Beta Hospice Care is a Care Coordination Agency listed by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).Beta is listed by DHCS. Here’s how to check
  1. Find Beta on the DHCS list. Beta is listed as a participating Care Coordination Agency under the name Beta Hospice Care. How to verify Beta
  2. No charge for care coordination. Medi-Cal pays Beta. Residents pay room and board. Costs and room and board
  3. Your choice. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency listed by DHCS and any participating home. Rights and complaints
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ALW candidate screen: the steps to remember

The short step lists from each lesson of Is this patient an ALW candidate? A screen for discharge planners, on one page. Print it for the station or the break room. Each list points back to its lesson, where the sources are linked.

Open the coursePrint a poster with a QR code

Decision guide

Before you call an agency: a quick ALW screen

Is the patient 21 or older?

  • Yes

    Does the record show full-scope Medi-Cal with no share of cost?

    • Yes

      Has the patient, or their representative, said they are willing to live in assisted living in one of the 15 listed counties?

      • Yes

        Does the care team describe daily care needs like those of a nursing-facility resident?

        • Yes

          Has the patient been in a nursing facility or other institutional setting for 60 days or more?

          • Yes

            Help the patient or representative contact the agency of their choice. Record the admission date, the setting, any moves and where the face sheet is, so the agency can screen the 60-day priority. Keep the discharge plan running.

          • No

            Help the patient or representative contact the agency of their choice, and record the admission date anyway: the agency screens which priority applies. Give no date, and keep the discharge plan running.

        • No

          Level of care may not fit. If the team is unsure, the patient may still ask an agency to pre-screen: a CCA nurse or social worker assesses, and a DHCS nurse decides.

      • No

        Ask the patient first, and record the answer in their words. Willingness to live in assisted living in a listed county is a published criterion, and the choice is theirs.

    • No

      Mark Medi-Cal as open, or as not matching if a share of cost shows. Send Medi-Cal and share-of-cost questions to the local county office, and do not predict the result.

  • No

    The published ALW criteria start at age 21. Tell the team ALW does not fit as written, and look at other discharge options.

This guide sorts your next step. It does not decide eligibility, priority or placement: the county, the agency, DHCS and the home each decide their own part.

Step through it one question at a time: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#decision-guide

Lesson 1

Screen against the five published criteria

A patient is close to discharge and someone asks, "What about ALW?" Before anyone calls an agency, you can check the patient against the criteria DHCS publishes. This lesson prepares a quick screen: which criteria the chart already answers, which are still open, and which do not match as written.

  1. Age 21 or older
  2. Full-scope Medi-Cal with no share of cost
  3. Care needs equal to Medi-Cal nursing-facility residents
  4. Able to live safely in assisted living or public subsidized housing
  5. Willing to live in assisted living in one of the 15 listed counties
  6. Sort each one: matches, open, or does not match as written

Lesson: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#lesson-cand-five-criteria

Lesson 2

Medi-Cal questions and the level-of-care decision

Two criteria cause most wrong answers on a discharge unit: Medi-Cal and level of care. Neither one is yours to decide. This lesson shows where each question goes, what the agency's nurse or social worker does, and who makes the final level-of-care call, so your note says "open" until the owner answers.

  1. Medi-Cal and share of cost: the local county office
  2. Impoverishment rules: the county applies them; do not predict
  3. Level of care: NF-A or NF-B, scored on the ALW Assessment Tool
  4. CCA nurse or social worker assesses, after a phone pre-screen
  5. A DHCS nurse makes the level-of-care determination
  6. Safe living in the setting is part of the decision

Lesson: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#lesson-cand-medi-cal-and-level-of-care

Lesson 3

The waitlist and the institutional-transition priority

Most discharge planners first meet ALW as a wait. DHCS publishes the order in which it releases waiver slots, and one priority depends on dates your unit records. This lesson prepares two things: what you tell the team about the wait, and which dates you document so the agency can screen the request.

  1. Every new request starts on the waitlist
  2. Order: 60+ days in an institution, APS, Ombudsman, then community by date
  3. Record the admission date, the setting, any moves and where the face sheet is
  4. The 60 days count on the day the request is submitted to DHCS
  5. Ombudsman letter: the person or their representative asks
  6. Screening within 7 days, written notice within 3; 60 days to apply after a slot

Lesson: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#lesson-cand-waitlist-priority

Lesson 4

What a referral can and cannot promise

Discharge pressure makes promises tempting: a date, a bed, "it's all covered". A referral can start real work, but it cannot promise eligibility, a slot, a placement or a price. This lesson prepares the words you use with a patient, a family and your own team while the request moves.

  1. Write the step that happened, not the one you hope for
  2. No release date: DHCS sets the monthly releases
  3. A slot is not a bed: the home appraises and decides
  4. Room and board is paid by the person, to the home
  5. Keep a discharge plan that does not wait on ALW

Lesson: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#lesson-cand-referral-promises

Lesson 5

Who decides each question

A good screen ends with each open question sent to its owner. The patient, the county, the agency, DHCS, the home and the Ombudsman each answer a different one. This lesson ties the course together in one case, so your referral asks the right owner and promises nothing that belongs to someone else.

  1. Person: pursues ALW or not, chooses the agency, may decline
  2. County: Medi-Cal and share of cost
  3. CCA: screening, assessment, application
  4. DHCS: waitlist, slot release, level of care
  5. Home: admission after its appraisal, with consent
  6. You: facts, dates and the person's words; no promises

Lesson: alwbeta.com/training/courses/alw-candidate-check#lesson-cand-who-decides

Beta’s ALW team, course version 2026.10.3, text checked against its sources on October 22, 2026. Educational only. Not continuing-education, licensure or regulatory credit. Follow your employer’s current procedure and the person’s current plan. Call 911 for a medical emergency.

Call the ALW teamFit check