Georgia CCSP Waiver: How to Apply and What to Expect

Your parent needs daily help with bathing, meals, and medication management — but they don't need (or want) a nursing home. Georgia's CCSP and SOURCE Medicaid waivers fund exactly this gap: home- and community-based services that keep aging parents in their own homes while paying for the care they need.

The catch? Capped waiver slots mean waitlists that stretch months to years. Knowing how the system works — and how to trigger priority placement — can mean the difference between home care next month and home care next year.

CCSP vs. SOURCE: Two Paths, Same Goal

Georgia runs two primary waivers for elderly adults under the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (Section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act):

Community Care Services Program (CCSP) — Georgia's largest home-based waiver. It operates as a traditional fee-for-service program managed through the 12 Area Agencies on Aging (AAA). Your parent keeps their existing doctors. The downside: CCSP maintains the longest waitlist, with metro Atlanta counties often running several months to multiple years.

SOURCE (Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment) — A hybrid program combining managed care with waiver services. Your parent must choose a primary care physician from a contracted SOURCE site, which then acts as a medical home. The tradeoff for less physician choice: SOURCE typically has shorter waitlists because sites receive monthly capitation payments that incentivize faster enrollment.

Both waivers cover the same core services: personal care, respite, home-delivered meals, adult day health, home modifications, and Structured Family Caregiving.

Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for either waiver, your parent must meet both financial and functional criteria:

Financial: Same thresholds as nursing facility Medicaid — gross monthly income under $2,982 (the 2026 Special Income Limit) and countable assets under $2,000. If income exceeds the cap, a Miller Trust must be established first. There is no spend-down option.

Functional (Nursing Facility Level of Care): Your parent must demonstrate significant impairment in at least two Activities of Daily Living (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, mobility), OR severe cognitive impairment requiring continuous supervision, OR a combination that would otherwise require nursing home placement.

How to Apply: Step by Step

Step 1: Contact Empowerline or your local ADRC. Call the Aging and Disability Resource Connection at 1-866-552-4464 (Empowerline). They conduct an initial screening and connect you with your regional AAA.

Step 2: Schedule the functional assessment. An AAA registered nurse or case manager conducts a 2-to-3-hour in-home evaluation using a standardized DCH assessment instrument. They evaluate ADLs, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (meal prep, housekeeping, finances, medication management), cognitive status (memory, orientation, decision-making), and medical complexity.

Step 3: Submit the Medicaid application. File through Georgia Gateway (the state DFCS portal) using Form 700 and Form 700-A. You'll need 60 months of bank statements plus proof of gross monthly income. Filing fee: $0.

Step 4: Wait for approval. Standard processing takes 45-90 days. If your parent meets nursing facility level of care but slots are full, they go on the waitlist.

Waitlist Priorities (and How to Get Bumped Up)

Placement on the waitlist depends on the applicant's category of need:

Crisis Priority (bypass the queue): Applicants at imminent risk of nursing facility placement, those facing caregiver abandonment or death, or victims of abuse/neglect. Crisis cases can begin services within weeks.

High Priority: Multiple unmet ADL needs with an overwhelmed but functioning primary caregiver.

Standard Priority: Stable, moderate care needs.

If your parent is on standard priority but their situation deteriorates — say their primary caregiver (you) develops a health issue or can no longer provide daily support — contact the AAA immediately to request a priority reassessment. A hospital discharge directly to home with no caregiver available often triggers crisis classification.

Getting Paid to Care for Your Parent: Structured Family Caregiving

Once your parent is enrolled in CCSP or SOURCE, Structured Family Caregiving (SFC) lets a live-in family member receive a tax-free stipend for providing daily care. This is the closest Georgia gets to a "paid family caregiver" program.

How much does it pay? Approximately $80 per day — ranging from $1,987 to $2,400 per month depending on your parent's assessed care tier. The stipend is paid through a state-contracted SFC provider agency (Careforth, Passion to Care, or similar).

Who qualifies as the caregiver? Adult children, siblings, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and in-laws are all eligible. The caregiver and parent must share a household. The caregiver cannot be the participant's spouse, a parent of a minor participant, or a court-appointed legal guardian or conservator.

Tax treatment: Because the caregiver shares a household with the care recipient, SFC stipends qualify as "difficulty-of-care" payments under IRS Notice 2014-7 and IRC § 131(c). They are completely exempt from federal income tax. The provider agency reports them as non-taxable wages on Form W-2.

Cost to the family: $0. Most waiver participants pay a monthly cost share of $0-$50 based on income.

The Legal Authority Requirement

Here's where families get stuck: applying for the waiver, establishing a Miller Trust (if needed), and enrolling in SFC all require someone with legal authority to act on your parent's behalf. If your parent still has cognitive capacity, they can sign these applications themselves or execute a durable power of attorney designating you as their agent.

If capacity is already lost and no POA exists, you'll need a conservatorship through probate court before you can do any of this — a 4-6 week process that delays waiver enrollment and forces private-pay costs in the interim.

The Georgia Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit covers both the voluntary planning path and the probate process, including the specific POA language needed to establish a Miller Trust and enroll in waiver programs on your parent's behalf.

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