UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Home Care in Texas (STAR+PLUS)

If you or a loved one has UnitedHealthcare Community Plan STAR+PLUS in Texas and needs help at home, you can get trained in-home caregivers through your plan. Newport Home Health is a contracted UnitedHealthcare STAR+PLUS provider serving nearly 100 UnitedHealthcare members across Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston today.

We bill UnitedHealthcare directly, so for covered services under your plan, you typically pay $0 out of pocket. This page explains what UnitedHealthcare covers at home, how authorization works through your service coordinator, how to switch agencies without losing care, and how family members can become paid caregivers. UnitedHealthcare is one of several plans we work with — see the full list of insurance and programs Newport accepts.

Ready to start? Call 972-602-3500 or use the quick form below — we can usually verify your UnitedHealthcare coverage the same business day.

What UnitedHealthcare STAR+PLUS Covers at Home

STAR+PLUS is the Texas Medicaid managed-care program for adults who are 65 or older or who have a disability, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan is one of the health plans that runs it. For members who qualify, UnitedHealthcare covers personal attendant services — hands-on, non-medical help at home with everyday living. In plain English, that means a caregiver who comes to the house on a set schedule and helps with things like:

  • Bathing, dressing, and grooming — safe, respectful help with personal care
  • Meal preparation and eating — cooking, feeding assistance, and cleanup
  • Mobility and transfers — moving safely between bed, chair, and bathroom
  • Light housekeeping and laundry — keeping the living space safe and clean
  • Medication reminders — prompts to take medications on schedule
  • Errands and escort — grocery runs and accompaniment to appointments

UnitedHealthcare STAR+PLUS can also cover respite care — a professional caregiver steps in for a scheduled break so a family caregiver can rest, work, or travel.

One honest note: exactly which services you receive, and how many hours, is decided by UnitedHealthcare — not by any home-care agency. Coverage is based on UnitedHealthcare’s assessment of your needs and your individual service plan. What Newport controls is the quality of the caregivers and the reliability of every authorized visit.

How It Works With Your UnitedHealthcare Service Coordinator

Every UnitedHealthcare STAR+PLUS member has a service coordinator — a UnitedHealthcare employee who manages long-term services and supports. The path to in-home care runs through them:

  1. Assessment. Your UnitedHealthcare service coordinator reviews your needs — usually through an in-person or phone assessment — and determines what in-home services you qualify for.
  2. Authorization. UnitedHealthcare authorizes a specific number of attendant hours per week and sends that authorization to the home-care agency you choose.
  3. Care begins. Newport matches you with a caregiver, builds the schedule around your authorization, and verifies every visit through Texas’s required electronic visit verification (EVV) system.

Newport coordinates directly with UnitedHealthcare service coordinators every week — checking authorizations, reporting changes, and keeping care moving. If you don’t know who your service coordinator is, call UnitedHealthcare Community Plan member services at 1-888-887-9003 (the number on your UnitedHealthcare member ID card) and ask — or call us and we’ll help you sort it out. New to STAR+PLUS? Start with our guide to Medicaid home care coverage in Texas.

Switching to Newport Under UnitedHealthcare

Already getting home care through another agency but unhappy with no-shows, revolving caregivers, or poor communication? Switching agencies under UnitedHealthcare is routine — members choose their provider, and your authorization follows you. Done right, there is no gap in care. Here’s how it works:

  • Call Newport at 972-602-3500. We confirm your UnitedHealthcare coverage and your current authorization — usually the same business day.
  • Tell UnitedHealthcare you’re choosing Newport. You (or we, together with you) notify your UnitedHealthcare service coordinator that you want to transfer your services to Newport Home Health.
  • We coordinate the start date. Newport schedules your caregiver to begin as the old agency’s services end — same authorized hours, new agency, no gap when the transfer is coordinated.

Have a Child on UnitedHealthcare STAR Kids?

UnitedHealthcare also runs STAR Kids in Texas — the Medicaid managed-care program for children and young adults age 20 and younger with disabilities. Newport provides pediatric personal care services for children whose plans authorize them, with the same dependable caregivers and verified visits we bring to adult care. If your child has UnitedHealthcare STAR Kids and needs help at home, call 972-602-3500 and we’ll talk through your child’s situation and next steps.

Family Caregivers Under UnitedHealthcare

Many UnitedHealthcare members would rather be cared for by someone they already trust — a daughter, son, sibling, or friend. Texas Medicaid allows this, and Newport sets it up for families every week. Under the agency option, Newport hires your family member as a caregiver on our team: we handle the background check, training, scheduling, payroll, and EVV compliance, and family caregivers we employ typically earn $13–14 per hour caring for their own loved one.

Texas also offers Consumer Directed Services (CDS), where the member or their representative becomes the employer and directs the caregiver themselves. Read our step-by-step guide to becoming a paid caregiver for a family member in Texas — and if you found this page searching for CDPAP, see why Texas’s version of CDPAP is called CDS.

UnitedHealthcare Home Care in Texas — Frequently Asked Questions

Does UnitedHealthcare Community Plan cover home care in Texas?

Yes. UnitedHealthcare’s Texas STAR+PLUS plan covers in-home personal attendant services and respite care for members who qualify. UnitedHealthcare determines eligibility and authorizes services after an assessment by your service coordinator — and Newport, as a contracted UnitedHealthcare provider, delivers the care and bills UnitedHealthcare directly.

How many hours will UnitedHealthcare approve?

There’s no set number, and any agency that promises one isn’t being straight with you. Hours are based on UnitedHealthcare’s assessment of your needs: your service coordinator reviews your situation and authorizes a specific number of attendant hours. What we can promise is this — we coordinate closely with your coordinator, and we reliably staff every hour UnitedHealthcare authorizes.

Can UnitedHealthcare pay a family member to be my caregiver?

In many cases, yes. Newport can hire your family member under the agency option — typically at $13–14 per hour — or your family can employ them directly through Consumer Directed Services (CDS). Standard hiring requirements, including a background check, apply. Here’s the full step-by-step guide.

Do you take UnitedHealthcare in Houston and Dallas–Fort Worth?

Yes. We serve UnitedHealthcare STAR+PLUS members in both Houston and the Dallas–Fort Worth area — nearly 100 UnitedHealthcare members are receiving care from Newport today across the two regions.

Check Your UnitedHealthcare Coverage — Get a Call Back Today

Tell us a little about your situation and a member of our team will call you back — usually the same business day. Please don’t include medical details in this form; we will cover those by phone.

No cost, no obligation — bilingual staff available.

Prefer to talk now? Call 972-602-3500