Compare your options
Can you use a CBAS day program while you wait for ALW?
Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) is a Medi-Cal daytime program at a center. ALW pays an assisted-living home for care. One is a day; the other is where you live.
They are different kinds of help, so one does not rule out the other while a person waits. Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) is a Medi-Cal daytime program for adults, with health and social services at a center, and the person goes home at the end of the day. The Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) pays a licensed assisted-living home for care where the person lives. Ask the CBAS center and your agency how the two fit. Beta ALW is a Care Coordination Agency for the ALW side.
Important: CBAS is reached through the person's Medi-Cal plan and a CBAS center; the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) describes it on its own page. ALW is reached through a Care Coordination Agency (CCA), the state-listed organization that sends the waitlist request to DHCS. Beta's ALW team is a CCA. It can't promise eligibility, an opening, a date or a room, in either program.
CBAS and ALW, side by side
The CBAS column says only what this site's glossary and the DHCS CBAS page say; ask the center and the plan for the rest. The ALW column comes from DHCS's ALW pages. "Your agency" means your CCA.
| Question | CBAS | ALW |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A Medi-Cal daytime program for adults, with health and social services at a center. It is not the same as ALW. | Medi-Cal paying a licensed assisted-living home for care, plus care coordination. |
| Who it's for | Adults with Medi-Cal who meet the program's rules; the plan and the center decide. | Adults 21 or older with full-scope Medi-Cal and no monthly share of cost. They need the level of care a nursing home gives and can live safely in an assisted-living home. |
| Where care happens | At a CBAS center, during the day. The person lives elsewhere. | In the assisted-living home where the person lives, in one of the fifteen ALW counties. The state licenses these homes as a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE) or an Adult Residential Facility (ARF). |
| Who you apply through | The person's Medi-Cal plan and a CBAS center. | A CCA, which sends the request to DHCS. |
| Is there a waitlist? | Ask the center and the plan. | Yes. DHCS keeps one master waitlist and releases openings (the state calls them slots) in priority order, when the state releases capacity. |
While you wait for ALW
The ALW wait is not something any agency can shorten. What a family can do is put a support plan in place now, and a day program is one of the things people use for that: care and company during the day, at a center, while the person lives at home. Ask the Medi-Cal plan whether CBAS is available and whether the person meets its rules. A day program does not change the person's place on the ALW waitlist. Use the waitlist readiness checklist. How the waitlist works.
After the ALW move
Whether a CBAS day program can continue once the person lives in an assisted-living home is a question for the center, the plan and your agency, because the home's care plan under ALW covers the person's daily care. Ask before the move, so nothing is assumed. What happens after an opening is offered.
Which fits when
A day program fits someone who lives at home and needs care and company during the day. ALW fits someone 21 or older who will live in an assisted-living home, or already does, and who meets the six ALW requirements. Read the six requirements. Not sure? Request a callback. See the other alternatives to ALW, including In-Home Supportive Services and MSSP.
If you're a case manager
A day program and an ALW waitlist request are separate. The request can go in while the person attends CBAS; a stay of at least 60 days in a nursing facility or other institutional setting when the request is submitted is what sets the first priority group, and a day program is not that. To refer someone, call with professional context only: your organization and role, a callback number, the person's county and setting, and the general need. Send no records.
What people ask
Does going to a CBAS center affect my place on the ALW waitlist?
No. DHCS sets the order by its priority rules, and a day program is not one of them. First priority goes to people who have been in a nursing facility or other institutional setting for at least 60 days when the request is submitted. Who gets priority.
Is CBAS the same as ALW?
No. CBAS is a daytime program at a center, and the person goes home afterwards. ALW pays the home where the person lives for care.
Where do I find a CBAS center?
Through the person's Medi-Cal plan, and on the DHCS CBAS page. Beta's ALW team does not place people in day programs.
About this informationReviewed October 26, 2026. Program details may change. View official sources and page limitations.
Written by Beta's ALW team and reviewed by Sergio B., Program Coordinator, against the official sources this page lists; facts checked through October 26, 2026. Where this page and an official source differ, the source controls.
This page gives general California ALW information. DHCS decides eligibility after the nurse assessment and releases openings. Each home decides its own admissions. Nothing here is an eligibility decision or a promise of enrollment, and it does not guarantee a place in a home. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency listed by DHCS and any participating home.
Something out of date? Tell Beta's ALW team.