At KFF, Alice Burns, Maiss Mohamed, and Molly O’Malley Watts have a report titled "A Look at Waiting Lists for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services from 2016 to 2023."
In 2023, people on the waiting or interest lists waited an average of 36 months to receive HCBS waiver services (27 of 38 states responding), down from 45 months in 2021. People with I/DD waited the longest for services, 50 months on average. The average waiting period for other waiver populations ranged from 5 months for waivers targeting seniors to 37 months for waivers that serve people with autism. People with I/DD residing in states that do not screen for eligibility wait longer for services than people with I/DD residing in states that do screen for waiver eligibility (61 months versus 45 months, on average).
