VA Community Living Center Care

A VA Community Living Center (CLC), previously known as VA Nursing Homes, is a potential benefit available for Veterans. Today’s CLCs provide a nursing home level of care, including assistance with daily living and medical care. The CLCs also put in effort to ensure that a veteran’s stay, as long or short as it may be, is comfortable and provides family-friendly places to visit with relatives and pets. The VA also contracts with local nursing homes and other care facilities. A list of the VA facilities can be found here.

What services do CLCs provide?

A VA Community Living Center can provide a wide array of services. However, some living centers provide more services than others. All CLCs provide the following services:

• Around-the-clock skilled nursing care
• Restorative care
• Social worker access and services
• Geriatric evaluation and management

Some CLCs are able to provide additional services, such as:

• Mental health care
• Special care for veterans with impaired cognitive functions
• Respite, Palliative, and end-of-life hospice care

Am I eligible?

Although the VA provides CLC’s throughout the country, you must meet certain eligibility requirements to live at one of these facilities. Mandatory eligibility is provided to the following groups of Veterans:

• Veterans who need nursing home level of care due to their service-connected disabilities.
• Veterans with a combined rating of 70 percent or more.
• Veterans who have received a total disability based on individual unemployability rating.

Other veterans may receive eligibility based upon a facilities, space, and resources. Before eligibility will be provided, a Veteran must first enroll in the VA healthcare system. They must also be medically and psychiatrically stable.

Co-Pays for VA CLC’s

Co-pays will be assessed for CLC care if the Veteran is required to make payments. Typically, this occurs because the Veteran does not have a service-connected disability rated at least 10% or the Veteran’s income is higher than allowed. Co-pay requirement information is based upon your Priority Group assigned when you enrolled in the VA healthcare system. Priority groups are determined by a wide variety of factors, including your current disability rating, your service medals, and your current Federal benefits, among others. The groups are broken into 8 categories with VA Priority Group 1 being the highest priority and VA Priority Group 8 being the lowest. For more information on co-pays at VA CLCs, click here.

If a Veteran is not exempt from co-pay requirements, they must complete VA Form 10-10EC, Application for Extended Care Benefits, to determine their co-pay for CLC care.

How do I decide?

he need for nursing home care is a big decision that affects not only the Veteran, but their families as well. If community-based, private care does not have the features or facilities the veteran requires, CLCs are another option that may be available. Additionally, all 50 states maintain at least one state-managed Veterans home providing similar services to the CLCs. The eligibility and services provided at these facilities differs based upon the state, but they do provide another option for our Veterans.