Consumer Directed Services in Florissant, Missouri

Communicare Elite provides MO HealthNet Consumer Directed Services to residents of Florissant and the surrounding north St. Louis County 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 Florissant

Florissant is one of the largest cities in Missouri and one of the oldest settlements in the region, and its post-war neighborhoods have aged along with the people who bought into them. Thousands of the ranches and split-levels built here in the 1950s and 60s are still occupied by their original owners or their children — people who have been in the same house for decades and have no intention of leaving it.

That is exactly the situation Consumer Directed Services was designed for. The split-level in particular is a quietly hostile design once mobility declines: a half-flight to the bedrooms, another half-flight to the laundry, and no way to live on one level. Rather than sell a paid-off house and move into a facility, many Florissant families find that a few hours of help each day — with bathing, with the stairs, with laundry that lives in the basement — is the whole difference. Christian Hospital and the medical offices along North Highway 67 are close by, which makes the transportation side of a care plan straightforward here.

How CDS works for Florissant 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 Florissant

If you already help a parent, an adult child, a sibling or a friend in Florissant, 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 15 minutes from Florissant. Most business is handled by phone, but you are welcome at the office; call ahead so someone is expecting you.

Questions from Florissant families

My mother has lived in her Florissant house for forty years and refuses to move. Can CDS help her stay?

That is the program’s central purpose. CDS exists so that people assessed as needing a nursing facility level of care can remain in their own homes instead. She would need to meet the eligibility requirements and be assessed by the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Can I be paid to care for her if I live in Florissant too?

Yes, if you are not her spouse. Adult children are among the most common paid attendants in this program.

Is Florissant within your service area?

Yes — it is one of the closest communities to our Woodson Road office, roughly fifteen minutes away.

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