Michigan's Medicaid home care landscape changed in 2024 and 2025 in ways that catch agencies off guard. For fee-for-service home health, the hard cutover to HHAeXchange-only billing happened June 1, 2024. For managed care HHCS, it happened January 1, 2026 — now past. If you're billing managed care home health services and haven't moved to HHAeXchange claim creation, your claims aren't processing. And EVV compliance monitoring begins April 1, 2026. Here is what Michigan agencies need to understand before that date.
Michigan offers Medicaid home care through two primary pathways. The MI Choice Waiver is for adults who need nursing facility level of care but want to remain in the community. The Home Help program is the state plan personal care option — a broader program covering personal care assistance for Medicaid-eligible adults who need help with activities of daily living. Both require CHAMPS enrollment. Both now require HHAeXchange for EVV. But their authorization structures, care coordination pathways, and payment rates are different.
The MI Choice Waiver provides personal care, homemaker, respite, and other HCBS for adults who meet the clinical threshold for nursing facility placement but choose to remain home. Administered by MDHHS through Managed Care Entities and Area Agencies on Aging, which coordinate waiver services and authorizations.
To serve MI Choice Waiver participants, agencies must be enrolled through CHAMPS and contracted with the MCE or AAA managing services in their area. Each MCE has its own credentialing and authorization processes. EVV is required for MI Choice Waiver services under HHAeXchange — effective September 3, 2024 for these programs.
Home Help is Michigan's Medicaid State Plan personal care program for adults who need assistance with ADLs. It covers a broader population than MI Choice — participants don't need to meet NF level of care, just document personal care needs and Medicaid eligibility. Authorized by MDHHS through local county MDHHS offices, not through MCEs or AAAs.
Home Help agencies must complete CHAMPS enrollment before beginning the HHAeXchange provider onboarding form. The two processes are sequential. CHAMPS enrollment must be complete first. Once approved by MDHHS as a Home Help provider, the agency works with the Home Help beneficiary and contacts the MDHHS local county office to get authorized.
Behavioral health services that start and stop in the home (Place of Service code 12) require EVV under Michigan's requirements. These are included alongside MI Choice and Home Help in the set of programs requiring HHAeXchange. BH agencies billing these services follow the same CHAMPS enrollment → HHAeXchange onboarding sequence.
Michigan's MI Health Link program integrates Medicare and Medicaid benefits for dual-eligible individuals. Like MI Choice, MI Health Link services requiring EVV have been subject to the HHAeXchange requirements since September 3, 2024. Agencies serving MI Health Link participants follow the same EVV requirements as other managed care programs.
January 1, 2026 — Hard Cutover for Managed Care HHCS Billing. All Medicaid managed care home health care service billing must now be transmitted through HHAeXchange only. Claims submitted directly to the Medicaid Health Plan (MHP) payment system for managed care HHCS services are no longer accepted. If your agency has been submitting managed care HHCS claims directly to the MHP and hasn't transitioned to creating claims through HHAeXchange, those claims are not processing. Complete HHAeXchange portal onboarding immediately if you haven't — call 1-866-576-1179 or visit hhaexchange.com/info-hub/michigan-information-center.
Michigan's provider setup process is sequential. The single most common mistake new agencies make is starting HHAeXchange onboarding before completing CHAMPS enrollment — or not understanding that both steps are required.
If you've been submitting managed care HHCS claims directly to your Medicaid Health Plan and haven't transitioned to HHAeXchange, those claims aren't processing after January 1, 2026. You need to complete the HHAeXchange Provider Onboarding Form immediately — the portal setup is the prerequisite to claim creation in HHAeXchange. Call HHAeXchange at 1-866-576-1179 or visit hhaexchange.com/info-hub/michigan-information-center. Once your portal is active, you can create claims from completed EVV records and submit to the MHP through the system. Claims for dates of service before January 1, 2026 that you submitted directly to the MHP may still be in process — check with your MHP directly on those.
MDHHS bulletin MMP 26-10 establishes that EVV compliance monitoring and enforcement begin April 1, 2026. This means MDHHS and MCEs will begin evaluating agencies' EVV compliance rates — the proportion of required visits with complete, accurate EVV records. Non-compliance can affect your ongoing enrollment as a Michigan Medicaid provider and payment continuity. MDHHS and HHAeXchange are offering compliance calculation training webinars before the April date. Attend one if your compliance rate is uncertain. Common issues: missed clock-outs, telephony failures on low-connectivity visits, and manual edits that count as modified (not unmodified) EVV. Manual edits are accepted but should not be the primary capture method.
No. MDHHS requires only one HHAeXchange Provider Onboarding Form per agency. On that single form, select all applicable programs — Home Help, Home Health, MI Choice Waiver, MI Health Link, Behavioral Health, as applicable. The form creates your portal and connects it to all relevant Michigan contracts. Submitting multiple forms for the same agency is unnecessary and may cause confusion in the onboarding process.
Yes. Michigan uses an open vendor model. You can use HHAeXchange directly at no cost, or continue using your own EVV system as long as it meets Michigan's requirements and sends visit data to HHAeXchange via EDI integration. The EDI integration still requires completing the HHAeXchange Provider Onboarding Form — it's required regardless of which system you use, because HHAeXchange needs your portal to aggregate data and create claims. For EDI setup, download the Michigan EDI Welcome Packet from HHAeXchange's Michigan information hub and work with your EVV vendor to complete the integration testing.
Michigan agencies managing MI Choice Waiver authorizations through MCEs, Home Help authorizations through county MDHHS offices, CHAMPS enrollment maintenance, and HHAeXchange EVV compliance ahead of the April 2026 enforcement date are running multiple simultaneous administrative tracks. CareBravo delivers scheduling, HHAeXchange-integrated EVV compliance, billing through both FFS and managed care MHP pathways, and authorization tracking as completed operational work — so the office isn't manually checking claim status in HHAeXchange while also monitoring county authorization balances for Home Help clients.
Michigan agencies that moved to HHAeXchange claims creation for managed care billing are through the hardest transition. Now the question is whether your EVV compliance rate is where it needs to be before MDHHS begins enforcement. The CareDrain Diagnostic shows what current operational gaps — including EVV compliance shortfalls — are costing your agency in monthly revenue.