The short answer: CARES is the free assessment Florida uses to decide whether someone needs the level of care a nursing home provides. You need that decision to get Medicaid to pay for a nursing home, to join Medicaid's long-term care program for care at home or in assisted living, or to join PACE. A CARES nurse or assessor meets with the person, reviews their health and daily needs, and recommends the least restrictive setting that fits. (Source: Florida Department of Elder Affairs.)
Who Needs a CARES Assessment?
- Medicaid nursing home coverage (the Institutional Care Program). (Source: Elder Affairs.)
- Medicaid long-term care for help at home, in adult day care or in assisted living. Applicants must be 65 or older, or 18 or older with a disability, and be found by CARES to need nursing-home level care. (Source: Elder Affairs.) See our Medicaid long-term care guide.
- PACE, the all-in-one program for people 55 and older. Elder Affairs decides whether PACE applicants meet the nursing-home level of care. See PACE in Florida.
Under state law, CARES assigns the level of care used to make sure only people whose conditions require long-term care are enrolled in Medicaid's long-term care program. (Source: Florida Statute 409.985.)
How CARES Fits With the Waitlist
- Phone screening by the Aging and Disability Resource Center. For Medicaid long-term care at home or in assisted living, you first call the Elder Helpline at 1-800-963-5337. The screening takes about 45 minutes to an hour and gives you a priority score for the waitlist. (Source: AHCA.)
- Release from the waitlist, based on priority and available space, not time waiting.
- CARES assessment. A CARES nurse or assessor does a face-to-face assessment to decide medical eligibility. Elder Affairs uses its 701B Comprehensive Assessment for people being referred to care in the community; the waitlist screening uses a shorter phone form, the 701S. (Source: Elder Affairs 701B instructions.)
- Financial eligibility is decided separately by the Department of Children and Families.
People entering a Medicaid nursing home go through CARES without the community waitlist. They may also need a separate federal screening, called PASRR, that checks for serious mental illness or intellectual disability. (Source: AHCA.)
Preparing for the Assessment
- Have a list of diagnoses, medicines and doctors, and any recent hospital discharge papers.
- Ask a family member or caregiver who knows the person's daily needs to be there.
- Describe a typical bad day honestly: help needed with bathing, dressing, eating, using the toilet, moving around, medicines and memory.
- Mention falls, wandering, hospital stays and changes since the last screening.
CARES Field Offices
Florida has 17 CARES field offices. (Source: Elder Affairs CARES directory.) Each county page also shows its office.