Dementia care in Washington DC starts at one office: the DC Department of Aging and Community Living (DACL) serves as the District's State and Area Agency on Aging. If someone you love has Alzheimer's or another dementia, you don't have to work out the District's programs alone. DACL runs dementia supports by name, DC Medicaid can help pay for care at home and in day programs, and knowing both early gives your family more choices later.

In This Guide

What Changes as Dementia Progresses

Dementia changes over time, and the help your family member needs soon after a diagnosis can look very different from the care needed years later. Planning for the next stage before it arrives gives your family time to choose instead of scramble.

The day-to-day side of this is the same in the District as anywhere else, and our national guides cover it in depth: the stages of dementia, responding to agitation and other behaviors, talking with someone who has dementia, bathing, dressing and daily care, and wandering and home safety. What follows is the part that is specific to DC: who to call, what the District offers, and who pays.

Where to Start for Dementia Care in Washington DC

DC is a single planning and service area with no Area Agencies on Aging, and DACL serves as both the State and the Area Agency on Aging under the Older Americans Act. That means there is one office to call for the whole city, not a county office to track down.

DACL's front door is its Information & Referral/Assistance unit (I&RA), which DACL describes as its intake, assessment and referral unit. DACL's I&RA line is 202-724-5626, Monday through Friday, 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and intake is open to adults 60 and older, adults with disabilities ages 18 to 59, and their caregivers. Asked how to get a case manager or social worker, DACL's answer is to call that same I&RA number.

One thing trips families up: a DC Medicaid application is a different door. DACL's own FAQ sends Medicaid applications to the DC Department of Human Services Public Benefits Call Center at (202) 727-5355, 7:30 am to 4:45 pm, Monday to Friday. Our guide to applying for DC Medicaid walks through that process.

DC's Dementia Programs, by Name

Beyond general aging services, DACL runs a set of programs built for people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) and the people caring for them. On its Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias page, DACL describes its Alzheimer's Disease Supportive Services Program, funded by the federal Administration for Community Living and operated by DACL. These are the programs DACL lists, with the providers DACL names:

  • Dementia Navigators (IONA Senior Service, (202) 895-9448): DACL's DC Dementia Navigators assess older adults living with dementia, link them and their family care partners to community resources and dementia education, and help manage the behavioral symptoms of dementia.,
  • Money Management Program (IONA Senior Service): DACL's Money Management Program helps older adults experiencing memory loss manage their monthly bills, with two levels of help: hands-on assistance, or representative payee services for those who need them.
  • Caregiver Support Group and Caregiver Lounge (Genevieve N. Johnson Senior Day Care Center, (202)-723-8537): DACL lists a monthly caregiver support group and a weekly Caregiver Lounge offering wellness activities and meditation for DC caregivers.
  • Club Memory (Sibley Senior Association, (202) 364-7602): DACL describes Club Memory as a stigma-free social club for people with early-stage Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment or other forms of dementia, and their spouses, partners and caregivers, meeting at senior wellness centers and faith-based organizations.

If you're early in this and not sure which to try, start with a Dementia Navigator.

Respite and Day Programs: A Break for the Caregiver

If you're the one holding everything together, respite is not a luxury. It's what lets you keep going. The District offers it through more than one route.

DACL's caregiver support. DACL describes its caregiver support service as providing caregiver education and training, respite, stipends and transportation services to eligible caregivers, delivered through DACL's Senior Service Network of community partners. DACL's Caregiver Programs page also points DC caregivers to the District of Columbia Caregivers' Institute for practical caregiving skills. Call I&RA at 202-724-5626 to ask what you qualify for.

Respite under the EPD Waiver. If your family member is enrolled in DC Medicaid's Elderly and Persons with Physical Disabilities (EPD) Waiver, the DC EPD Waiver covers respite. The DC Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) describes EPD Waiver respite as temporary personal care aide help that gives the primary caregiver relief, provided hourly or daily in the place where the participant receives care.

