Home care and nursing homes represent two different points on the senior care spectrum: home care brings personal support and health services into a person’s own home, while a nursing home (now called a Type A continuing care home in Alberta and a long-term care home in British Columbia) provides 24-hour on-site nursing for people with complex medical needs.
This article covers the suitability of home care vs. nursing homes in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. The right choice depends on the level of care needed, finances, family support, and access to the provincial system.
What’s The Difference Between Home Care And A Nursing Home?
The core difference between home care and a nursing home is the location and intensity of care required.
Home care is delivered in a person’s residence by visiting caregivers, and is partially publicly funded, plus private hours. It can include services like:
- Scheduled visits in a private home
- Personal care (bathing, dressing, medication reminders, etc.)
- Companionship
- Respite
- Skilled nursing, depending on the provider
A nursing home (Type A continuing care homes in Alberta and long-term care homes in BC) is:
- A licensed 24-hour facility
- Staffed continuously by health care aides (HCAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and registered nurses (RNs).
- Paid by the resident, with health services publicly funded
When Is Home Care The Right Fit?
Home care is the right fit when a senior has stable health, can stay safely in their home with scheduled support, and the family wants to preserve familiar surroundings, daily routines, and community connections. Home care offers flexible hours, a single, consistent caregiver, and the ability to scale up from approximately 4 hours a week to a live-in arrangement. Home care can also be delivered in a private home, an assisted living suite, or a retirement residence.
Home care is a good fit if assistance needs include:
- Help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, meal prep, medication reminders)
- Mobility support due to physical limitations
- Mild cognitive changes
- Surgery recovery
- Palliative care at home
When Is A Nursing Home The Right Fit?
A nursing home is the right fit when a senior has complex, unpredictable medical needs that require on-site registered nurses around the clock and when home and supportive living can no longer safely manage those needs.
A nursing home is a good fit for:
- Advanced dementia with wandering risk
- Chronic conditions requiring frequent clinical intervention
- Two-person transfers
- Complex wound care
- Behaviours managed by clinical staff
In both AB and BC, a publicly subsidized space requires a professional health assessment, and admission is needs-based, not income-based. Public spaces can have waitlists, and the first available bed is often offered before the preferred location.
Home Care vs. Nursing Home In Calgary
In Calgary, home care is suitable for seniors whose needs can be met by scheduled support delivered in their home, while a Type A continuing care home is suitable when 24-hour on-site nursing is clinically required.
Type A Continuing Care Home In Calgary
An AHS assessment is the gateway to a Type A continuing care home. Anyone can call Health Link 811 to request an assessment. No physician referral is required.
Public home care includes Client Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI) and Self-Managed Care, both of which let clients choose an approved private provider.
Health and personal care services inside a Type A home are publicly funded; residents pay only the accommodation charge. Type A continuing care home accommodation charges in Alberta are set provincially.
As of April 1, 2026, single occupancy charges are:
- Shared room: $70.60/day
- Private room: $81.60/day
- 1-bedroom suite: $97.70/day
- Multi-bedroom suite: $112.45/day
Double occupancy charges are:
- 1-bedroom suite: $135.20/day
- Multi-bedroom suite: $224.90/day
Private Home Care In Calgary
Private home care in Calgary typically runs $40–$50 per hour for personal care and companion-level support, but final costs vary on a case-by-case needs basis.
Home Care vs. Nursing Home In Edmonton
In Edmonton, the suitability follows the same Alberta framework as Calgary: home care suits seniors with stable, manageable needs, and a Type A continuing care home suits seniors who need around-the-clock registered nursing.
Type A Continuing Care Home In Edmonton
Edmonton uses the same Alberta Health Services intake process and the same provincial accommodation charges as Calgary. Simply call Health Link 811 to request an assessment.
Public home care includes Self-Managed Care and Client Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI), with the option to choose an approved private provider.
Private Home Care In Edmonton
The accommodation charges for private home care in Edmonton are in the same $40–$50/hour range as Calgary, but may vary depending on your specific needs.
Home Care Vs Nursing Home In Vancouver
In Vancouver, home care is suitable when a senior can stay safely at home with a mix of public home support and private hours, and a long-term care home is suitable when 24-hour professional nursing supervision is required and cannot be safely provided at home.
Long-Term Care Homes In Vancouver
Long-term care homes in BC can be accessed through Vancouver Coastal Health’s Home and Community Care Access Line. A Home Health clinician determines eligibility and arranges an assessment.
BC eligibility for long-term care:
- Assessed need for 24-hour professional nursing supervision
- Significant risk in the current environment
- Medical causes investigated
Publicly subsidized long-term care is calculated as 80% of after-tax income, with set provincial minimum and maximum monthly rates. As of 2025, the minimum is $1,466.20/month, and the maximum is $4,073.40/month (writer must verify the current 2026 figures with the BC Ministry of Health before publishing)
As of April 2026, BC has 327 long-term care homes with about 29,194 beds and a waitlist for publicly funded long-term care beds.
BC’s First Available Bed policy: when a bed is offered, the family has 48 hours to accept and move in (interim placement is 72 hours).
Private Home Care In Vancouver
Private home care in Vancouver typically runs $35–$50/hour for companion and personal support, and can reach $85/hour or more for skilled nursing.
Agency vs. Private Caregiver In Vancouver
In Vancouver, choosing between a home care agency and a private caregiver comes down to a tradeoff between cost and risk: a private caregiver is typically 20–30% cheaper per hour, but the family takes on the role of employer, including payroll, taxes, vetting, insurance, and backup coverage.
