Georgia CCSP Waiver 2026: Community Care Services Program

The Georgia CCSP Waiver, formally the Community Care Services Program, is the state's largest Medicaid home and community-based services program for adults who need nursing-home-level care at home. CCSP is one of the two service-delivery models inside Georgia's Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP), not a separate Section 1915(c) waiver of its own.1 In 2026 it pays for personal support, adult day health, home-delivered meals, respite, and Structured Family Caregiving (SFC) for an adult who is 21 or older, meets an intermediate nursing-facility level of care, and has monthly income at or below $2,982 (2026) with countable assets at or below $2,000 for a single applicant.2,3 You apply through your Area Agency on Aging, reached statewide through Georgia's Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) at 1-866-552-4464, which runs the functional assessment and builds your care plan.4

In This Guide

• What the Georgia CCSP Waiver Is
• Who Qualifies for the Georgia CCSP Waiver
• What the Georgia CCSP Waiver Covers
• How to Apply for the Georgia CCSP Waiver
• The Waitlist and Crisis Priority
• Cost Share
• Structured Family Caregiving
• How CCSP Compares to Georgia's Other Waiver Programs
• Worked Examples
• If You Are Denied: How to Appeal
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What the Georgia CCSP Waiver Is

CCSP is a service-delivery model inside the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP), one of Georgia's four active Section 1915(c) home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. It is administered by the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) and serves elderly adults and adults with physical disabilities who require a nursing-facility level of care but choose community-based services over institutional placement.1

CCSP and SOURCE (Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment) are the two service-delivery models found within Georgia's Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP). Neither is a separate 1915(c) waiver; SOURCE is the model that adds enhanced case management coordinated through a primary care physician.1 The Area Agency on Aging (AAA) network is the EDWP's entry point: the AAA determines eligibility and the type of services needed, and an applicant who already has full Medicaid can contact either the AAA or a SOURCE site for that assessment.2

A note on intake names you may have seen: "Empowerline" is the brand the Atlanta Regional Commission's Area Agency on Aging uses for its 10-county metro Atlanta service area, not a statewide front door. Statewide, the path in is the ADRC hotline at 1-866-552-4464, which routes you to one of Georgia's 12 regional AAAs.4

Who Qualifies for the Georgia CCSP Waiver

Eligibility for the Georgia CCSP Waiver has four parts: a functional test, an age and disability category, a financial test, and Georgia residency.

Functional Eligibility (Nursing-Facility Level of Care)

The applicant must be 21 or older, have a functional impairment caused by physical limitations, and be certified at an intermediate nursing-facility level of care.2 The AAA care coordinator conducts an in-home functional assessment using the standardized DCH instrument, which evaluates:

• Activities of daily living (ADLs): bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, and mobility
• Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs): meal preparation, housekeeping, medication management, transportation, shopping, and managing finances
• Cognitive status, medical complexity, and behavioral needs

Financial Eligibility

CCSP uses the long-term-care (waiver) financial pathway:

• Income. In 2026, the monthly income limit for a single applicant is $2,982, which is 300% of the federal SSI benefit rate; an applicant with income below $994 a month qualifies under the SSI pathway instead.3 An applicant whose income is at or above the limit can still qualify by routing income through a Qualified Income Trust (a "Miller trust"), which Georgia has allowed since September 1, 2004. The trust must be irrevocable, hold only the applicant's income, and name DCH as remainder beneficiary up to what Medicaid paid for care.3
• Assets. The countable resource limit is $2,000 for a single applicant.3 For a married applicant, the 2026 Community Spouse Resource Allowance runs from $32,532 to $162,660, with each state electing its standard inside that federal range.6 Read that as a nursing-facility figure first: the federal spousal-impoverishment rules are written for a spouse who is institutionalized, and extending the same resource protection to an HCBS waiver applicant like a CCSP participant is a state option rather than a federal guarantee. Confirm with DFCS how the CSRA is applied to an EDWP application before counting on it, and see our Georgia spousal impoverishment guide for the detail.
• Home equity. The home is generally an exempt asset, and the equity limit does not apply at all when the applicant's spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or permanently and totally disabled child of any age lawfully lives in the home.7 Otherwise, the 2026 home-equity limit starts at a federal minimum of $752,000, and a state may elect a higher amount, up to $1,130,000. Georgia's ABD financial-limits appendix does not print a home-equity figure, so confirm the standard DFCS applies to your case.7
• Transfers. Georgia applies the federal 60-month (five-year) look-back to uncompensated asset transfers under 42 U.S.C. 1396p(c); a transfer for less than fair market value during that window can trigger a penalty period.7

Other Requirements

The applicant must be a Georgia resident and a U.S. citizen or qualified non-citizen.

What the Georgia CCSP Waiver Covers

CCSP services are delivered in the participant's home, in a small community residential setting, in an adult day health center, or in the home of a Structured Family Caregiver. The specific services and their intensity are set in the participant's care plan.4

• Personal support services (PSS). Hands-on help with bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, light housekeeping, meal preparation, and medication reminders, provided in the home by a personal support aide.
• Adult day health (ADH). Center-based daytime supervision, personal care, nursing oversight, meals, and social activity, useful when a caregiver works during the day.
• Alternative living services. Personal care in a small group home or community residential setting when home-based care is no longer feasible but a nursing facility is premature.
• Emergency response system. A wearable or in-home button connecting the participant to a 24-hour monitoring center.
• Home-delivered meals. Nutritionally balanced meals for a participant who cannot safely prepare food.
• Out-of-home respite. Short-term placement to give a family caregiver a break.
• Skilled nursing. Periodic in-home nursing for medication administration, wound care, or chronic-disease management.
• Structured Family Caregiving (SFC). A paid live-in family caregiver arrangement, described in detail below.

