If you were told to wait for Medicaid home care, that may have been about the wrong program.
📞 (443) 402-1039If you have been told there is a waiting list for Medicaid home care in Maryland, that is only half true.
Maryland runs two main programs for in-home personal care. One of them has a waiting list. The other does not.
Community First Choice (CFC) is an entitlement. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you receive services — there is no slot to wait for and no registry to sit on. The Community Options Waiver is the one with the registry, and that wait can run for years.
Families hear “waiting list,” assume it applies to everything, and stop asking. If that happened to you, it is worth a second conversation. CFC covers the personal care most families are actually looking for: bathing, dressing, toileting, mobility, meals, and supervision at home.
The two programs overlap, but the difference in how you get in is the part that matters.
| Community First Choice (CFC) | Community Options Waiver | |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting list | None. CFC is an entitlement — qualify and services can begin. | Yes. A registry with a wait that can run for years. |
| How you get in | Apply and complete the assessment. | Join the registry and wait to be invited to apply. |
| Personal care | Covered — bathing, dressing, toileting, mobility, meals, supervision. | Covered. Waiver participants also receive CFC services. |
| Additional supports | Core personal care and related supports. | Adds services beyond CFC. |
| Assisted living | Delivered where you live in the community. | Can be used in assisted living, but does not pay room and board. |
| Level of care | Determined by the health department nurse assessment. | Nursing-home level of care. |
| Where to start | Maryland Access Point — 844-627-5465 | |
Short version: if you are waiting on the waiver for help with bathing and dressing, ask about CFC.
If the person is currently in a nursing facility and Medicaid has paid for at least 30 days of that stay, they may be able to apply for the Community Options Waiver without going through the registry.
This is the single most useful thing a discharge planner or family can know, and it is routinely missed. It turns a multi-year wait into an application.
What to do: ask the facility's social worker for a referral to an options counselor, and call Maryland Access Point at 844-627-5465. If you are working a discharge right now, call us at (443) 402-1039 — we do this weekly. Discharge teams can also use our resources for discharge planners.
Call 844-627-5465, or apply for Maryland Medicaid first if not already enrolled. MAP is the state's single entry point for long-term services and supports.
A nurse from your local health department visits and evaluates what help is needed day to day.
It establishes whether you qualify and builds the plan of care, including how many hours are authorized. Hours are set by the assessment, not by request.
They coordinate services on your behalf and stay involved as needs change.
This choice is yours, not the state's. If you want Rising Star, you can say so at this step.
The most common place families stall is between steps one and two. If you have called and heard nothing, call again — and call us at (443) 402-1039.
CFC is built around the tasks that decide whether someone can stay in their own home safely. In practice that means:
Waiver participants also receive CFC services, so you do not need the waiver to get personal care. Learn more about how this works day to day on our personal care and dementia care pages.
Three things have to line up: clinical need, financial eligibility, and Maryland residency.
This is established through the in-person nurse assessment described above, not by a form you fill out. The assessment looks at what help you need with daily activities and how much supervision is required. Do not rule yourself out based on how the need sounds on paper — the assessment is what counts.
CFC uses Medicaid's long-term care financial rules, which are more generous than standard Medicaid. Two things families consistently get wrong:
The specific income, asset, and spousal figures change every January. Rather than publish numbers that go stale, we point you to the source: call Maryland Access Point at 844-627-5465 or your local Department of Social Services for the current year's limits.
The person receiving care must be a Maryland resident and enrolled in Maryland Medicaid, or eligible to enroll.
Rising Star provides Medicaid-accepted personal care across three counties. If you qualify for CFC, you choose your provider agency — and you can choose us.
Bel Air, Aberdeen, Abingdon, Edgewood, Havre de Grace, Forest Hill, Fallston, Joppatowne and surrounding communities.
Elkton, North East, Perryville, Chesapeake City, Rising Sun and the surrounding area.
Dundalk, Essex, Middle River, Perry Hall, White Marsh, Parkville, Rosedale, Overlea and Nottingham.
Program rules and financial limits change annually. Verify current figures with Maryland Access Point (844-627-5465) or your local Department of Social Services. This page is general information, not legal or benefits advice.