COPES Waiver

The Community Options Program Entry System (COPES) is Washington's 1915(c) HCBS waiver for adults who meet nursing facility level of care (NFLOC). HCA and ALTSA jointly administer the waiver. A January 1, 2025 amendment (1) adds 6 years of professional/practical social-service experience equivalent to a Social Service Specialist 2 to the qualifications of evaluators/assessors, (2) updates the Adult Day Care service definition so personal-care hours are no longer manually reduced by 30 minutes per hour of Adult Day Care, instead Adult Day Care is accounted for in the CARE Assessment as informal support, and (3) adds a new provider type, Death Doula, in the Client Support Training & Wellness Education service.