PASSPORT is Ohio's flagship home and community-based Medicaid waiver, delivered through Area Agencies on Aging, designed to keep Medicaid-eligible seniors who need nursing-facility level of care living at home rather than in an institution. It covers personal care, home-delivered meals, adult day care, minor home modifications, medical transportation, and, as of October 2024, Structured Family Caregiving. Like the Assisted Living Waiver, it never pays for room and board, since it's strictly an in-home program.
The detail behind the program
PASSPORT and the Assisted Living Waiver often get confused because both are administered through the same Area Agency on Aging network and both require the same nursing-facility level-of-care determination, but they serve different living situations.
PASSPORT is built entirely around staying at home; it funds things like personal care aides, home-delivered meals, and home modifications that make aging in place safer, while the Assisted Living Waiver only applies once someone has moved into a licensed RCF.
A family weighing whether Mom can stay in her Lakewood home a bit longer with support, versus moving to assisted living, is really choosing between these two different waiver pathways, not between "Medicaid" and "no Medicaid."
Related questions
- Does Ohio's Medicaid expansion pay for a parent's assisted living or nursing home care?
- How does Ohio's Assisted Living Waiver work, and does it cover the full monthly bill?
- What is MyCare Ohio and which Cleveland-area counties does it cover?
- What are Ohio's income and asset limits for nursing home Medicaid in 2025?
- How do I actually apply for Medicaid long-term care coverage in Ohio?
- What is Medicaid Estate Recovery in Ohio, and can the state take my parent's house?
- Does Ohio Medicaid pay for room and board in assisted living?
