Assisted Living Waiver in Santa Clara County

The Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) runs in Santa Clara County. ALW is a Medi-Cal program that pays an assisted-living home for your family member's care. It does not pay for room and board (the room and meals). Beta's ALW team coordinates ALW care in all fifteen ALW counties, including this one.

Check whether ALW may fit

Beta's ALW service in Santa Clara County

Beta is listed by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) as a participating Care Coordination Agency under the name Beta Hospice Care. Beta's ALW care coordination is separate from any hospice service.

Beta coordinates ALW care anywhere in the county. Where your family member lives affects which homes are practical to visit. If they live outside the county today, you can still start: to enroll, a person only has to be willing to live in an ALW county.

The homes themselves are on a separate page: Medi-Cal assisted living and board-and-care homes in Santa Clara County lists every home in the county on the state's ALW list with an open licence, by city. A listing is not an open bed.

Important: Beta can send the waitlist request and do the nurse assessment. It writes the care plan (the Individualized Service Plan, or ISP) and visits monthly after enrollment. Beta cannot decide eligibility, release an opening or get a home to admit someone. DHCS decides eligibility and keeps the one waitlist. Each home decides its own admissions.

Santa Clara County at a glance, October 2026

ALW care coordination agencies serving Santa Clara County

A Care Coordination Agency (CCA) sends the waitlist request, does the nurse assessment and writes the care plan. You may choose any agency DHCS lists for your county. Every agency sends requests to the same DHCS waitlist, so the agency you choose does not change your place on it. DHCS lists 12 agencies for Santa Clara County (list read October 20, 2026): AARP Care Coordination Agency, Access to Health Initiative, All Hours Adult Care, Central Coast Healthcare Services, I Care Hospice, Institute on Aging, Libertana of the Bay Area, New Horizons CCA, Star Nursing, The Caring Connection, True Care Home Health, Vigilans Home Health Services.

Phone numbers, the counties each one serves and the DHCS note are on the Santa Clara County agency page. The full statewide list shows every county each agency serves.

Official Santa Clara County resources

The county offices behind Medi-Cal and aging services:

The county Medi-Cal office handles Medi-Cal only. The ALW steps are the agency's job. Read what a Care Coordination Agency does.

Where to look for a home in Santa Clara County

Before you look at any home, decide how far is too far. Think of the people who will visit, and of trips to the doctor and pharmacy. Then search that part of the county.

Ask each home:

• Can staff talk with your family member in the language they prefer?
• How do residents get to appointments?
• Can the home meet the care needs the nurse assessment finds?
• What does it charge for room and board?

Beta's directory shows the Santa Clara County homes on the state's ALW list, checked on the date shown. A listing is not an open bed, and it does not say whether a home will accept your family member or can meet their needs. How to choose a home gives the questions to ask on a visit.

Cities with one or two homes: Mountain View, San Jose, Saratoga, Sunnyvale; they are on the county list.

See Santa Clara County homes on the state list

How to start

Nothing needs to be ready for the first step. The first four steps are:

1. Find out whether ALW may fit. Take the fit check. The eligibility page has the full rules, including full-scope Medi-Cal with no monthly share of cost.
2. Choose a Care Coordination Agency. You may choose any agency listed by DHCS. Beta is one of them.
3. Ask to be added to the state's waitlist. Your agency sends the request to DHCS. Tell the agency if your family member has been in a nursing facility or other institutional setting for at least 60 days when the waitlist request is submitted. Current DHCS policy gives that group first priority.
4. Wait, and stay ready. Keep Medi-Cal active, keep your contact details current and tell your agency about any change. How the waitlist works explains what happens next.

All ten steps are on the application process page.

What no one can promise

No one, including Beta, can tell you how long the wait will be. Openings go out in priority order, when the state releases capacity. An opening (the state calls it a slot) is not a bed. Beta's part is to help you prepare and to do its agency work when an opening is released.

If you're referring a patient or client

Call Beta's ALW team at (747) 293-5777. Give your organization, your role, a callback number, the person's setting and county, and the general need. Do not send patient details by email. The referral checklist says what to have ready. Refer a patient or client takes your own details, and a coordinator calls you back.

The fit check

Start with the fit check. It asks about the six ALW requirements and saves nothing you enter.

Check whether ALW may fit

Questions about ALW in Santa Clara County

Does Beta cover Santa Clara County?

Yes. Beta coordinates care in all fifteen counties where the Assisted Living Waiver operates, Santa Clara County among them. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency on the DHCS list and any participating home; DHCS decides eligibility and releases openings. How to choose an agency.

How long is the ALW waitlist in Santa Clara County?

DHCS keeps one statewide list and does not publish a count for Santa Clara County. At a Senate budget hearing on August 12, 2026, DHCS said the average time to enrollment was 11 to 12 months for people leaving a nursing facility or other institution and 3 to 4 months for Adult Protective Services or Long-Term Care Ombudsman referrals; it gave no average for people applying from home. How the waitlist works.

Which Santa Clara County cities have homes on the state's list?

The county directory lists every home on the DHCS list by city, with the date the list was checked. A listing is not an open bed. Homes on the state's list in Santa Clara County.

Not in Santa Clara County, and not in one of the fifteen ALW counties? What exists instead.