Consumer Directed Services in Kirkwood, Missouri

Communicare Elite provides MO HealthNet Consumer Directed Services to residents of Kirkwood and the surrounding mid 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 Kirkwood

Kirkwood has one of the strongest stay-put cultures in the region. People raise families here and then stay, often in the same house, long past the point where the house is easy to manage. The historic homes near downtown Kirkwood are exactly the ones that get hardest — original bathrooms, steep staircases, and rooms arranged for a household with young legs in it.

What Kirkwood residents often need is not a decision about moving but a way to avoid making one yet. A CDS care plan covering bathing, dressing, meal preparation and transport can extend the workable life of a house by years. St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield and Mercy South are both a straightforward drive, and the walkable downtown means an attendant can often handle errands on foot in a way that is impossible in more car-dependent suburbs.

How CDS works for Kirkwood 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 Kirkwood

If you already help a parent, an adult child, a sibling or a friend in Kirkwood, 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 25 minutes from Kirkwood. Most business is handled by phone, but you are welcome at the office; call ahead so someone is expecting you.

Questions from Kirkwood families

Our family home has a steep staircase and an old bathroom. Does that count toward the assessment?

The assessment looks at what you can and cannot do safely, and the environment is part of that. Describe the stairs and the bathtub specifically to the assessor.

Is there an income limit that would rule us out?

CDS is funded by MO HealthNet, so MO HealthNet eligibility — which does consider income and assets — is one of the five requirements. Owning your home is not automatically disqualifying.

How far is Kirkwood from your office?

About twenty-five minutes, straight down I-270.

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