Agency Pros
- Vetted and trained caregivers
- Backup coverage when the regular caregiver is unavailable
- Employer of record
- Liability insurance
- WorkSafeBC coverage
- Ongoing supervision
- Regulated complaint pathway
- Accreditation (e.g., Accreditation Canada)
Agency Cons
- Higher hourly rate ($35–$50 personal care, up to $85/hr nursing)
- Minimum visit length is common (often 3–4 hours)
- Less direct control over caregiver selection
Home Caregiver Pros
- 20–30% lower hourly rate
- Direct relationship
- More scheduling flexibility
- More freedom for non-task activities (e.g., gardening, errands)
Private Caregiver Cons
- Family becomes the employer (CRA payroll obligations, T4s, CPP/EI remittance)
- No backup caregiver
- No agency screening
- No liability insurance unless purchased separately
- Harder to scale up if needs change
- No clinical oversight
The regulated path to going private with public funding is the Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL), which allows eligible high-needs clients to receive home support funds directly and hire their own caregivers. Families with steady part-time needs and bandwidth to manage employment may favour private; families needing reliability, scaling, clinical oversight, or who don’t want to be employers favour agencies
Home Care, Home Health, And Hospice: What’s The Difference?
Home care, home health care, and hospice care are three distinct services:
Home Care
Home care provides ongoing personal support and companionship, enabling independent living. Home care has no clinical-prognosis requirement.
Home health
Home health care provides skilled medical services at home (nursing, wound care, rehabilitation or chronic condition management). Home health is ordered by a physician or nurse practitioner.
Hospice
Hospice care is comfort-focused end-of-life care for someone with a terminal diagnosis, focused on symptom relief and quality of life. Hospice typically requires a clinician’s confirmation that the patient has a life expectancy of approximately six months or less if the illness runs its course.
In Alberta, palliative and end-of-life care is delivered through AHS or contracted operators, including Type C continuing care homes (publicly funded hospice). In BC, palliative and end-of-life care is delivered through Vancouver Coastal Health and partner hospice societies, in the home, in long-term care, or in dedicated hospice beds.
Ohana Care provides palliative and end-of-life support at home alongside its home care services, so the same caregivers continue when the goals of care shift
How Ohana Care Supports Families Across Western Canada
Ohana Care is a private home care provider serving Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and beyond with Health Care Aides and Licensed Practical Nurses supporting seniors in private residences, retirement residences, assisted living, and long-term care.
Verified by Accreditation Canada, our relationship-based care approach includes services like companion care, respite care, dementia care, post-hospital care, palliative and end-of-life care, 24-hour care, live-in care, and more.
To see how we can help you or your loved one, book a free in-home consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know when it’s time to move from home care to a nursing home?
The signal to move from home care to a nursing home is usually clinical, not emotional. Common indicators include falls that home care can’t prevent, two-person transfers that exceed what a single caregiver can safely manage, advanced dementia with wandering or unpredictable behaviours, complex medical needs requiring frequent registered nurse intervention, and caregiver burnout that puts the senior’s safety at risk. In Alberta, an AHS case manager assesses whether home and community care can still meet the senior’s needs safely. In BC, a Vancouver Coastal Health clinician makes the same determination through the Home and Community Care access line.
Is home care cheaper than a nursing home in Alberta?
It depends on the hours and type of care needed. Private home care in Alberta typically costs $40–$50 per hour, so 4 hours per day works out to roughly $4,800–$6,000 per month before any public subsidy. A Type A continuing care home (formerly called a nursing home) charges a provincially capped accommodation rate of $69.20 per day for a shared room as of August 1, 2025, or roughly $2,100 per month, with health services publicly funded. For seniors needing 24-hour care, a continuing care home is usually less expensive; for seniors needing limited support, home care is usually less expensive.
Do Alberta or BC governments pay for private home care?
Both provinces offer public home care funding, and both allow funded clients to choose an approved private provider. In Alberta, Client Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI) and Self-Managed Care let clients receiving Alberta Health Services home care choose an approved private agency, with billing handled through Alberta Blue Cross or AHS. In British Columbia, Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL) provides funds directly to eligible high-needs home support clients to hire their own caregivers. In both provinces, hours beyond what is publicly assessed must be paid privately.
Can Ohana Care work alongside Alberta Health Services or Vancouver Coastal Health?
Yes. Ohana Care delivers private home care that can sit alongside publicly funded home and community care from Alberta Health Services or Vancouver Coastal Health. In Alberta, families using AHS home care can keep their public hours and add private Ohana Care hours for additional support, continuity with one caregiver, or services not covered publicly. In British Columbia, the same hybrid model is common: VCH home support handles assessed clinical needs, and private Ohana Care hours fill the gaps. Ohana Care also provides care inside assisted living, retirement residences, and long-term care homes.
Does Ohana Care provide overnight or 24-hour home care?
Yes. Ohana Care provides overnight care, 24-hour care, and live-in care across Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and many other locations. Overnight care covers a single shift while the senior sleeps, which suits seniors with fall risk, sundowning, or medication needs after hours. 24-hour care uses rotating caregivers across multiple shifts to provide continuous awake support. Live-in care places one caregiver in the home for an extended stay with built-in rest periods. The right configuration depends on the senior’s clinical needs and family preferences and is set during the free in-home consultation.
