Kansas starts invitation process for new I/DD services waiver

Kansas’ Community Support Waiver is effective Oct. 1, 2026, creating an additional Medicaid-funded option for home- and community-based services for qualifying residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The state’s Oct. 1 announcement said the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and Kansas Department of Health and Environment would begin reviewing eligibility for people invited to apply. The first invitations went to people who had waited longest on the state’s comprehensive I/DD waiver waitlist.

The state says eligible participants can begin receiving services. An invitation starts the review process; it does not mean a person has been approved or that services have started.

Approval and eligibility

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved the waiver on July 1, 2026, and lists Oct. 1 as its effective date. Gov. Laura Kelly’s office announced the federal approval on July 9. The waiver operates under Medicaid’s 1915(c) authority for home- and community-based services.

The program is for qualifying Kansas residents age 5 or older with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities who do not require 24-hour paid support but would otherwise need services in an Intermediate Care Facility for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. Applicants must meet state program requirements, qualify financially for Medicaid and meet Medicaid’s threshold for long-term institutional care.

The invitation-first approach means the launch is not an open application period for everyone who might meet the criteria. People who receive an invitation are directed to contact their local Community Developmental Disability Organization for screening and to discuss with their Targeted Case Manager whether the waiver fits their needs.

Services and first-year limits

The state lists personal care, respite, employment support, therapies, caregiver support and training, home or environmental modifications, assistive technology, and non-medical transportation among the available services. Supports are authorized according to each participant’s assessed needs and are intended for community settings rather than 24-hour paid care.

The first waiver year runs from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. Kansas projects that 500 people will participate during that period. That figure is a forecast, not a reported enrollment total.

Services are subject to an annual participant spending limit of $20,000. The limit is not a guaranteed payment or benefit amount for each person; the state says the services provided depend on assessed need. The state’s launch announcement did not give counts of invitations, approvals, enrollments or people who had started receiving services.