Georgia Medicaid Personal Care Services (2026): CCSP, SOURCE, ICWP

In Georgia, Medicaid personal care services are not a stand-alone benefit you get just by being on Medicaid. For adults they are delivered through the state's home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers, so you have to qualify for a waiver first; children have a separate route. This guide explains which waiver fits your situation, who can be paid to provide the care, and how to apply.1

A personal care worker helps with the activities of daily living (ADLs) needed to live safely at home: bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring from bed to chair, eating, and continence. They also help with the instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) that keep a home running: meal preparation, light housekeeping, laundry, shopping, and medication reminders. For many older adults and people with disabilities, a few hours of this help each day is the difference between staying home and entering a nursing facility.2

For Georgia families, the delivery structure is what differs. Where a state covers personal care as a regular state plan benefit, federal comparability and statewideness rules make it an entitlement, with no slot cap and no waiting list.3 Georgia does not deliver adult personal care that way. For adults it arrives through the state's four Section 1915(c) waivers, with a separate pathway for children.1 Being enrolled in Medicaid is necessary but not sufficient: you also have to meet a waiver's institutional level of care and complete waiver enrollment, and 1915(c) waivers may cap enrollment, which is why the developmental disability waivers run a planning list.4 As of September 2025 roughly 7,900 Georgians were on that list, and adults on it had waited nearly five years on average.5

In This Guide

• How to get Georgia Medicaid personal care services
• Which Georgia Medicaid waiver covers personal care services?
• Who can be paid to provide personal care?
• How Electronic Visit Verification works
• How hours are set and how to appeal a cut
• Worked examples
• Frequently asked questions
• Learn More

How to get Georgia Medicaid personal care services

Start here, because the order matters. Enrolling in Medicaid alone does not turn on personal care. To receive Georgia Medicaid personal care services, you must qualify for one of the HCBS waivers, or, for a child, qualify for Katie Beckett Medicaid with personal care authorized through medical necessity.

Where you start depends on the person needing care:

• An older adult or an adult with a physical disability applies for the Community Care Services Program (CCSP) or SOURCE through the Aging and Disability Resource Connection. Call the Georgia Aging and Disability Resource Connection at 1-866-552-4464, which routes by ZIP code to one of 12 regional Area Agencies on Aging.7 A local Area Agency on Aging arranges a functional assessment and certifies the nursing facility level of care.1
• An adult age 21 to 64 with a severe physical disability or traumatic brain injury applies for the Independent Care Waiver Program (ICWP).1 Intake runs through Alliant Health Solutions, at 800-982-0411 or 888-669-7195.7
• A person with an intellectual or developmental disability applies for the New Options Waiver (NOW) or Comprehensive Supports Waiver Program (COMP), administered day to day by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) through six regional field offices.1 Apply through the Georgia Collaborative ASO's Individual IDD Connects portal, which DBHDD prefers because paper applications have to be transcribed into it by hand; a paper application can instead be faxed or mailed to a DBHDD Regional Field Office, and that office can help you apply.9 Get on the planning list as early as you can.5

The CCSP, SOURCE, and ICWP path can take weeks to months. The NOW and COMP path routinely takes years: adults on Georgia's I/DD planning list had been waiting nearly five years on average as of September 2025, and 43 percent of them had waited at least six. Placement is prioritized by assessed need rather than by time on the list, so a family in urgent circumstances may be served ahead of a longer-waiting one.5

Which Georgia Medicaid waiver covers personal care services?

Georgia operates four active Section 1915(c) HCBS waivers, each targeting a different population. Personal care is a covered service in all of them, but the eligibility gate and the family-pay rules differ.1

EDWP, through its CCSP and SOURCE models, serves frail older adults and adults with physical disabilities who meet a nursing facility level of care. CCSP and SOURCE are the two service-delivery models found within EDWP, not separate waivers. SOURCE adds enhanced case management coordinated through an enrolled primary care physician. In both models, personal support can be delivered by an agency, through Structured Family Caregiving, or through self-direction.1 The practical difference: SOURCE serves people who also have chronic conditions needing active medical management, and it runs no waitlist, while CCSP operates one once its slots are full.7

ICWP serves adults 21 to 64 with severe physical disabilities, often traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, who meet a hospital or nursing facility level of care. Personal support is a core ICWP benefit and can be agency-delivered or self-directed.1

NOW and COMP serve people with an intellectual disability, or a closely related developmental disability such as autism, cerebral palsy, or epilepsy, that substantially impairs intellectual or adaptive functioning and began by age 18 (for an intellectual disability) or age 22 (for a developmental disability), and who meet an ICF-I/DD level of care.6 COMP is for people with higher support needs. Both draw from a single I/DD planning list, and nearly all of the roughly 4,900 adults on it as of September 2025 were waiting for NOW services.5

Children who do not meet NOW or COMP level of care, or who are waiting for it, may reach limited personal care through Georgia Katie Beckett (TEFRA) Medicaid combined with Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT). EPSDT requires Medicaid to cover any service that is medically necessary for a child under 21, even when it is not in the adult state plan.1

Who can be paid to provide personal care?

