Georgia's Community Care Services Program can help pay for care in a Personal Care Home, an Assisted Living Community, or at home. Here's how Metro Atlanta families apply and what to expect.
By Sandra Boyd, CSA · January 27, 2026
The Community Care Services Program, usually shortened to CCSP, is Georgia's core Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid waiver for older adults and adults with disabilities who need a nursing-facility level of care but want to remain in a home-like setting — including a licensed Personal Care Home (PCH), an Assisted Living Community (ALC), or their own home. The waiver can cover personal care, homemaker services, respite care, and care coordination for seniors who meet Georgia's functional and financial eligibility rules. Like most state Medicaid waivers, it generally does not pay room and board in a PCH or ALC setting; residents typically apply Social Security income toward rent and meals, with CCSP covering personal care and services on top.
Georgia also runs a related Medicaid HCBS option called SOURCE (Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment), a primary-care case-management and community-based services hybrid that some Metro Atlanta seniors may qualify for instead of or alongside CCSP. Both programs are administered through the Georgia Division of Aging Services (DAS) and coordinated locally through Area Agencies on Aging, so Atlanta-area families should confirm which program fits their situation through the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Area Agency on Aging before assuming which track applies.
Eligibility for CCSP has two tracks: a functional assessment confirming a nursing-facility level of care need, and a financial assessment based on income and asset limits set by Georgia Medicaid rules. Because CCSP is a waiver program rather than an entitlement, there can be a waiting list, and demand often exceeds available slots in parts of Metro Atlanta, so families should not wait for a crisis to get on the list.
Given the waitlist reality, the single most useful thing an Atlanta-area family can do is start early — ideally well before a crisis forces a decision. Families apply for Georgia Medicaid through the Division of Family and Children Services and the Division of Aging Services, and the local Area Agency on Aging coordinates the level-of-care assessment. Getting on the CCSP waitlist as soon as a need is anticipated protects a family's place while the financial and functional pieces come together.
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Area Agency on Aging is the primary free resource for families across the 10-county metro-Atlanta region — including Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee counties — navigating CCSP. The Georgia Division of Aging Services (DAS) and the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) of Georgia can also point families to the right intake process, and GeorgiaCares offers free, unbiased Medicare counseling that often comes up alongside a CCSP application.
A free senior care advisor who works regularly with Metro Atlanta facilities can also help identify which local Personal Care Homes and Assisted Living Communities currently accept CCSP and have open beds, since not every licensed community participates in the waiver. Pairing an Area Agency on Aging screening with an advisor's knowledge of which local communities have Medicaid-approved openings can meaningfully shorten the path from application to placement.
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