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Adult Day Care vs. In-Home Care

Adult day care runs on a schedule and gives a caregiver their day back. In-home care comes to the house on whatever schedule you set.

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Short answer

Adult day care operates on a set schedule at a dedicated facility, giving a family caregiver structured time back during the day. In-home care comes to the house on whatever schedule the family sets, with no travel required for the person receiving care.

Cost and coverage

Indiana does not publish a statewide adult day care cost median the way it does for assisted living or nursing homes. Indiana's PathWays Waiver can help cover adult day services for eligible Hoosiers 60 and older -- ask CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions whether a specific adult day program participates.

Why many families use both

Adult day care and in-home care are not mutually exclusive. A common pattern is adult day care on weekdays a caregiver works, paired with in-home help or family caregiving in the evenings and on weekends -- covering more hours of the week than either option alone, often at a lower blended cost than scaling up either one by itself.

Free help in your area. CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions is the Area Agency on Aging covering all six counties this site serves. Read the full explanation →

Questions families ask

Which Indianapolis-area hospital systems most often discharge patients to senior care?

IU Health, Ascension St. Vincent, Community Health Network, Franciscan Health and Eskenazi Health handle the bulk of Indianapolis-area discharge planning, alongside Hendricks Regional Health, Riverview Health, and Hancock Regional Health in the collar counties.

Can I push back on a hospital discharge date?

Yes, and it is usually less fixed than it sounds, particularly if no safe plan exists yet. Ask the case manager directly what happens if no placement is confirmed by the target date, and involve the hospital's patient advocate if the timeline feels unsafe.

How do I know when it's no longer safe for a parent to live alone?

Look for specific, dated incidents rather than a general impression: a missed medication week, an unreported fall, the stove left on, or a house that has become unsafe rather than merely untidy. Rule out reversible causes first -- a urinary tract infection, medication interaction, or untreated hearing loss can all mimic decline.

What should I do after a parent's first fall?

Treat it as a signal, not an accident -- a first fall is one of the strongest predictors of the next one. Get the cause investigated (medications, vision, inner-ear issues), fix the immediate environment, and ask CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions about equipment-lending programs.

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