This is the most consequential question for most families, and Georgia's answer is uniform across every one of its Medicaid rails: a spouse, a parent of a minor child receiving the service, a legal guardian, and a conservator cannot be paid as the caregiver. That bar holds in Structured Family Caregiving, CCSP Personal Support Consumer Direction, SOURCE participant direction, ICWP self-directed personal support, and NOW and COMP Family Hire alike.7,10

If you are searching for how to get paid to care for your husband or wife in Georgia, this is the answer to absorb first: Georgia Medicaid does not pay spouses on any waiver. The spouse-pay routes open to Georgians are VA programs (the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, Veteran Directed Care, and using Aid and Attendance to pay a spouse privately) and private pay.7

Who can be paid: adult children, siblings, grandchildren, other adult relatives, and unrelated workers (with background check and training). The developmental disability waivers add one opening the others do not have: under NOW and COMP Family Hire, the parent of an adult with IDD can be paid. That is approved case by case, with documented hardship, regional review, and annual renewal, and it does not extend to a spouse. Under DBHDD participant direction, the person named as Representative for Participant Directed Services also cannot be hired as paid staff; if they want to be paid, another representative has to be named.7

One thing Georgia does not bar: holding a power of attorney for the person you care for is not, on its own, a disqualifier. If you hold POA for a parent, ask the case manager rather than assuming you are ruled out.7

There are three ways a family caregiver gets paid:

Structured Family Caregiving (CCSP and SOURCE). A live-in family caregiver (typically an adult child or other adult relative, never a spouse) receives a stipend through a state-contracted agency. In 2026 the stipend runs roughly $80 per day, about $1,987 to $2,400 per month, set by a functional assessment of how much care is needed. The caregiver typically receives 50 to 65 percent of the per-diem Medicaid pays the agency; the agency keeps the balance for nurse visits, monthly coaching, 24/7 phone support, training, and backup respite. Because the caregiver lives in the recipient's home, the payment is generally excludable from federal income tax as a difficulty-of-care payment under IRS Notice 2014-7.7

Family Hire (NOW and COMP). A parent of an adult with IDD, or another eligible adult relative, can be paid for caregiving hours. A spouse cannot. Approval is case by case, with documented hardship, regional review, and annual renewal, and the caregiver must clear a background check, a PCA exam, TB screening, and CPR and first aid. Payment runs through Public Partnerships LLC, the financial management services agent for NOW and COMP, and the IRS Notice 2014-7 exclusion typically applies for a live-in caregiver.7

Self-direction. Available in CCSP, SOURCE, ICWP, NOW, and COMP, self-direction gives the participant employer authority (recruiting, hiring, training, scheduling, supervising, and firing their own workers) and, in some cases, budget authority over an individualized service budget.4 A financial management service handles the back office, collecting timesheets, running payroll, and withholding, filing, and paying employment taxes. It does not itself provide care.11 Self-directed workers must also comply with EVV.7 Self-direction is what lets a family hire a trusted neighbor, friend, or relative instead of relying on whomever an agency assigns, which matters most in rural areas where agency capacity is thin.

A note on the agency model: a licensed home care agency employs the worker, schedules visits, and handles payroll and EVV, so the family has fewer administrative duties but less control over who shows up and when. Agency personal care is billed to the waiver at a fee-schedule rate rather than a posted hourly price, so ask the agency and your case manager what the rate is for your service code and waiver.

How Electronic Visit Verification works

Federal law requires Electronic Visit Verification for every Medicaid personal care visit. Section 12006 of the 21st Century Cures Act (2016) added Section 1903(l) of the Social Security Act, which required states to use EVV for personal care services on or after January 1, 2020 (with up to a one-year good-faith extension to 2021) and for home health care services on or after January 1, 2023, or face a step-down in federal Medicaid funding.8

Each visit must electronically capture six data elements: the type of service performed, the individual receiving the service, the date of the service, the location of service delivery, the individual providing the service, and the time the service begins and ends.8

Georgia runs EVV through a state aggregator model. The state's vendor is Netsmart Mobile Caregiver+ (formerly the Conduent/Tellus product), and under Georgia's Open Choice model a provider may instead use its own federally compliant system that integrates with the aggregator. The 2026 customer support line is 833-483-5587. Caregivers verify each visit by mobile app with GPS, by telephone from the participant's home phone, or with a fixed device in the home.7

The practical risk falls on self-directed family caregivers, who must clock in and out every visit; a missed clock-in can lead to a denied or recouped claim. The financial management service usually provides the EVV training.

