The Nursing Home Transition and Diversion (NHTD) Medicaid Waiver is a federal 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services waiver administered by NYSDOH through Regional Resource Development Centers. It helps Medicaid-eligible people age 65 and older, and younger people with physical disabilities, who have been assessed as needing nursing-home-level care receive services in the community instead, either transitioning out of a nursing facility or diverting from being admitted to one in the first place.
The detail behind the program
For a Long Island family trying to avoid or reverse a nursing home placement for a Medicaid-eligible parent, the NHTD waiver is one of the specific programs worth asking a discharge planner or Medicaid caseworker about by name. It operates through NYSDOH's Regional Resource Development Centers rather than directly through the county Office for the Aging, and it's structured around two pathways: transition, for someone currently living in a nursing facility who wants to move back into the community with services in place, and diversion, for someone who has been assessed as needing nursing-home-level care but hasn't yet been admitted and wants to avoid it. Because it's a Medicaid waiver program with its own assessment and enrollment process, it runs alongside, but is administratively distinct from, the mandatory MLTC system that governs most other community-based Medicaid long-term care in Nassau and Suffolk.
Related questions
- Do I have to enroll in an MLTC plan for home care in Nassau or Suffolk County?
- What is New York's Assisted Living Program (ALP) and how is it different from private-pay assisted living?
- My mom is 68 with a low income - does New York's ACA Medicaid expansion cover her nursing home or home care costs?
- How much money can my spouse keep if I go on Medicaid for nursing home care in New York in 2026?
- How much spending money is a Medicaid nursing home resident allowed to keep each month in New York?
- What is the MLTC special income standard for Long Island and why does it matter for Medicaid home care?
