Health & Benefits

The Community Care Program (CCP) is a government-funded program run by the Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA). It provides services to older adults to help them stay in the community and prevent them from having to go into a nursing home or long-term care facility.

To be eligible for the CCP, a person must:

• Be age 60 or older,
• Be a US citizen, lawful permanent resident (LPR or green card holder), or other non-citizen within specific categories,
• Be an Illinois resident,
• Have monthly income and assets Anything a person owns that has financial value below a certain amount,
• Need CCP services to prevent them from having to go into a nursing home, and
• Apply for Medicaid and if eligible, enroll in Medicaid.

Case management services

CCP case managers are a great resource to help people identify services that may enable them to continue to live in their own home or community. With a case manager, they will discuss what kinds of daily activities they can do on their own and those that require help. The case manager can then connect them with the relevant support services. 

For example, if someone is recovering from a stroke, they may need home-delivered meals or transportation services. They may also need a homemaker to help with medications and household chores. A CCP case manager can help set these services up and ensure they will be taken care of while remaining in the comfort of their own home. 

Case managers are based in local agencies often referred to as “Care Coordination Units." To locate them in your community, contact your local Area Agency on Aging or Senior Helpline at (800) 252-8966.

In-Home Services

A homemaker or Home Care Aide will come to a person’s home to help them with daily tasks. The case manager may help to develop the service plan based on a person’s needs. 

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 and helping someone take medications, and
• Going with them to the doctor or store.

Adult Day Service

Adult Any person 18 years old or over Day Service is designed for older adults who want to remain in the community but who cannot be home alone during the day due to impairment. Services are provided at adult day service centers according to a plan that developed with a case manager. The service provider arranges transportation for a person to its site and back to their home.

Required services include:

• Activities designed to help maintain their best overall level of functioning. This includes arts and crafts, learning new hobbies, and outings,
• Socializing and making intergenerational friendships,
• Assistance with walking, eating, and personal care,
• Helping with medications,
• Helping with other health-related services appropriate to a person’s needs,
• Nutritious meals and snacks, or
• Going with a person to the doctor and other appointments.

Optional services for those with certain impairments:

• Physical, occupational, speech or art therapy,
• Lavatory assistance, and
• Services provided by a licensed nurse. This can include skilled nursing care, catheter care, dressings, enemas, oxygen therapy, and ostomy care.

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

Senior companion program

Some Illinois counties also have a Senior Companion Program. This program provides supporting companionship services to older adults at no cost.

Services may include:

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

Learn more about the Senior Companion program.

The Illinois Department on Aging funds local agencies to help people apply for the program. People interested in applying can call the toll-free Illinois Department on Aging's Senior Helpline at (800) 252-8966; (888) 206-1327 (TTY). They will be able to help them find an agency to help with applying or benefits. The local agency will determine whether some meets the requirements for CCP, including a person’s need for services and their income and asset levels.

Agencies use a form called the Determination of Need (DON) to evaluate if someone needs CCP services.

The DON measures:

• Whether a person’s mental functioning is declining,
• They need for assistance in the performance of activities of daily living, and
• The extent to which their need is unmet from sources other than the CCP.

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

The agency will visit people in their home to perform the DON. The DON and proof of income and assets Anything a person owns that has financial value are required for an application. 

The agency will make a decision within 30 days. Once someone is enrolled in CCP services, they have to report to the local agency any change to their situation. This includes changes to their income and assets.

If a person's monthly income (and their spouse’s if they live together) is below the federal poverty level, CCP services will be free. If their income is above the poverty level, cost of CCP services is determined by:

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

Certain income is not counted in determining this. There are too many exceptions to list here, but a CCP representative can provide more detailed information.

If the value of a person’s non-exempt property and assets Anything a person owns that has financial value exceed $17,500, they will not be eligible for the CCP.

Not all assets are counted toward this limit. Assets that don’t count include:

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

Married couples living together should know that the CCP rules allow CCP rules allow someone receiving CCP services to transfer income or assets up to a certain level to the their spouse. This works just as if the spouse receiving CCP services were residing in a nursing home. Learn more about the Community spouse rules for Medicaid.

Yes, people have the right to appeal a decision if:

• Their application for CCP services is denied, or
• They disagree with a decision to reduce, terminate, or change CCP services or the manner in which those services are provided. This does not include the suspension A temporary stop of a law of benefits.

The local agency must provide a pamphlet explaining appeal procedures during their initial home visit.

The appeal must be filed within 60 days of the date of the written decision. If a person appeals within 60 days, CCP services will continue at the same level during the appeal, except in certain situations. 

Appeals are made directly to the Illinois Department on Aging in Springfield. A person can fill out an appeal form and mail to the following address:

Appeals Section
Illinois Department on Aging
One Natural Resources Way, Suite 100
Springfield, IL 62702-1271

Or email it so [email protected]. 

A person can also call the Senior Hotline to receive a copy of the appeal form.

Once the IDoA receives an appeal, A request to change a court's decision it will review the issues informally and notify the person appealing of its findings. If it makes no changes to the local agency's decision, they will be given a hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer before an impartial hearing officer selected by the IDoA. At the hearing, people have the right to be represented by a lawyer Someone who represents clients in courts or who gives legal advice or other person and to present evidence Anything used to show that something is true in support of their 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 IDoA will send its final decision.

If a person disagrees with the IDoA final decision, they may file a lawsuit in the Illinois Circuit Court. The lowest level of court in Illinois The lawsuit is called a Complaint A written statement to start a lawsuit that says what the defendant did for Administrative Review. A person is asking 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 a lawsuit and have the summons A notice to a defendant that a lawsuit against them was filed in a court and that the defendant has to show up in court issued. 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. The person or organization being sued in a lawsuit

The Senior Helpline 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 The screening process children who are arrested go through before seeing a judge. Intake procedures are often conducted by intake officers, probation staff, case and social workers, or police. and accept appeals and service inquiries from the Community Care Program clients.

Call the Senior Helpline at (800) 252-8966 (Voice) (888) 206-1327 (TTY).
Learn more about the CCP on the Illinois Department on Aging's website.