Elder Care Cost Planning

Care hours needed per week.

Tick how much help each daily-living task needs, set the minutes you think each takes, and get hours of help per week. A planning aid built on the Katz ADL and household IADL task lists. Not a diagnosis.

Your numbers

Bathing: help needed

Bathing: minutes a day if fully done for them

Dressing: help needed

Dressing: minutes a day if fully done for them

Using the toilet: help needed

Using the toilet: minutes a day if fully done for them

Transferring (to or from bed or chair): help needed

Transferring (to or from bed or chair): minutes a day if fully done for them

Continence care: help needed

Continence care: minutes a day if fully done for them

Eating: help needed

Eating: minutes a day if fully done for them

Housework: help needed

Housework: minutes a day if fully done for them

Managing money: help needed

Managing money: minutes a day if fully done for them

Taking medication: help needed

Taking medication: minutes a day if fully done for them

Preparing and cleaning up after meals: help needed

Preparing and cleaning up after meals: minutes a day if fully done for them

Shopping for groceries or clothes: help needed

Shopping for groceries or clothes: minutes a day if fully done for them

Using the telephone or other communication devices: help needed

Using the telephone or other communication devices: minutes a day if fully done for them

Caring for pets: help needed

Caring for pets: minutes a day if fully done for them

Responding to emergency alerts such as fire alarms: help needed

Responding to emergency alerts such as fire alarms: minutes a day if fully done for them

Extra supervision or standby hours per week

Minutes are your own planning guesses, pre-filled as illustrations only. They are not a published standard. Half the minutes count for "some help" and all of them for "full help". This is not a medical assessment; a doctor or care assessor decides care needs.

Result

Fill the form and press Calculate.

Add up the minutes of help needed for each task, multiply by 7 and divide by 60 to get hours a week. With the default minutes and the help levels in the worked example that comes to 13.7 hours a week.

Not financial, legal, insurance or medical advice. This is arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It is not a care assessment, a quote, or a recommendation. Talk to a qualified financial planner, elder law professional, insurance adviser or your care team before you commit money or choose care.

Worked example

Bathing and dressing need some help (half of 30 and 15 minutes = 22.5 minutes a day). Housework, managing money, meals and shopping need full help, and medication needs some help (20 + 5 + 45 + 20 + 5 = 95 minutes a day). That is 117.5 minutes a day, or 13.7 hours a week (2.6 for the six daily-living tasks and 11.1 for household tasks). Counting only tasks done alone, that is 4 of 6 ADLs and 3 of 8 IADLs.

How it works

Each task has a help level and a minutes-a-day figure. Independent counts 0, some help counts half the minutes, full help counts all of them. Hours per week = total minutes x 7 / 60, plus any extra supervision hours. The Katz-style count is how many of the 6 ADLs are done alone; the Lawton-style count is how many of the 8 household tasks are done alone. The Katz Index scores 0 (dependent) to 6 (independent) and the Lawton scale 0 (dependent) to 8 (independent).

Sources

Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Shirley Ryan AbilityLab RehabMeasures), opened 2026-10-08.
The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale (Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing), opened 2026-10-08.
What is Long-Term Care? (ACL, U.S. Administration for Community Living), opened 2026-10-08.

The six ADL task names come from the Katz Index and the household task list from ACL. The minutes per task are placeholders you should replace; they are not from any published standard.

FAQ

What are ADLs and IADLs?

ADLs are activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, using the toilet, transferring, continence care and eating. IADLs are everyday tasks such as housework, managing money, taking medication, preparing meals, shopping, using the telephone, caring for pets and responding to emergency alerts.

How is the Katz Index scored?

The Katz Index rates six activities as dependent or independent and gives a score from 0 (dependent) to 6 (independent).

Are the minutes per task a standard?

No. They are placeholders for planning. Replace them with what you observe, or ask a care assessor.

Is this a care assessment?

No. It is a descriptive planning aid. A doctor, nurse or care assessor decides what care a person needs.

How do I use the result?

Take the weekly hours into the in-home care cost calculator to see what that many hours would cost at the rates you are quoted.