Remote Supports: Frequently Asked Questions
Remote supports raise real questions about safety, privacy, staffing and funding. This page answers the ones we hear most from agency leaders, program managers and families who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, older adults and others. In every case, your agency’s own trained staff respond and decide what happens next. The technology never decides.
About remote supports
What are remote supports?
Remote supports are support delivered by trained people from another location. Non-wearable sensors and a display in the home let the agency’s own remote support staff know when the person may need help. A trained staff member then checks in, decides what is needed, and sends in-person help when the plan calls for it. The technology passes information along. The trained person makes every decision.
Who decides what happens when an alert comes in?
A trained person on your agency’s own remote support staff decides. The technology never decides. VistaLink™ brings the event and the person’s plan to that staff member. The staff member reaches out to the person, follows the response plan, calls in-person help when needed, and writes down what happened so the care team can review it.
Do remote supports replace direct support professionals (DSPs)?
No. Remote supports are built to support direct support professionals (DSPs). They can cover hours when a person wants more privacy, such as overnights, while DSPs focus on hands-on help, relationships and community life. In-person backup, such as an on-call DSP, should be written into each person’s plan. Remote support adds to in-person support. It does not replace it.
Safety
What happens if someone falls?
The person’s plan says what happens. The person and their team write down what helps lower the risk of falls and who comes in person when help is needed. Remote support does not prevent falls, and it is not a promise that every fall will be noticed. When the agency’s own remote support staff learn that the person may need help, a trained staff member from the agency reaches out to the person the way the plan says. If there is no answer, or the person needs help, the agency’s staff member calls the on-call direct support professional or emergency services, as the plan says. The agency’s own trained team responds and decides. The technology never acts alone.
What if the person is not near the display when something happens?
The person’s response plan covers this. If the agency’s remote support staff cannot reach the person, for example because they are in another room, the agency’s trained staff member moves to the next step in the plan, such as calling the on-call direct support professional to go to the home in person. The agency’s own trained team responds and decides.
Privacy and choice
Do remote supports use cameras?
Remote supports do not have to use cameras. VistaLink™ works with non-wearable sensors and a display in the home, with no cameras required in personal spaces such as bedrooms and bathrooms. The person decides, with their team, which devices are used and where they go. Those choices need the person’s informed consent, and, where the state requires it, the consent of others in the home whose privacy is affected. They are written into the person’s plan so everyone knows what is in place.
Can the person say no?
Yes. The person’s choice comes first. Remote supports start with informed consent and a plan the person helped shape, and a person can say no. Consent is ongoing, not a one-time signature, so the person can change their mind and ask to change the plan at any time. If the person has a legal guardian or other authorized representative, that person takes part in consent as the law allows, and the person’s own wishes still guide the plan.
Where can families learn more?
Our family guide explains remote supports in plain language for families and people supported, including choice, consent and the questions to ask an agency.
Running remote supports
Who completes the technology assessment and links each person’s technology?
Your agency’s own trained staff do. With Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™, your team completes each person’s technology assessment and links their technology to VistaLink™. Remote support is then written into the person-centered plan, which the person leads with their support coordinator and the people they choose. Some state programs also ask for an assessment from someone outside the agency. In Virginia, for example, Electronic Home-Based Supports start with a needs assessment by an independent professional consultant. Vista trains your staff and supports your agency as you set up and grow.
Can we run our own remote support center?
Yes. With Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™, your agency runs its own remote support. Your trained staff respond to people supported and make every decision. Vista’s team stands behind your agency with training, setup and ongoing support. Your agency owns the service and keeps responsibility for the people it supports.
What does VistaLink™ keep for our documentation?
VistaLink™ keeps journal entries, notes and contacts for the care team in one place, which supports outcomes-based documentation.
How do we get started?
Book a Vista Enterprise™ demo at vistasupports.com/demo/ or call 1-833-MYVISTA. Your agency’s trained staff then complete each person’s technology assessment and link their technology to VistaLink™, with Vista training and onboarding your team. After go-live, Vista stays on as your partner, not a one-time vendor. For the full steps, see how to start remote support.