Adult day health. For many families living with dementia, a weekday program is the respite that actually fits a work schedule. DC Medicaid covers Adult Day Health Program (ADHP) services under both the DC Medicaid State Plan and the EPD Waiver. DHCF describes ADHP as a range of therapeutic, rehabilitative and support services, including nursing, help with daily activities, social work, dietary services and transportation, provided for part of the day on weekdays. DHCF describes ADHP as designed to help older adults and individuals with physical disabilities live in the community, and the District's ADHP rules, including eligibility, are in 29 DCMR Chapter 97, so ask DHCF or a case manager whether your family member qualifies.

What Dementia Care Costs in DC

This is the part that keeps families up at night, so here it is plainly. According to the CareScout Cost of Care Survey, the 2025 median cost of care in Washington DC for the settings below runs from $28,600 a year for adult day health care to $173,740 a year for a private nursing home room. Those are annual medians for general senior care in each setting, not dementia-specific prices.

Type of care (CareScout basis) Washington DC median, 2025 National median, 2025
Adult day health care (5 days a week) $28,600 $24,700
In-home care, non-medical caregiver (44 hours a week) $86,944 $80,080
Assisted living (private one-bedroom) $77,934 $74,400
Nursing home, semi-private room $146,730 $114,975
Nursing home, private room $173,740 $129,575

CareScout's 2025 DC figures cover every setting in the table above. CareScout collects rates at the metropolitan-area level, and its DC region is "Washington, Arlington, Alexandria," and CareScout says its regions can include counties from nearby states. CareScout's 2025 DC-area assisted living median fell 33% from its 2024 figure, while its 2025 DC-area semi-private nursing home median rose 50%, so treat a single year's figure as a guide, not a quote. For more on these numbers, see our guide to the cost of senior care in DC.

How DC Medicaid Can Help Pay for Dementia Care

Seeing those numbers can feel like a verdict on your family's savings. It isn't. DC Medicaid pays for a lot of dementia care, and the rules are more specific than most people expect.

Personal care at home (State Plan). DC's regular Medicaid program covers Personal Care Aide (PCA) services: help with eating, dressing, bathing, using the bathroom and moving around. The DC Department of Human Services decides financial eligibility, and DHCF decides level of care from a face-to-face assessment by the District's contractor, Liberty Healthcare. Based on that assessment, DHCF may approve up to 8 hours of State Plan PCA services a day. Our guide to home care vs. home health in DC explains how the agency side works.

The EPD Waiver (at home or in assisted living). When needs reach a nursing-home level of care, the EPD Waiver lets a DC resident get services at home or in an assisted-living community instead of a nursing home, and it allows more than 8 hours of PCA a day., DACL lists seven conditions for the DC EPD Waiver, including:

  • Being 65 or older, or 18 to 64 with a physical disability, and a District resident with qualifying citizenship or immigration status
  • A Prescription Order Form from a DC Medicaid provider, plus a face-to-face assessment by Liberty Healthcare to set "level of need"
  • Countable assets, such as savings or checking accounts, of no more than $4,000 for an individual, the 2026 limit DHCF sets for DC Medicaid long-term care and EPD Waiver eligibility,
  • Countable income under the program limit, or the ability to meet the Medicaid spend-down obligation instead

DACL lists case management, personal care aide services, emergency response systems, the participant-directed Services My Way option and assisted living among the services the EPD Waiver can include. Our guide to DC Medicaid HCBS waivers goes deeper on eligibility.

Adult day health. As covered above, DC Medicaid pays for ADHP under both the State Plan and the EPD Waiver.

If a nursing home becomes the right place, our guide to memory care vs. a nursing home in DC compares the two. Veterans and surviving spouses should also look at VA Aid and Attendance for memory care in DC.

How to Check a Memory Care Home or Home Care Agency in DC

Handing a parent's care to strangers is hard. The District's rules give you some concrete things to ask.

In DC, assisted-living memory care is provided by a licensed assisted living residence, and D.C. law requires the written resident agreement, given before admission, to state any special care the residence holds itself out to provide, such as a specialty in Alzheimer's disease. Ask to see that section.

