Home and Community-Based Services

Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and Title VI Native American aging programs offer a wide range of services and supports targeted to assist older adults and, increasingly, people of all ages who have disabilities, live independently in their homes and communities—typically referred to as home and community-based services (HCBS).

HCBS refers to services and supports that are provided to consumers in their homes or offered in the community including home-delivered meals, home health care, homemaker/chore services, transportation, caregiver support services and much more. (View a list of HCBS categories and definitions.)

Because HCBS cost a fraction of the cost of institutional care options such as nursing homes and skilled care facilities, bringing services to people where they live helps them save their own and government dollars, making providing them directly to consumers, a hallmark of AAAs and Title VI programs, a more sensible approach from a fiscal and human perspective.

Historically, AAAs and Title VI Native American Aging Programs in the community foster the development and coordination of these critical HCBS to older adults and their caregivers. With leadership from the state units on aging, AAAs work with more than 20,000 service providers and vendors to deliver and monitor the quality of these services. This collective network is known as the Aging Network, and the resulting system of supports they coordinate and provide are critical to assisting people age successfully, where they want to—at home and in the community.

Resources

• To find HCBS options in your community: Contact the Eldercare Locator by visiting eldercare.acl.gov or call 1.800.677.1116. from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm ET, Monday-Friday.
• Learn how USAging advocates for local HCBS funding.