Placing a loved one or yourself in an Adult Family Home on Medicaid is a slightly different process than for those who will be using Private Pay funds.
There is a little more time and planning that goes into it. We want to go over those steps to ensure that you can get everything in order so that you will be able to successfully place in an Adult Family Home and a Medicaid resident.
1. Signing up for Medicaid.
In order to qualify for Medicaid through DSHS you must meet their stringent financial requirements, which means an income of under $2,829 per month and assets under $2,000.
If you or your loved one fits this description and are not yet signed up for Long Term Care benefits with Medicaid, please click below to sign up.
Washington Connection (Your Link to Services)
Washington Connection (youtube.com)
This process can take a few months, so it’s a good idea to get it started as soon as possible.
But what if you have too many assets or too high of a monthly income?
Adult Family Homes have a general Medicaid Spend Down policy, which basically means the amount of time they will require Private Pay funds before they transition a resident over to Medicaid.
If your assets are too high for Medicaid then we can usually find an Adult Family Home that is flexible in their Medicaid Spend Down policy, which means you or your loved on would move-in as a Private Pay resident and then transition over to Medicaid while living at the Adult Family Home. This is a process that the Provider will assist you with.
2. Get an Assessment
Once you are signed up for Long-term Care benefits through Washington Connect, in order to place yourself or a loved one into an Adult Family Home you will need an Adult Family Home Assessment from DSHS. You can get this by contact the Case Manager for the client and specifically requesting one.
What is the Assessment? The assessment is a very detailed report on the Medicaid client. This will include everything from their height and weight to their medical conditions, behavioral issues and care needs, everything a potential Provider would need to know in order to determine if they can provider the necessary care for the client. The Assessment also provides the daily rate that DSHS will pay the Adult Family Home for the client.
We’ve had clients take as little as a week to over a month to get an assessment completed, always good to get these schedule as soon as possible.
3. Find an Adult Family Home
As mentioned above, Adult Family Homes have what’s referred to as a “Medicaid Spend Down Policy”. The amount of time they require for a new resident to be Private Pay before they transition over to Medicaid. Thankfully, there are lots of Adult Family Homes that will accept Medicaid from new Residents.
When you are using LocalCareHomes.com to find an Adult Family Home that accepts Medicaid, you can select “Medicaid” under “source of funds” and all results will be filtered for Adult Family Homes that have indicated that they accept Medicaid from new Residents.
You can contact the Provider directly by clicking on “Get a Quote” or “Schedule a Tour”
Once you’ve established contact, the Provider will request to see the Assessment and make their determination of if they are able to accept the resident based on that.
If the Provider is able and willing then you will schedule a tour and see if the home is a good fit for you and or your loved one.
Once you’ve found an Adult Family Home that will willing to accept you or your loved one and they’ve received the assessment, then you are ready to move.
While Medicaid placement into an Adult Family Home is a little more time consuming and options many be more limited, as long as you follow the required steps it won’t be too difficult. There are many wonderful Providers that would love to accept either you or your loved one.
If you are having difficulties finding what you are looking for, then please feel free to contact us 206-686-4580 and we’d be more than happy to help you find an Adult Family Home that will be a good fit for you.