Choices for Care Program

Since 1996, Illinois law (Public Act 89-21) requires that all persons age 60 and older who are seeking admission to a long term care facility be informed of all care options prior to admission, regardless of the individual’s income, assets or funding source.

How it Works

Case managers from the Case Coordination Units conduct the screenings primarily in hospitals immediately prior to patient discharge. The screening process gives senior citizens and their families the opportunity to ask questions, discuss their needs for services and to understand community-based, as well as institutional options for continuing care.

In instances of short-term nursing facility placements for purposes of rehabilitation or convalescence, case managers may conduct follow-up screenings in the nursing facility to facilitate reentry into the community when possible.

The most common reasons for choosing nursing facility placement are:

• an individual’s medical needs are too complicated to be met by the Community Care Program,
• the individual’s physician orders nursing facility placement, or
• the individual’s family chooses nursing facility placement.

Contact

For more information on the Choices for Care Program,

• See the pages on Case Management Services and Community Care Program, or
• Contact the Senior HelpLine.

See also publications and Web sites related to this program:

• Publications
• Related Web sites