McGregor PACE Ohio: Locations, Eligibility, and How It Works

If your parent qualifies for both Medicare and Medicaid and lives in one of a handful of Ohio counties, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) may be the most comprehensive care option available — and one of the least understood. McGregor PACE is currently the sole operational PACE provider in Ohio, running five sites that bundle every medical, social, and long-term care service your parent needs into one coordinated program.

What PACE Actually Covers

PACE is fundamentally different from traditional Medicaid waivers. Instead of managing a patchwork of separate providers, PACE operates as a single entity that delivers all services — primary care physicians, specialist referrals, prescription drugs, adult day care, home health aides, physical therapy, social work, meals, transportation, and even hospital and nursing facility care when needed. Your parent gets assigned an interdisciplinary care team that coordinates everything.

The critical advantage for families managing dementia: PACE absorbs the financial risk. There are no copays, no deductibles, and no prior authorization battles for covered services. If your parent needs 24/7 home care one month and adult day care the next, the PACE team adjusts without you filing new paperwork.

Eligibility Requirements

Your parent must meet all of the following:

• Age 55 or older (not 65 — PACE has a lower threshold than many families expect)
• Certified as needing a nursing facility level of care by the state assessment
• Live in a PACE-served county (see below)
• Able to live safely in the community at the time of enrollment (PACE is designed to keep people out of nursing homes, not admit people already in them)

For dual-eligible individuals (both Medicare and Medicaid), PACE is free. For Medicare-only enrollees, there's a monthly premium equivalent to the Medicaid cost share — but this is rare since most PACE participants are dual-eligible.

Active McGregor PACE Locations (July 2026)

McGregor PACE currently operates in these counties through five sites:

• Cuyahoga County — Warrensville Heights, Cleveland Heights, and Brooklyn locations
• Summit County — Akron location
• Lorain County — served from the Cuyahoga network

Two additional counties are approved for 2026 expansion:

• Montgomery County — BoldAge PACE, launching July 2026
• Lucas County — BoldAge PACE, launching December 2026

The Ohio Department of Aging is mandated to issue a request for proposals by December 31, 2026, to expand PACE into all remaining Ohio counties — but that expansion is still years away from actual enrollment capacity.

PACE vs. MyCare Ohio: Which Path

If your parent is dual-eligible and lives in a PACE county, you have a choice between PACE and the Next Generation MyCare Ohio managed care plan (Anthem, CareSource, or Molina). The key differences:

PACE bundles everything under one roof with a dedicated care team. You lose the ability to choose your own specialists or primary care doctor — your parent must use PACE physicians. The tradeoff is total care coordination with zero administrative burden.

MyCare Ohio preserves more provider choice. Your parent keeps their existing doctors (if they're in-network) and receives home care coordination through the managed care plan's case managers. But you're responsible for navigating prior authorizations and potential service denials.

For parents with advanced dementia who need intensive, multi-service coordination, PACE typically produces better outcomes. For parents with early-stage cognitive decline who have established physician relationships they want to keep, MyCare may be the better fit.

The County Availability Problem

The biggest limitation of PACE in Ohio is geography. If your parent lives outside Cuyahoga, Summit, Lorain, Montgomery, or Lucas counties, PACE simply isn't available yet. The 2026 RFP mandate means expansion is coming, but no timeline for statewide coverage exists.

If PACE isn't available in your county, the Ohio Dementia & Memory Care Guide walks you through the MyCare Ohio enrollment process, PASSPORT waiver eligibility, and Assisted Living Waiver options — plus a county-by-county rollout tracker showing when each program becomes available in your area.

See more Ohio guides →