The co-payment you pay on CDHCI hours can sometimes go on your tax return as a medical expense, but only when the care is attendant care and your family member has one of two specific pieces of tax paperwork. The part Alberta Blue Cross pays can’t be claimed at all. Below is how the co-payment works, where you’ll find it on our invoice, what those two conditions mean, and what to keep in a folder for tax time.
CDHCI in one minute
Client-Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI, also called Type 3) is a way for Alberta home care clients to choose their own registered provider. An Assisted Living Alberta case manager assesses your family member and decides whether CDHCI fits and how many hours are approved. Alberta Blue Cross administers the program and pays the provider for those approved hours. Alberta Maple Care is a registered CDHCI provider, and we bill Alberta Blue Cross directly, so you never chase a reimbursement.
Alberta Blue Cross pays $35.03 of each approved hour. You pay the balance, which at our daytime rate is $2.47 per approved hour. That balance is your co-payment. Approved hours are heavily subsidized, but they are not free, and the program’s rate is set by Alberta Blue Cross and can change over time. Our pricing page always shows the current figures.
If you haven’t been assessed yet, start with the CDHCI page, which has a short eligibility check, and our CDHCI application guide, which walks through the assessment and the paperwork in order.
Where the co-payment shows on your invoice
Our invoices show two amounts as separate lines: what we claimed from Alberta Blue Cross for the approved hours, and what you paid. You don’t have to work the split out yourself or ask us for a breakdown later. The line showing what you paid is the number that matters at tax time, because it’s the only part of the bill that came out of your pocket.
Hours beyond the approved amount are private hours at our published rate, and you pay those in full.
Can you claim the co-payment on your taxes?
Sometimes. Here is the short answer we give families who ask:
The part of the bill you pay yourself, your co-payment, can count as a medical expense on your tax return when the care is attendant care and your family member either qualifies for the Disability Tax Credit or has a medical practitioner’s written certificate that they need a full-time attendant. The part Alberta Blue Cross pays can’t be claimed. This is general information, not tax advice, so check with an accountant or the Canada Revenue Agency before you claim.
Put plainly, two things have to be true. First, the care has to be attendant care, meaning someone helping your family member with personal tasks they can’t do for themselves. Second, there has to be paperwork on the tax side: either your family member is approved for the Disability Tax Credit, or a doctor or other medical practitioner has written that they need a full-time attendant. One of those two is enough. Without either, the co-payment isn’t a medical expense for this purpose.
An Assisted Living Alberta approval on its own isn’t that paperwork. The CDHCI assessment decides your home care hours. It is not a substitute for the Disability Tax Credit form (Form T2201) or for the practitioner’s certificate, so if neither exists yet, that is a separate conversation with your family member’s doctor and the Canada Revenue Agency.
The Canada Revenue Agency explains the rules in its own words in two places: the Medical Expense Tax Credit folio, S1-F1-C1, and its page on attendant care and care in a facility. Your accountant will know them.
What to keep for tax time
If you think you may claim, keep these together through the year so your accountant isn’t waiting on you in April:
- Every invoice from us, showing what you paid
- Proof that you paid it, such as bank or credit card statements
- The Alberta Blue Cross statements showing what the program paid
- The approved Disability Tax Credit form, or the medical practitioner’s certificate, whichever route applies to your family member
We can also give you a year-end summary of what you paid us, so you don’t have to add up a year of invoices yourself. Just ask.
For the other ways families pay for care in Alberta, and how they fit together, see ways to pay for home care in Alberta.
Switching from Type 2 home care
If your family gets Type 2 home care today, from an agency Assisted Living Alberta assigned rather than one you chose, there’s an offer worth knowing about. Families who switch to Alberta Maple Care from Type 2 home care pay no co-payment on their approved CDHCI hours, for as long as they stay our clients.
The terms are simple. It’s for new clients switching from Type 2 home care. It covers the hours your case manager approves under CDHCI, and Alberta Blue Cross still pays its share of each of those hours, billed directly by us. Hours beyond the approved amount are billed at our normal rate. Whether CDHCI is approved, and for how many hours, is your case manager’s decision, not ours. The full details, and how switching works step by step, are on switching your home care to Alberta Maple Care.
With no co-payment on approved hours, there’s no co-payment on those hours to claim. Hours beyond the approved amount are part of the bill you pay yourself, so the two conditions above are the ones that matter for them.
How to start
Call us or leave your number below. We reply to every enquiry within one business day. If your family member isn’t assessed yet, we’ll tell you what to ask your Assisted Living Alberta case manager and what to have on hand. If they’re already approved, the next step is a first in-home assessment visit, which is free and comes with no obligation.
At that visit we build the care plan and the schedule with you, and a Registered Nurse reviews the plan before care begins. We match your family member with a main caregiver and a backup they’ll already know, so a sick day doesn’t mean a stranger at the door. Standard visits are 3 hours, and shorter visits can be arranged.