ALW guide
Video and phone visits in ALW: what's allowed, and what you can ask for
Some ALW care-coordination visits can be by video or phone when you choose. Which visits state policy allows, what they cannot replace, how to ask.
Some Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) care-coordination visits can happen by telehealth. Telehealth means a video or phone visit instead of an in-person one. State policy allows it for three services, including your monthly visit. It happens only when you choose it and it is right for your care. You can ask for an in-person visit instead.
Important: Video and phone visits can't replace hands-on care, or anything that needs someone to see how the person is actually doing. They also don't change eligibility, waitlist priority, paperwork requirements or how fast an application moves, and they don't make an unsafe setting safe.
Which visits can be by video or phone
ALW Policy Letter 24-001, dated January 23, 2024, allows three services by video or phone:
- care coordination, which includes your monthly visit
- care-plan development and follow-up
- nursing-home transition coordination
Hands-on care, such as help with bathing or medications, happens in person at the home. Your care coordinator checks what applies to your visit against the current policy.
It's your choice
The policy makes a video or phone visit your choice. Before the first one, your coordinator must explain the option and ask for your consent. Your consent is recorded for each visit. Tell your coordinator if you prefer in person.
Telehealth must not replace direct care that can only be given in person. So your coordinator may decide a visit has to be in person for your health or safety, and must write down why.
What you can ask for
- A private space. The policy requires your privacy to be protected.
- A family member or another person you choose on the call.
- Help with the technology. If you can't use a device even with help, the visit happens in person.
If you can't or would rather not use a device, every ALW visit can be in person instead.
Agency and facility staff: what you do during a video or phone visit is on the facility operations page.
Enrolled with Beta and want to change how your visits happen? Call (747) 293-5777 and ask for your care coordinator, or request a callback.
About this informationReviewed August 27, 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 August 27, 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.