The Community Choices Waiver for New Orleans families

What is Louisiana's Community Choices Waiver?

The Community Choices Waiver (CCW) is a Louisiana Medicaid home and community-based waiver, run by LDH's Office of Aging and Adult Services, for adults 21 and older who meet long-term care Medicaid eligibility and nursing home level of care, so they can get care at home instead of in a nursing home.

It is the state's main answer to the question “can Mom stay home?” for people who would otherwise qualify for a nursing home. It does not provide help 24 hours a day, so it works best when family or others cover the hours the waiver does not.

What services does the Community Choices Waiver pay for?

The CCW covers support coordination, personal assistance with bathing, dressing and meals, adult day health care, home-delivered meals, nursing and skilled maintenance therapy, home modifications such as ramps and roll-in showers, assistive devices and supplies, a personal emergency response system, monitored in-home caregiving, caregiver respite and transition services for people leaving a nursing home.

• Support coordination
• Personal assistance services
• Adult day health care
• Assistive devices and medical supplies
• Personal emergency response system
• Assistive technology (tablet)
• Environmental accessibility adaptations
• Physical, occupational and speech therapy
• Nursing and skilled maintenance therapy
• Home-delivered meals
• Monitored in-home caregiving
• Caregiver temporary support (respite)
• Transition services for people leaving a nursing home
• Financial management services for self-directed workers

A support coordinator builds a plan of care with the participant and arranges the services. Monitored in-home caregiving lets a participant live with a principal caregiver, who can be a relative, and pays for care that caregiver provides under professional oversight.

Who gets a Community Choices Waiver slot first?

CCW slots are offered by priority group: people referred by protective services who would otherwise need a nursing home because of abuse or neglect, people with ALS, people in Louisiana Permanent Supportive Housing, nursing home residents whose stay Medicaid alone pays for, people approved for 32 hours of LT-PCS who would otherwise need a nursing home, and then everyone else first come, first served by request date.

1. People referred by protective services who would otherwise need a nursing home because of abuse or neglect
2. People with ALS
3. People living in, or linked to, a Louisiana Permanent Supportive Housing unit
4. Nursing home residents whose stay is paid only by Medicaid
5. People approved for 32 hours of LT-PCS who would otherwise need nursing home placement (expedited)
6. Everyone else, first come, first served by request date on the Request for Services Registry

The first-come list is the Request for Services Registry, and the date you ask is your place in line. That is why families are told to call early, even before a parent is ready, and why a nursing home resident on Medicaid can sometimes leave sooner than someone waiting at home.

What are the 2026 income and asset limits for the Community Choices Waiver?

The CCW uses Louisiana's long-term care Medicaid rules: in 2026 countable income up to $2,982 a month (three times the SSI federal benefit rate), or more with enough medical expenses to spend the excess down, and countable resources up to $2,000 for an individual, with transfers in the previous 60 months reviewed.

The home is usually excluded when the applicant intends to return to it, subject to the $752,000 home equity limit in 2026. When only one spouse applies, federal spousal impoverishment rules protect income and assets for the spouse at home.

Source: CMS Informational Bulletin, Updated 2026 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards (April 27, 2026).

How do I apply for the Community Choices Waiver in New Orleans?

Call Louisiana Options in Long-Term Care at 1-877-456-1146 (TDD 1-877-544-9544), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the call is free, and it places your parent on the Request for Services Registry and starts the level-of-care screening.

When a slot is offered, Medicaid sends a letter explaining how to apply financially, through the Medicaid Self-Service Portal, by phone at 1-888-342-6207, by mail or fax, or at a local office. Your parish council on aging can help with the paperwork; in Orleans Parish that is the New Orleans Council on Aging at (504) 821-4121, and in Jefferson the Jefferson Council on Aging at (504) 888-5880.