For professionals
Refer a patient for ALW, and know what happens next.
How to refer a patient or client to California's Assisted Living Waiver: the quick fit check, what to send securely, and what Beta's ALW team does next.
Your patient may fit California's Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) if they are 21 or older, have full-scope Medi-Cal with no share of cost, need nursing-facility level of care and would do better in assisted living. You don't need a complete chart to refer. Send the basics through the secure referral form and Beta's ALW team will contact you about what was received and what comes next.
Beta can help with: screening the referral and explaining current policy; documenting the waitlist request with the state; contacting the patient or representative; coordinating the assessment, care plan, facility search and enrollment paperwork once a slot is released; and telling you where the referral stands, within privacy and authorization limits.
Beta cannot control: eligibility decisions, the waitlist, when the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) releases a slot, whether a facility admits the person, or your patient's discharge date. Beta is a Care Coordination Agency (CCA), the state-listed organization that does the ALW paperwork and care planning with the applicant, not the state.
Quick fit check
A referral is worth making when most of nine questions are "yes" or "possibly": age, Medi-Cal, share of cost, level of care, preference for assisted living, safety in that setting, county, ability to take part, and realistic expectations. A fit check is not an eligibility decision.
Pick your lane
Hospital or SNF
Your patient is in an institutional setting. Exact admission dates matter for waitlist priority, and ALW will not solve a discharge date, keep your safe discharge plan running in parallel.
Hospital and SNF Referral Workflow
Community, clinic or agency
Your client lives at home and their needs are outrunning what family, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) or other supports can cover. Most community applicants wait a long time, so the referral works as two tracks: waitlist now, safe plan meanwhile.
Community and Social-Service Referrals
Already living in an RCFE or ARF
A current resident of an assisted-living home (licensed as an RCFE or ARF) may meet ALW requirements if the home takes ALW. Living there does not enroll anyone automatically.
Read the Existing RCFE Resident Guide
What to send
Enough to identify the person, their current setting (with the admission date if institutional), their Medi-Cal status, a three-line care summary, and how to reach you. The checklist lists the rest, and Beta's ALW team will tell you which official forms and records come next.
Sending records safely
The secure referral form is the easiest way to send anything sensitive, it keeps Social Security numbers, Medi-Cal identifiers, medication records and full charts out of ordinary email. If you need to send more records later, Beta's ALW team will give you a secure way to do it. In an emergency, call 911.
The waitlist, briefly
DHCS keeps the master ALW waitlist and controls slot release. Under current policy, people in an institutional setting and people with documented imminent need are prioritized ahead of general community applicants. No CCA can promise a slot or a waiting time, and a waiver slot is not the same thing as an available bed.
For discharge planning: don't hold an unsafe discharge on a predicted ALW timeline, record institutional dates exactly, keep the applicant reachable, and prepare records early.
Read the Professional Waitlist Explanation
What happens after you refer
- Beta receives the secure referral.
- Beta reviews what was sent and asks for anything missing.
- Beta contacts the applicant or their authorized representative, ALW is the patient's application.
- Beta screens the waitlist request under current DHCS policy.
- Waiting and readiness, until DHCS releases a slot.
- Slot release, assessment, care plan, facility and enrollment.
The full version, with the status words Beta's ALW team uses, is on the next page.
See What Happens After a Referral
Your next step
Send what you have now; the rest can follow securely.
Official sourcesChecked against the official sources
Use the official sources below to confirm time-sensitive program details.
This page provides general California ALW information. It is not an eligibility decision or a promise of enrollment, and it is not a guarantee of facility placement. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency listed by DHCS and any participating facility.