Georgia's CCSP also offers Personal Support Consumer Direction, which lets the participant direct their own personal-support workers; adult children, siblings, grandchildren, and other adult relatives may be hired, but spouses and parents of a minor recipient cannot.4

How to Apply for the Georgia CCSP Waiver

The Waitlist and Crisis Priority

CCSP is not an entitlement; it operates a waitlist when slot capacity is reached.4 How a given applicant is ranked on that list is set by AAA and state operating policy that Georgia does not publish in a single public schedule, so ask your AAA directly how it prioritizes and where you sit. In practice the situations families raise as urgent are the ones worth documenting up front: imminent risk of nursing-facility placement, a hospital discharge with no safe plan at home, the death or collapse of the caregiver, and abuse or neglect.

Two practical points. First, wait times vary widely by region and by priority category, so verify the current status with your local AAA rather than relying on a statewide number. Second, the other EDWP model, SOURCE, has no waitlist, so if you have a documented chronic condition and can work with a SOURCE primary-care provider, it may be the faster route to the same kinds of home-based services.4

To ask for expedited review, give the AAA care coordinator documentation of the urgency, such as a hospital discharge plan, an Adult Protective Services referral, or a physician letter, with a written request.

Cost Share

Georgia sets a monthly cost share for some CCSP participants using the federal post-eligibility treatment-of-income rules under 42 CFR 435.726, which all four Georgia HCBS waivers apply.1 Those rules let a participant first keep enough income for housing, food, and other community-living expenses before any share of cost is calculated, so a community waiver's cost share is generally much smaller than the patient liability a nursing-home resident would owe. DCH calculates each participant's amount from their income and the cost of the care plan; many participants owe little or nothing.

Structured Family Caregiving

Structured Family Caregiving is Georgia's most distinctive paid-family-caregiver pathway, offered as a service inside both CCSP and SOURCE.5 A live-in family caregiver provides 24-hour care, and an approved SFC provider organization trains and credentials the caregiver, pays the stipend, and supplies care coordination, RN visits, and emergency backup.

The Stipend

In 2026 the SFC stipend runs roughly $80 a day, about $560 a week, and $1,987 to $2,400 a month. It is generally tax-free, treated as a "difficulty of care" payment excludable under IRS Notice 2014-7 when the caregiver lives in the recipient's home. The caregiver typically receives 50% to 65% of the per-diem Medicaid pays the agency, which keeps the balance for training, oversight, and backup respite.4

Who Can (and Cannot) Be the Paid Caregiver

Adult children, grandchildren, siblings, and other adult relatives can serve as the paid Structured Family Caregiver. Under Georgia's rules, a spouse, legal guardian, parent of a minor child, or conservator cannot.5 Georgia applies the same bar across its other Medicaid self-direction options; the only routes that pay a spouse in Georgia are VA programs and private pay, covered in our guide on how to get paid as a family caregiver in Georgia.4

How CCSP Compares to Georgia's Other Waiver Programs

Georgia runs four Section 1915(c) HCBS waivers. EDWP, through its CCSP and SOURCE models, serves older adults and adults with physical disabilities; ICWP serves working-age adults who apply between the ages of 21 and 64 with severe physical disabilities; and NOW and COMP serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through a different agency.1,4

Worked Examples

The following are hypothetical illustrations to show how the rules fit together. They are not real cases and not a guarantee of eligibility.

Margaret, 79, lives alone in DeKalb County. She receives $1,450 a month in Social Security and has $1,800 in savings, and she needs help with bathing, dressing, and meals. Because her income is below the $2,982 waiver limit and her countable assets are below $2,000, she clears the financial test, and her ADL needs meet the level-of-care standard.3 Her care plan could combine daily personal support, weekday home-delivered meals, and an emergency response system, with no or minimal cost share.

The Lee family in Cobb County. Mr. Lee has dementia and needs 24-hour supervision; his income is $3,200 a month, above the $2,982 limit. He qualifies by routing income through a Qualified Income Trust, and spousal-impoverishment rules protect his wife's resources.3 Their daughter, who lives with them, becomes the paid Structured Family Caregiver and receives a stipend of about $2,400 a month, while CCSP also authorizes adult day health two days a week to give her respite.4

If You Are Denied: How to Appeal

If CCSP is denied, reduced, or terminated, you can request a state administrative hearing through Georgia's Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH), reachable at 1-404-657-2800 or toll-free at 1-877-809-0007, within the deadline printed on your notice.9 For a termination or reduction of services you already receive, ask for your benefits to continue (aid paid pending) when you file the hearing request. Free legal help is available from Georgia Legal Services Program at 1-833-457-7529 and Atlanta Legal Aid at 1-404-524-5811.8

Key Phone Numbers and Resources

Learn More

Find personalized help navigating CCSP eligibility and enrollment 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.