California To Eliminate Medicaid Assisted Living Waiver Waitlist

California Medicaid is expanding the number of slots for its Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) so that it can eliminate the current waiting list. In total, 7,000 more slots will be added through 2024. On January 7, 2022, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved an ALW amendment requested by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). The approval is retroactive to July 1, 2021, and runs through February 28, 2024. The purpose of the ALW is to help Medicaid beneficiaries, older adults, and those with disabilities, avoid entering institutional care settings to receive needed supportive . . .