Everything to have ready for an ALW referral.

Tick what you have, skip what you don't, and send it. A referral for California's Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) only needs enough to identify the person, their setting and Medi-Cal status, and the care they need. Beta's ALW team will tell you which official forms come next. Keep anything sensitive inside the secure referral form, not email.

Refer a patient or client

Important: A referral is not an eligibility decision, a waiver slot, facility acceptance or a move-in date. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) keeps the waitlist and controls slot release. Beta is a Care Coordination Agency (CCA), the state-listed organization that does the ALW paperwork and care planning with the applicant, and cannot promise timing.

Minimum to send today

If you have only five things, send these:

• Applicant name and contact, plus any authorized representative
• Current setting, with the admission date if the person is in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF)
• Medi-Cal and share-of-cost status, as far as you know
• A three-line care summary: function, cognition and safety
• Your name, organization and best contact

Part 1, Quick fit check

A referral is worth making when most answers are "yes" or "possibly".

• Applicant is 21 or older
• Full-scope Medi-Cal is active or being verified
• No share of cost is confirmed, or is actively being resolved
• Nursing-facility level of care appears plausible
• Applicant prefers assisted living to a nursing facility
• Needs may be safely supported in an assisted-living home (licensed as an RCFE or ARF) that takes ALW
• Applicant is willing to live in one of the fifteen ALW counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma)
• Applicant or authorized representative can take part in the process
• No expectation of a guaranteed slot, timeline or facility

Part 2, Referral information

Beyond the minimum, add what you have: preferred language; the representative's authority and consent for contact; anticipated discharge date and preferred ALW county; health plan; mobility and transfers, cognition and supervision risks, medications, nighttime needs, recent hospitalizations and current providers; family support, barriers to discharge and the alternative plan while ALW timing stays uncertain.

Part 3, Records that may be useful

Send the referral even if records are missing. A face sheet, Medi-Cal verification, discharge summary, medication list, functional summary, relevant physician and nursing notes, and any legal-representative document all help.

Part 4, Never in ordinary email

Social Security numbers, complete Medi-Cal numbers, full charts, unredacted legal records, detailed behavioral-health or substance-use information, passwords, and uncontrolled document links. Use the secure form; Beta's ALW team will give you a secure way to send more later. In an emergency, call 911.

Part 5, What to tell the patient or family

"I am referring you to a Care Coordination Agency to discuss whether California's Assisted Living Waiver may fit. The referral is not a guarantee of eligibility, a waiver slot, approval, facility acceptance or a move-in date."

Also explain that ALW has a state waitlist and does not pay room and board, and that a discharge plan cannot depend on an ALW timeline.

Your next step

Send what you have; Beta's ALW team will contact you about what was received and what comes next. Keep a safe discharge plan in place meanwhile, see what happens after a referral.

Refer a patient or client

Speak With ALW Intake