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Changes to Your Home

Changes to Your Home May Be Part of Your Care Plan.

These changes will:

  • Help you stay healthy and safe
  • Help you move about your home and community

Without these changes, you may have to live in a facility.

Changes to Your Home May Include:

  • Ramps
  • Grab bars
  • Wider doorways

You Are Entitled to Up to $5,000 of Changes Per Year.

Change costs may not exceed $10,000 in your lifetime. If you live in a licensed home, you cannot get this benefit. 

A licensed home may be:

  • Assisted Living Residence (ALR)
  • Comprehensive Personal Care Home (CPCH)
  • Assisted Living Program (ALP)
  • Class B & C Boarding Homes

If you live in rental housing, your landlord must approve of changes in writing. You must say, in writing, that you will live there for a year. The owner must say, in writing, that the state and the Managed Care Organization (MCO) do not have to remove the changes.

Changes to public areas in these buildings are not covered:

  • Apartment buildings
  • Communities with a homeowner association/trust
  • Rental properties

The owner, association or trust must make public area changes. Changes cannot be made to homes owned/leased by providers of waiver services. Changes can be made to Adult Family Care (AFC) caregivers’ homes. If you have a proven need for changes, they will be made. Changes must be cost-effective. They must be the best way to meet your needs. Changes to a home that are unrelated to your safety or health will not be made.

These are things such as:

  • Carpets
  • Roof repair
  • Anything that makes your home bigger

If you need changes that benefit your health or safety, even if they make your home larger, they will be made. These are things such as:

  • A larger bathroom so a wheelchair can go in and out

If any of these limits initially stop the MCO from making changes for your health and safety, the MCO may make the changes. This must be in your care plan.

A provider making changes must:

  • Be a licensed NJ contractor
  • Have a license with the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs
  • Get MCO approval
  • Give a license number
  • Meet state/county license laws
  • Get permits and approvals
  • Meet:
    • State/local building and safety codes
    • Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines
    • ADA Accessibility Guidelines