Companion care vs personal care: what you get at $34 and at $38
Four dollars an hour separates these two, and families are often quoted one when they need the other. The line is simple: personal care involves hands-on help with the body, and companion care does not.
Companion care ($34/hour) covers everything except hands-on help with the body; personal care ($38/hour) adds bathing, dressing, toileting and transfers. Same caregiver, same six-hour standard minimum — the $4 pays for the training and the physical work involved in helping someone wash, dress and move safely.
What each rate covers
| What the visit includes | Rate |
|---|---|
| Company and conversation, meal planning and cooking, light housekeeping and laundry, errands and grocery runs, medication reminders, supervision and a check on how someone is doing | $34 / hour |
| Everything above, plus bathing and showering, grooming and dressing, toileting and incontinence care, and help transferring safely | $38 / hour |
| Six hours is the standard minimum per visit at both rates, except the 4-hour post-discharge block. Weekends and holidays add $3/hour; care booked with under 24 hours' notice adds $4/hour. Dementia care is $40/hour and awake overnight care is $38/hour. | |
How to tell which one you need
Companion care usually fits when someone still washes and dresses themselves, but the house is slipping, meals are being skipped, appointments are being missed, or the days have gone quiet since a spouse died or driving stopped.
Personal care usually fits when getting in or out of the shower has become risky, dressing takes a long time or gets abandoned, there have been accidents on the way to the bathroom, or standing up from a chair needs a hand.
The honest test: has anything about the body become unsafe or undignified to do alone? If yes, that is personal care, and the extra $4 an hour is the cheapest part of the decision. If no, do not let anyone sell you the higher rate.
What neither rate includes
Westmark is a non-medical agency. At either rate, caregivers do not provide nursing, wound care or medical treatment, and do not administer medication — they remind, and they can hand over a dose that has already been prepared. The distinction matters more than most families expect, and we explain it in medication reminders vs medication management.
If clinical care is needed, that is a nurse's job — usually through a home health agency, often covered by Medicare. See home care vs home health care.
What the money looks like per month
At 4.33 weeks a month:
- 12 hours a week (two six-hour visits): $1,767 companion · $1,974 personal care
- 20 hours a week: $2,944 companion · $3,291 personal care
- 40 hours a week: $5,889 companion · $6,582 personal care
Across a month at 20 hours a week, choosing personal care over companion care costs about $347 more. Set against a fall, it is not a close call.
Common questions
What is the difference between companion care and personal care?
Companion care is everything except hands-on help with the body — company, meals, light housekeeping, laundry, errands, reminders and supervision. Personal care adds bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting and safe transfers. At Westmark, $34 an hour against $38.
Which one does my parent need?
If they manage washing and dressing but the house, the meals or the loneliness are slipping, companion care fits. If the shower or the toilet has become risky, that is personal care.
Is companion care just someone sitting there?
No. A companion visit usually involves cooking, laundry, tidying, errands, reminders and conversation. The caregiver works through the visit — the difference is that the work is not hands-on with the body. Here is what one actually looks like, hour by hour.
What can a caregiver not do at either rate?
No nursing, wound care or medical treatment, and no administering medication. Caregivers remind and can hand over a prepared dose. Anything clinical needs a nurse.
What if a visit involves both?
Most real visits do, and it is one caregiver either way — the same person cooks, tidies and helps with the shower. Your written quote states which rate applies to the plan agreed at the free assessment, so nothing is decided after the fact.
Do both have a six-hour minimum?
Yes, at both rates, for ongoing home care — short drop-ins do not give a caregiver time to do the job properly, as we explain in why a six-hour visit beats three two-hour drop-ins. The 4-hour post-discharge block is the exception.
Not sure which you need?
That is what the free assessment is for. We will tell you which rate applies and why, in writing, before anyone commits to anything.