How hours are set and how to appeal a cut

A standardized functional assessment sets the authorized hours. There is no single federal definition of nursing facility level of care, because each state sets its own instrument, rubric, and threshold, but the assessments look at the same general categories: how much help the person needs with ADLs, any skilled-nursing or medical needs, and cognitive or behavioral impairment.12 The result maps to authorized personal care hours, documented in a person-centered service plan that names the services, the providers, and a backup plan for caregiver absence. Level of care is re-evaluated at least annually.4

If your hours are reduced or your services are terminated, you have appeal rights under federal Medicaid law. Section 1902(a)(3) of the Social Security Act and 42 CFR 431.220 require the state to grant a fair hearing to anyone who believes the agency acted erroneously or made an adverse determination.13 In Georgia the hearing itself is held by the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH), the separate tribunal to which state agencies send hearing requests, reachable at 404-657-2800 or 1-877-809-0007.14

Timing is what decides whether your services keep running. Under 42 CFR 431.230(a), if the agency sent the required advance notice (10 days, or 5 in some cases) and you request the hearing before the date the action takes effect, it may not cut or stop your services until a decision issues. A request made after that effective date does not trigger continuation, though under 42 CFR 431.231 the agency may reinstate services if you request a hearing no more than 10 days after the date of action. If the agency's decision is ultimately upheld, it may recoup the cost of the services you received only because of the continuation.15 Request a fair hearing in writing through your care coordinator or directly to the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), and do it the day the notice arrives rather than at the deadline.

A personal care worker is non-clinical, and personal care covers help with ADLs and IADLs, including medication reminders, rather than clinical tasks.2 Whether a specific health-related task can be delegated to your worker by a nurse is a licensing question with a state-specific answer; ask your case manager or the provider agency before assuming a task is allowed.

Worked examples

These illustrations are hypothetical and show how the rules play out; they are not real individuals, and the dollar figures are estimates within the ranges above.

#1 Margaret, 78, Atlanta: CCSP with an agency caregiver

Margaret has limited mobility and moderate dementia. Her daughter works full-time and cannot provide daytime care. After calling the ADRC at 1-866-552-4464, Margaret was assessed by her Area Agency on Aging, certified for nursing facility level of care, and enrolled in CCSP with 20 hours per week of personal support.7 An agency caregiver helps with bathing, dressing, meals, and medication reminders, and clocks each visit through Mobile Caregiver+. Adult day health two days a week gives her daughter respite.

#2 Tyrell, 24, Macon: ICWP with self-direction

Tyrell sustained a traumatic brain injury and was approved for ICWP. He elected self-direction, and his older brother is his primary paid caregiver at 35 hours per week. A financial management service handles payroll, tax withholding, and workers compensation. Because they are brothers, not spouses, the relationship is allowed under ICWP. Tyrell uses his budget to also pay a background-checked neighbor for backup coverage.

#3 Aisha and Jamil, Savannah: NOW with Family Hire

Jamil, 30, has autism with significant support needs and lives with his mother, Aisha. After a multi-year wait on the planning list, the family was approved for NOW. Because Jamil is an adult, Aisha is eligible for NOW's Family Hire option, approved case by case after regional review and renewed annually, and is paid for caregiving hours. Had Jamil been a minor, or had the paid caregiver been his spouse, Family Hire would not have been available. Because Aisha lives with Jamil and the payments come through a Medicaid waiver, the difficulty-of-care exclusion under IRS Notice 2014-7 generally applies, so the payments are excludable from her federal income tax.7

#4 Diana and Lisa, Albany: SOURCE with Structured Family Caregiving

Diana, 82, has Alzheimer's disease and lives with her daughter Lisa, who left her job to provide care. Diana enrolled in SOURCE and was approved for Structured Family Caregiving. The 2026 stipend is built on a per-diem of roughly $80 per day, about $1,987 to $2,400 per month depending on assessed need; Lisa, as the live-in caregiver, receives 50 to 65 percent of it, and the contracted agency keeps the rest for the nurse visits and coaching it provides. Because Lisa lives in Diana's home, the payment is excludable from her federal income tax under IRS Notice 2014-7.7

Common pitfalls

• Assuming Medicaid alone includes personal care. In Georgia it does not. Apply for a waiver.
• Missing the planning list. Adults on Georgia's I/DD planning list had waited nearly five years on average as of September 2025. Get on it early.5
• Expecting a spouse to be paid. No Georgia Medicaid waiver pays a spouse: not CCSP, not SOURCE, not ICWP, and not NOW or COMP Family Hire. Only the VA rails and private pay do.7
• Underestimating EVV. Train a self-directed family caregiver on the app or telephone before service starts.8
• Appealing too late to keep services. File the hearing request before the reduction's effective date; a request after it does not keep your services running.15

Georgia personal care and waiver contacts:

Learn More

Find personalized help navigating Georgia Medicaid personal care services 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.