If your loved one was approved for Medicaid caregiving hours and it still doesn’t feel like enough, you’re not imagining it. The number on that approval letter is what the program calculated, not what a real day takes. Here’s where the number comes from, why it so often falls short, and what you can do next.
How Kansas Sets Your Hours
Kansas doesn’t use a standard number. Hours are based on assessed needs, and your managed care organization (MCO) builds an individualized service plan around them. From there, paid personal care is limited to the hours your MCO authorized in that plan.
There is a limit to the amount of the program. The waiver for the Frail Elderly is 12 hours a day for personal care, and the waiver for the physical disability allows an additional six hours a day in exceptions.
So your number comes from one assessment on one day, plus program rules. Neither knows what 6:30 on a Tuesday morning looks like at your house.
Why It Comes Up Short
Assessments are a snapshot, and plenty of older adults rally for company. The person who walked to the table for the assessor may not manage that before breakfast.
Timing can be hidden too! Although 20 hours a week is less than three a day, assistance is typically required first thing in the morning, at dinner time, and at bedtime. Plans are also dependent on the help that is already provided by the family, so if a sibling leaves the home, or if something happens to your own health, the plan will remain unaware of that until you let it know. And an approval is not a schedule. There needs to be someone who is able to work those shifts.
What You Can Do
Make a two-week log. Record when, why, and by whom assistance was sought, and what happened if they were to fail, such as falling near, missing a meal, etc. It becomes a pattern a care coordinator can follow to “Dad needs more."
Then call the MCO care coordinator, share the log, and ask for a plan review. Ask what each authorized unit covers and whether the hours can move to the times you need them most. Providers must pass health changes to the care coordinator within 48 hours, but you can call anytime, especially after a hospital stay, a fall or a new diagnosis. Our guide to post-hospital care at home in Kansas covers that transition.
Hours aren’t the only thing a plan can hold. Frail Elderly services include adult day care and enhanced care, which provides supervision or help during a person’s usual sleeping hours. Respite can be added to the care plan under the Frail Elderly and Physical Disability waivers. And in the Frail Elderly program, you can choose a relative as the paid attendant, though not a spouse or someone acting as legal representative. Our guide on how to get paid as a family caregiver in Kansas walks through it.
If a gap remains, paying privately for the hours that matter most can help. Even two hours at bedtime can protect the riskiest part of the day while the waiver covers the rest.
If Your Hours Get Cut
Keep an eye out for a notice with the word “adverse” in it which is also known as a notice of adverse benefit determination. In the case of HCBS, the MCO will maintain your current set of services for 63 days after the notice, and, if you appeal within that window, the services would continue until the appeal is resolved. If you disagree with the result, you can request a state fair hearing within 123 days of the decision notice. The very plan's appeal deadline is 60 days after the notice and 3 days for mailing.
Not sure whether a decision can be appealed?
Ask your care coordinator or call the KanCare Ombudsman at (855) 643-8180. That office helps members understand KanCare letters and resolve problems. Bring your log either way.
Medicaid Waiver Assistance in Kansas
Many families end up in a rut and don't know who to call. Applications begin at the ADRC (855) 200-2372 (counselling service) and a referral for the functional assessment. Your MCO care coordinator writes and changes the plan. When something doesn't work, there is a KanCare Ombudsman to hear it. And your care provider plans your hours, records on shifts, and marks changes.
A timely note—new Frail Elderly waiver assessments are on a waitlist from July 6th, 2026, with a crisis exception for urgent cases. 436 on the waitlist in Fall reports compared to 9,419 on the waiver, with KDADS anticipating adding many to the waitlist in weeks. This might have changed, so be sure to check with the ADRC.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Medicaid caregiving hours can I get in Kansas? There’s no fixed number. Hours follow assessed needs, and personal care is generally capped at 12 hours a day.
Can I ask for more hours? Yes. Ask for a plan review whenever needs change, and appeal if a decision reduces or denies hours.
Does Medicaid cover 24-hour care? Coverage depends on assessed needs and the approved plan of care.
At Caretech Kansas
We’re a Kansas Medicaid-licensed HCBS provider. That means personal care, companionship, medication reminders, mobility help, respite and 24-hour care, scheduled around the parts of the day your loved one needs help most. We also help families with waiver paperwork and work with case managers and MCOs, and private-pay hours can fill in where the plan leaves gaps.
If you’re holding an approval letter and an uneasy feeling, call (620) 343-3366 or contact our care team. Medicaid rules change, so confirm details with KDADS or your MCO.