D.C. Code § 7-744.02 requires at least 8 hours of initial dementia training for direct care staff in assisted living residences, nursing homes, home care agencies and hospice programs serving people with Alzheimer's or related dementia, plus at least 4 hours of continuing education each year for direct service staff. In DC it is also unlawful to run a home care agency without a license from the District. Two fair questions for any provider: is your agency licensed by DC Health, and have your aides finished DC's dementia training?

Our guide to memory care in DC covers facility licensing in more detail.

Taking Care of Yourself, and Your Job

It's easy to disappear into dementia caregiving. But a caregiver who burns out can't keep going, so your rest is part of the care plan. Use respite before you're desperate for it, and try one of DACL's caregiver groups even if it feels like one more appointment. Our guide to caregiver burnout has more on the warning signs.

If you work in the District, DC Paid Family Leave may replace part of your pay while you care for a family member, such as a parent, with a serious health condition. Starting October 1, 2026, DC Paid Family Leave's Family Leave benefit covers up to 6 weeks a year, and the maximum weekly benefit for all claim types is $1,100. Coverage turns on where you work, not where you live: DC Paid Family Leave is only for people working in the District for a covered private-sector employer, so federal and DC government employees are not covered. DC Paid Family Leave also doesn't provide job protection; our guide to FMLA leave for family caregivers covers that side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does DC Medicaid pay for dementia care?

DC Medicaid can pay for much of the hands-on care dementia requires: State Plan personal care aide services of up to 8 hours a day, Adult Day Health Program services, and, for people who meet a nursing-home level of care, the EPD Waiver at home or in assisted living. Eligibility turns on DC Medicaid's income, asset and level-of-need rules; for the DC EPD Waiver, DHCF's 2026 long-term care rules cap countable assets at $4,000 for an individual.

Who do I call first about dementia help in DC?

Call DACL's Information & Referral/Assistance line at 202-724-5626. DC has no county Area Agency on Aging, so DACL is the District's single front door for aging services. For dementia-specific help, DACL lists its Dementia Navigators through IONA Senior Service at (202) 895-9448.

Do DACL's dementia programs in DC cost anything?

DACL's pages for its DC dementia programs, including the Dementia Navigators, the Money Management Program and Club Memory, don't list an income test or a fee. They don't promise there isn't one either, so ask the provider about cost when you call.

What if my parent's income is over the DC EPD Waiver limit?

Income over the limit doesn't by itself rule someone out of the DC EPD Waiver. DACL's list of EPD Waiver conditions lets an applicant meet the DC Medicaid spend-down obligation instead of the income limit. To ask how the spend-down works for your family, call the DC Department of Human Services Public Benefits Call Center at (202) 727-5355, which handles DC Medicaid applications.

Learn More

CaregiverDementia Care Resources by StateMedicaid waivers, respite, adult day, and Alzheimer's support for dementia caregivers vary by state. See how they differ and open a full guide for your state. Care TypesMemory Care in Washington, DCMemory care in Washington, DC explained: who licenses it, the 8-hour dementia training rule, what care costs, and what DC Medicaid will and won't pay. CaregiverUnderstanding the Stages of DementiaA caregiver's guide to the stages of dementia: mild, moderate, and severe, what changes at each stage, the signs of each transition, and how to plan ahead. CaregiverRespite Care: Types, Funding, and How to Find ItWhat respite care is and how to pay for it in 2026: the main types, free NFCSP grants, Medicaid and VA respite, and a link to every state guide. MedicaidDC Medicaid HCBS WaiversHow District of Columbia Medicaid HCBS waivers work in 2026: the EPD Waiver, who qualifies, what it covers, income and asset limits, and how to apply. CaregiverCaregiver Support GroupsA caregiver support group connects you with people who understand. Learn the types, in-person, online, and condition-specific, and how to find one that fits.

Find personalized help planning dementia care in DC at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

Still have questions?

Brevy answers from this guide and every other guide here, and can check what you qualify for.

BC

Brevy Care Team

Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.