Knoxville Senior AdvisorWhat is OPTIONS for Community Living?
OPTIONS for Community Living is a state-funded home and community-based program, run through Tennessee's Area Agencies on Aging and Disability, that provides homemaker services, personal care and home-delivered meals to residents 18 and older who meet activities-of-daily-living limitation requirements.
For the seven counties around Knoxville the program runs through the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency's AAAD. People with an intellectual disability are served through other programs. Federally funded Title III-B in-home services cover people 60 and older alongside it.
Is there an income limit for OPTIONS in Tennessee?
No. OPTIONS has no income limit, but a sliding fee scale applies, so a family with more income pays a larger share of the cost of each service.
That makes OPTIONS useful for the many Knoxville households that earn too much for TennCare CHOICES but cannot comfortably pay a private agency for every hour. Services depend on available funding and assessed need, so there may be a waiting period.
How does OPTIONS compare with TennCare CHOICES?
CHOICES is an entitlement-style Medicaid benefit with strict income and asset limits and larger service amounts, while OPTIONS is a smaller, state-funded program with no income limit, a sliding fee and service levels set by available funds.
Some families use OPTIONS first and move to CHOICES when needs grow or savings drop. ETHRA's Information and Assistance line screens for both at the same time, which is why one call to 1-866-836-6678 is the most efficient starting point.
Who provides OPTIONS services in Knox County?
ETHRA's Area Agency on Aging and Disability administers OPTIONS funds across its 16-county region and contracts with local providers; in Knox County the CAC Office on Aging, (865) 546-3500, also coordinates services for older adults, including noontime meals delivered to homebound residents in every Knox County ZIP code.
The CAC Office on Aging, at the Ross Building, 2247 Western Avenue, has served older adults in Knoxville and Knox County since 1975. Outside Knox, each county has a local office on aging or senior center connected to ETHRA's network.
How do I start the OPTIONS process for a parent?
Call the ETHRA AAAD at 1-866-836-6678 or (865) 691-2551, describe which daily activities your parent needs help with, and ask for a functional assessment for OPTIONS and a CHOICES screening.
Be specific: bathing, dressing, meals, getting to the bathroom at night, housekeeping. Ask how long the current wait is, what the sliding fee would likely be, and what you can arrange privately in the meantime. If the need is urgent after a hospital stay, say so, and ask the discharge planner about short-term Medicare home health as a bridge.
Side by side
| OPTIONS is | OPTIONS is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding | State-funded and limited by appropriations | A Medicaid entitlement |
| Eligibility | Based on daily-living limitations, any income | Restricted to low-income households |
| Cost | Shared through a sliding fee | Free for everyone |
| Services | Homemaker, personal care, home-delivered meals | Skilled nursing or 24-hour care |
Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. chapters 0720-26, 0720-21 and 0720-18; Health Facilities Commission, TennCare and Department of Disability and Aging pages; CareScout and VA rate tables, as cited above. See our editorial standards.
