What is the Community Care Program?

The Community Care Program (CCP) is a government-funded program. It provides services to older adults to prevent them from having to go into a nursing home.

Who may be eligible? 

You are eligible for CCP if you:

• Are age 60 or older,
• Are a citizen, permanent resident, or are permanently residing in the United States under color of law. (For example, refugees or persons seeking political asylum), 
• Have monthly income and assets below a certain amount, and
• Need the services to prevent you from having to go into a nursing home.

Services

Case management services

If you are considering long-term care, you can meet with a case manager. You will discuss what kinds of daily activities you can do on your own and those that require help. The case manager can identify services that could help you continue living in your own home or community.  

Example: If you are recovering from a stroke, you may need home-delivered meals or transportation service. You may also need a homemaker to help with medications and household chores.

Case managers are based in local agencies often referred to as “Case Coordination Units." To locate them in your community, contact your local Area Agency on Aging or Senior Helpline. You can also see the list online at the Illinois Department of Aging's Website.

Homemaker service

A homemaker will come to your home to help you with daily tasks. Your case manager may help to develop the service plan. 

Services may include:

• Meal planning and cooking, including special diets,
• Routine housekeeping and cleaning,
• Shopping and errands,
• Personal care such as bathing, shaving, and dressing,
• Laundry,
• Reminding you and helping you to take medications, and
• Going with you to the doctor or store.

Adult day service

Adult Day Service is provided at a specific place in or near your community. Services are provided according to a plan that you and your case manager develop. The service provider will arrange for transportation for you to its site and back to your home.

Required services include:

• Activities designed to help maintain your best overall level of functioning. 
• Time for rest and relaxation,
• Assistance with walking, eating, going to the toilet and personal care,
• Helping you with your medications, 
• Helping with other health-related services appropriate to your needs,
• Preparing a daily meal, and
• Emergency care.

Optional services include:

• Physical, occupational, speech or art therapy,
• Services provided by a licensed nurse such as skilled nursing care, catheter care, dressings, enemas, oxygen therapy and ostomy care,
• Shopping assistance, and
• Going with you to doctor and other appointments.

To locate an Adult Day service in your area, see Illinois Department of Aging's Website.

Senior companion program

The Senior Companion Program provides services to CCP clients who need additional social supports. You pay no cost.

Services may include:

• Providing companionship in social interactions,
• Peer counseling,
• Fostering client contact with family and friends,
• Helping you to apply for public services, and
• Addressing your unmet needs.

For more information or to locate a Senior Companion Program near you, contact the Senior Corps Website. You may also contact your local Area Agency on Aging or the Illinois Department on Aging Senior Helpline.

Demonstration/research projects 

If your local agency is administering special projects designed to improve the CCP, you may be eligible to participate in them.

Where to Apply

The Illinois Department on Aging funds local agencies to help you apply for the program. To find out an agency near you that administers the CCP, call the toll-free Illinois Department on Aging's Senior Helpline at (800) 252-8966; (888) 206-1327 (TTY).

What the Local Agency Will do

The agency will determine whether you qualify for the services. Then, they will help develop a service plan based on you and your family's needs.

The CCP is available to you if you are over 60 years of age and are a citizen or permanently reside in the U.S.

The agency will also look at:

• Your income and assets level, and
• Your need for services.

Your Income and Assets Level

Depending on the level of your income or assets, you may

• Receive CCP services for free, 
• Have to pay some of the cost, or 
• Not be able to receive the services at all.

Income

If your monthly income (and that of your spouse, if your spouse lives with you) is below the federal poverty level, CCP services will be free. If your income is above the poverty level, your contribution is determined by:

• The level of services you receive,
• Their cost, and
• CCP fee schedules.

Certain income is not counted in determining this. There are too many exceptions to list here.

Married couples who live together should be aware that the CCP rules allow the spouse receiving CCP services to transfer income up to a certain level to the other spouse. This works just as if the spouse receiving CCP services were residing in a nursing home. For more information on this, click here. 

Assets

If the value of your non-exempt property and assets exceed $17,500, you will not be eligible for the CCP.

Not all of your assets are counted toward this limit. Exempt assets include:

• Home and its furnishings
• Personal clothing and effects,
• Cars (not including recreational vehicles) and
• A prepaid burial plan along with burial plots and markers.

The CCP rules allow the spouse is receiving CCP services to transfer assets up to a certain level to the other spouse, just as if the spouse receiving CCP services were residing in a nursing home.

The Determination of Need

CCP agencies will use a form called the Determination of Need (DON) to evaluate if you need CCP services.

The DON will measure

• Whether your mental functioning is declining,
• Your need for assistance in the performance of activities of daily living, and 
• The extent to which your need is unmet from sources other than the CCP.

At the end of the evaluation, your scores are added up. The higher your score, the greater the unmet need. You must have a minimum score of 29 to qualify for the CCP. Above the minimum score, the higher your score, the more services you are eligible to receive.

The agency will visit you in your home to perform the DON. The DON and proof of your income and assets are required for your application. 

The agency will give you a decision within 30 days. Once enrolled, you have to report to the local agency any change in your situation, including your income and assets.

How to [no-lexicon] appeal denials, terminations, or other aspects of services

The right to appeal

You have the right to appeal if: 

• Your application for CCP services is denied, or
• You disagree with a decision to reduce, terminate or in any way change the CCP services or the manner in which those services are provided (excluding suspension).

The local agency must give you a pamphlet explaining appeal procedures during your initial home visit. You must appeal within 60 days of the decision with which you disagree. You should appeal directly to the Illinois Department on Aging in Springfield by contacting the Senior Helpline, filling out a form they will provide at your request and mail to the following address:

Illinois Department on Aging
Division of Home & Community Services
Office of Community Care Services
Client Appeals Section
421 East Capitol Ave., #100
Springfield, IL 62701-1789

The appeal procedure

Once the Department on Aging receives your appeal, it will review the issues informally and notify you of its findings. If it makes no changes to the local agency's decision, you will be given a hearing before an impartial hearing officer selected by the Department. At the hearing, you have the right to be represented by a lawyer or other person and to present evidence in support of your appeal.

After the hearing is over, the hearing officer will make recommendations to the Director of the Department on Aging on how to decide the issues in the appeal. Within 90 days after the hearing, the Department on Aging will send you its final decision.

If you disagree with the Department on Aging's final decision, you may file a lawsuit in the Illinois Circuit Court. You would ask the court for review of the agency's final decision. There is a strict 35-day time limit after the date of the decision to file such lawsuit. Be sure to consult a lawyer right away after receiving the agency's decision.  There are other requirements about who must be included as a defendant.

Where to go for more information

Statutes and regulations

• The CCP is part of the Illinois Act on Aging, found at 20 ILCS 105/4.02.
• The regulations implementing the Community Care Program are found at Title 89 Ill.Admin.Code 240.

Senior helpline and website

The Senior Helpline
(800) 252-8966 (Voice) (888) 206-1327 (TTY)
This hotline provides information on programs and services for seniors. It links those 60 and older and their caregivers to local services. Professional staff briefly assess needs and send literature and written referrals for a range of services. These include case management, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, legal services, transportation, employment, and nutrition services. They also do elder abuse intake and accept appeals and service inquiries from the Community Care Program clients.

The Illinois Department on Aging's website