route).
2. You met the federal qualifications for a Medicare-certified home health aide (42 CFR 484.80 and 484.115) on or after January 13, 2018.
3. You have at least one year of supervised work as a home health aide or nurse aide and passed a competency evaluation on the topics the rule lists.
4. You completed the COALA home health training program, or a certified vocational training and competency evaluation program in a health care field covering those topics.
5. You completed a training and competency evaluation program that lasted at least 30 hours and covered the subjects the rule lists.

Of the five Ohio personal care aide qualifications in OAC 173-39-02.11, only route 3 depends on past work, because it needs a year of supervised aide experience.2 Route 2 doesn't: the federal home health aide standard is met by completing a training and competency evaluation program (the 75-hour program described below) or a competency evaluation program.6 So if you're starting from scratch, you can choose among STNA training, the federal home health aide program, a COALA or vocational program, and the program of at least 30 hours. The rest of the rule shapes your first day and every year after:2

• Orientation comes before hands-on care. The agency must make sure you've completed orientation before you have any direct, in-person contact with your loved one as their aide.
• Coursework can be online; the skills check can't. The part of the training that isn't competency evaluation may happen online, but a return demonstration counts as competency evaluation only if it's done in person.
• Training continues every year. You complete 6 hours of ODA-approved in-service training every 12 months, and agency- and program-specific orientation doesn't count toward those 6 hours.
• Some of it is free. An organization other than the agency may provide your orientation, additional training and in-service training, and the rule states that training completed through the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) MyLearning site is free of charge.

One thing to keep straight: that "free of charge" line sits in the rule's paragraph about orientation, additional and in-service training. The rule doesn't say the 30-hour initial program is free, so ask the agency who provides and pays for that part.

PASSPORT's 30-Hour Limit in Ohio Law

PASSPORT is an Ohio Medicaid home and community-based services waiver, and Ohio's legislature wrote its personal care aide training into statute.5 If you're hired as a PASSPORT personal care aide, Ohio Revised Code 173.525, effective September 30, 2025, requires you to complete 30 hours of pre-service training acceptable to ODA, then 6 hours of in-service training every 12 months to stay eligible.2

The same law protects your time. ORC 173.525 bars ODA from requiring a PASSPORT personal care aide to complete more than 30 hours of pre-service training or more than 6 hours of in-service training in a 12-month period, so the state can't stretch the training you owe beyond those limits while you're also caring for someone at home. And you may not need a fresh 30-hour course at all: ODA's rule, OAC 173-39-02.11, treats anyone who meets one of its five initial qualifications as having met the 30-hour pre-service requirement, even if that qualification didn't involve 30 hours of training.2

When the Federal 75-Hour Aide Rule Applies in Ohio

You may have seen "75 hours" quoted as the caregiver training requirement. The 75-hour figure comes from a federal rule for home health agencies. Under 42 U.S.C. 1395bbb, a home health agency that participates in Medicare may not use someone as a home health aide unless that person completed either a training and competency evaluation program or a competency evaluation program. The federal training standard, 42 CFR 484.80, sets at least 75 hours of classroom and supervised practical training, with at least 16 hours of classroom training before at least 16 hours of supervised practical training. The same federal rule requires a competency evaluation before the aide works for the agency and at least 12 hours of in-service training every 12 months.6

In Ohio, the 75-hour standard reaches a family caregiver in two ways. It applies when the Structured Family Caregiving provider is a Medicare-certified home health agency, because OAC 5160-44-33 then requires the 42 CFR 484.80 trainings.1 The federal 75-hour home health aide program also meets route 2 of Ohio's personal care aide qualifications under OAC 173-39-02.11, and you can start it without any earlier aide work.2 CMS's surveyor guidance for home health agencies accepts online and internet-based formats for the classroom part of that training.6

Before You Pay for a Caregiver Course

When you search for Ohio caregiver training, a lot of what comes up is someone selling a course or a "certification." Before you pay, it helps to know what Ohio's rules actually accept. OAC 173-39-02.11 lists the five initial qualifications an Ohio personal care aide may use, and OAC 173-39-02.25 lists the two ways an ODA-certified agency's Structured Family Caregiving caregiver may qualify.2,1

A course helps you get paid in Ohio only if it fits one of those routes. Questions worth asking the agency before you spend anything:

• Which Ohio service and rule will I be hired under: Structured Family Caregiving under OAC 5160-44-33, or personal care aide under OAC 173-39-02.11?
• If it's Structured Family Caregiving at an ODA-certified agency, will my training be the 8 individually determined hours, and does the agency provide it?
• If it's the personal care aide route, does this course count as a training and competency evaluation program of at least 30 hours covering the subjects the rule lists, and where will my in-person return demonstration happen?
• Which of my orientation and in-service hours can I take through the free DODD MyLearning site?

Free and Low-Cost Family Caregiver Training in Ohio

Maybe you're not paid yet, or a sibling is the paid caregiver and you're the backup. Ohio families can still get training through two public routes: the local aging network, and Medicare.

Your Area Agency on Aging. The National Family Caregiver Support Program, funded under Title III-E of the Older Americans Act, pays for "individual counseling, organization of support groups, and caregiver training" delivered by an Area Agency on Aging or an organization it contracts with. Adult family members caring for someone 60 or older, or for someone of any age with Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder, are eligible for the National Family Caregiver Support Program, and its caregiver training category carries no requirement that the person cared for be frail.7 Federal law requires that no Older Americans Act service be denied to a family caregiver because of income or failure to pay; contributions are voluntary, though a state may choose income-based sliding-scale cost sharing.8 To reach the Ohio Area Agency on Aging serving your community, call 1-866-243-5678.9 Our Ohio caregiver programs directory lists more local options.

Your loved one's own doctor or therapist. Medicare Part B has paid for caregiver training services since 2024. If a provider decides Medicare caregiver training services fit the patient's treatment plan, the patient's caregiver can get individual or group sessions under Medicare Part B without the patient present, on topics such as giving medications, helping with daily tasks, moving the patient safely and preventing bedsores and infections. CMS defines the caregiver for these services as someone furnishing unpaid assistance, the patient must consent, and Medicare.gov puts the cost at 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, under the patient's own Part B.10

Medicare caregiver training services can also happen by video. CMS added them to the Medicare Telehealth Services list for 2025, and under current Medicare telehealth rules a beneficiary can get telehealth anywhere in the United States, including at home, through December 31, 2027.11

Learn More

Find personalized help working out which Ohio caregiver training route fits your family at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.