Can a provider association bring its member agencies?
Yes. Provider associations, coalitions, DD councils and other groups that bring agencies together can book a briefing for their members. See bring your member agencies.
Buying Vista Enterprise™ with VistaLink™
Does my agency need state approval to buy Vista Enterprise™?
No. Any provider or agency, in any state or anywhere in the world, can buy Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™, the same way it buys an EHR, payroll or HR system. State applications come into play only for state procurement, state contracts, or state-mandated programs. Whether a service can be billed to Medicaid depends on your state’s rules and each person’s plan.
What devices work with VistaLink™?
VistaLink™ links non-wearable sensors and a display in the home to Vista Enterprise™, so your team works from one place instead of juggling many apps. Devices are chosen for each person during the technology assessment, based on their needs, wishes and living space.
How are Vista Enterprise™ and VistaLink™ priced?
Vista Enterprise™ annual cost is less than half the fully loaded annual cost of a single DSP. Once people supported are added, each person has a monthly VistaLink™ subscription, paid by the individual or through their service authorization. Vista Enterprise™ also includes workforce training and ongoing support. Details are shared during a demo.
Is Vista Enterprise™ only for intellectual and developmental disabilities services?
No. Vista Enterprise™, which includes VistaLink™, serves IDD and HCBS provider agencies, ICFs, nursing homes, assisted living and memory care providers, and home care agencies delivering supports at scale. Every implementation is guided by Vista’s enabling technology specialists, and each agency’s own trained staff respond to the people they support. Looking for support for yourself or a family member? See Vista Essence™.
Funding and billing
Is buying remote supports the same as billing for them?
No. Buying a remote support solution for your agency needs no approval in any state. Billing a state program for remote supports for a person supported depends on the program, the service, your agency’s provider status and the person’s plan. Our funding map shows how each state pays.
How do states pay for remote supports?
In three main ways: per person, through a remote support or technology service written into the person’s plan; inside a service the agency already bills, such as a residential rate; or from the agency’s own budget, which works in every state. See the funding map.
Can remote supports be used in a group home?
It depends on the state and the service. In Pennsylvania, remote supports are part of residential services and their rates. In Virginia, Electronic Home-Based Supports are not covered in group homes. In Maryland, Remote Support Services are not available with Community Living-Enhanced Supports or Shared Living. Any group home can still pay for remote support from its own budget. See the funding map.
Can ICFs and nursing homes use remote supports?
Yes. ICFs, nursing homes and assisted living are usually paid as facilities, so remote support is an operating cost. Federal and state rules on staffing and privacy still apply, and technology adds to good staffing rather than replacing it.
By state
Does the District of Columbia cover remote supports?
Yes. DC’s Department on Disability Services describes remote supports versions of five waiver services, billed per person, with equipment through the waiver’s technology service. See remote support in DC.
Does Maryland cover remote supports?
Yes. Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration lists Remote Support Services in the Community Pathways Waiver, based on each person’s assessed need. See remote support in Maryland.
Does Pennsylvania cover remote supports?
Yes. Pennsylvania’s Office of Developmental Programs offers Remote Supports in its Consolidated, Community Living and Person/Family Directed Support waivers. See remote support in Pennsylvania.
Does Virginia cover remote supports?
Yes. Virginia covers Electronic Home-Based Supports and AT in three developmental disability waivers. Since September 1, 2025, a DMAS bulletin of August 12, 2025 says the two share one calendar-year budget per person, while the regulation text online still shows an older plan-year limit, so check the current limit with the person’s support coordinator. See Virginia on the funding map.
Does New Jersey cover remote supports?
New Jersey’s Division of Developmental Disabilities covers AT and personal emergency response systems with prior approval, but has no separate remote support staffing service. Agencies can still pay for remote support from their own budget. See New Jersey on the funding map.
Does Delaware cover remote supports?
Yes. In July 2026, Delaware announced that Remote Supports was added to its Lifespan Waiver, for eligible people based on their assessed needs. See Delaware on the funding map.
Have a question we did not answer? Book a Vista Enterprise™ demo.