Consumer Directed Services in St. Louis City, Missouri

Communicare Elite is a MO HealthNet Consumer Directed Services vendor serving the City of St. Louis. If you qualify, the person who helps you is someone you pick — a relative other than your spouse, a friend, a neighbor — and the payroll, program paperwork and Medicaid billing are ours to handle.

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

Getting started from the city runs through the state, not through us: confirm MO HealthNet eligibility, request an assessment from the Department of Health and Senior Services on 866-835-3505, and receive an authorized care plan. Only then do you pick a vendor. The full six steps are set out here.

What your attendant can be paid for

Your authorized plan lists what your attendant may be paid for — personal care, meals, housekeeping and rides among them. See the full list of covered tasks.

Paying a family member in St. Louis City

City families are often already doing this work unpaid. If your relative qualifies and you are not their spouse, it can become paid employment. 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.

Who employs the attendant — you or me?

You do. You choose, hire and direct your attendant; Communicare Elite runs payroll, handles the program paperwork and bills Medicaid. More on choosing an attendant.

Can I direct my own care if I need help with paperwork?

Self-direction is about deciding who helps you and how, not about doing admin alone — the paperwork side is what we handle. What CDS involves.

Nearby communities we also serve

St. Louis County · University City · Ferguson · Florissant — or see the whole service area.