Consumer Directed Services in St. Louis City, Missouri

Communicare Elite provides MO HealthNet Consumer Directed Services to residents of St. Louis City and the surrounding the City of St. Louis area. If you are eligible, you choose your own personal care attendant — including a family member other than your spouse — and we handle payroll, program paperwork and Medicaid billing.

Why home care matters in St. Louis City

St. Louis City is where the housing stock itself creates the need. The brick two-and-four-family flats that define Dutchtown, Carondelet, Tower Grove, Benton Park and much of north city were built long before anyone designed for aging in place — a full flight of stairs to the front door, a second flight to the bedrooms, a claw-foot tub with high sides, and a basement laundry. A person who could manage a ranch house comfortably can find the same body will not manage a century-old flat.

Getting to appointments is the other city-specific problem. MetroBus and MetroLink cover the city better than anywhere else in the region, but a bus is not much use to someone who cannot stand at a stop or manage the walk to it. Essential transportation is one of the tasks a CDS care plan can authorize, and for city residents it is frequently the task that matters most — the difference between keeping a cardiology appointment at Barnes-Jewish or SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital and quietly letting it go.

How CDS works for St. Louis City residents

1. Confirm you are likely eligible. You need to be 18 or older, eligible for MO HealthNet, physically disabled, able to direct your own care, and assessed at a nursing facility level of care. Full requirements.
2. Request a state assessment. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services assesses you at home. Their referral line is 866-835-3505.
3. Receive an authorized care plan listing the tasks and hours approved for you. What can be authorized.
4. Choose Communicare Elite as your CDS vendor.
5. Hire your attendant — anyone but your spouse, subject to background screening. How to choose.
6. Work begins. You and your attendant sign biweekly timesheets; we run payroll and bill Medicaid. How pay works.

What your attendant can help with

See the full list of covered tasks →

Getting paid to care for a family member in St. Louis City

If you already help a parent, an adult child, a sibling or a friend in St. Louis City, that work can become paid employment. Missouri law excludes only the consumer’s spouse from being a paid personal care attendant — every other relationship is eligible.

How family caregivers get paid →

Distance from our office

Communicare Elite is at 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 106, St. Louis, MO 63134, minutes from Lambert International Airport — roughly about 20 minutes from St. Louis City. Most business is handled by phone, but you are welcome at the office; call ahead so someone is expecting you.

Questions from St. Louis City families

I live in a second-floor flat with no elevator. Does that affect my eligibility?

No. Where you live does not determine eligibility — your assessed need does. If anything, stairs tend to increase the help you are assessed as needing, because they make bathing, laundry and simply leaving the house harder.

Can my attendant take me to Barnes-Jewish or SLU Hospital?

Transportation to medical appointments is one of the task categories CDS can authorize. Whether it is in your plan depends on your assessment, so raise it with the assessor specifically.

Do you serve north city as well as south city?

Yes, all of it — every neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, from Baden and Walnut Park through the central corridor to Carondelet.

Does CDS cost me anything?

No. The program is funded by MO HealthNet. You do not pay Communicare Elite and you do not pay your attendant directly.

Can I switch to Communicare Elite from another vendor?

Yes, without reapplying for the program or losing your authorized hours. How switching works.

Nearby communities we also serve

St. Louis County · Florissant · Ferguson · Hazelwood · Bridgeton · Maryland Heights · University City · Kirkwood · Chesterfield · Arnold · Festus · St. Charles · St. Peters · O’Fallon · Wentzville