Colorado veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for in-home care through the VA

1. Enroll in VA health care. Community Care home services start from VA enrollment. Veterans can apply at va.gov or at any VA facility, at any age — many World War II, Korea and Vietnam-era veterans never enrolled because they did not need it when they were younger.
2. Describe the daily need to a VA provider. A VA primary care provider or social worker assesses whether home care is appropriate, and when the VA cannot provide the service in a timely or geographically accessible way, that triggers a Community Care referral. A specific description of the worst typical day — bathing, dressing, transferring, medication reminders — carries more weight than a general statement about aging.
3. TriWest issues the authorization. TriWest Healthcare Alliance administers the Community Care Network for the VA region that covers Colorado. The referral becomes an authorization naming the approved provider, and the number of hours the VA has approved appears on that authorization.
4. Care begins with the approved provider. Once the authorization names Colorado CareAssist, we build the care plan and staff caregivers to the hours it specifies.
5. We bill TriWest for exactly the authorized hours. Colorado CareAssist holds an active provider agreement with TriWest and submits claims under it. The family does not pay the agency for authorized hours and does not file for reimbursement; any cost-sharing is determined by the VA, and many eligible veterans owe nothing for authorized services.
6. Care continues under review.We keep the veteran's VA care team informed, and when needs change we help the family request an hours adjustment or reauthorization through the VA case manager.

Where do first requests go wrong? Usually process, not eligibility — asking the wrong department, or describing daily challenges too vaguely. The terms that route a request correctly are home care support and Community Care authorization, and an accredited County Veterans Service Officer can help navigate the referral at no charge.

What billing TriWest directly means for your family

• No invoice for authorized hours. Claims move from our office to TriWest — not from your family to the VA.
• The hour count is individual. It is set on the authorization itself. There is no standard amount, so we will not quote one; we staff and bill to what was authorized.
• Cost-sharing is the VA's call. It is determined by VA eligibility rules, not set by the agency, and it varies by veteran.

Aid & Attendance and Community Care are different benefits

Community Care is a health care benefit: it runs on VA health enrollment and clinical need, and the VA pays the provider. Aid & Attendance is a pension supplement: the monthly payment goes to the veteran or surviving spouse, who can apply it toward any provider they choose. Wartime service and income and net-worth limits apply, and care does not have to come through the VA health system to qualify. The two can be combined — veterans already receiving Community Care hours sometimes qualify for the pension on top and use it for hours the authorization does not cover. Pension claims are prepared at no charge by an accredited County Veterans Service Officer, and we supply the care documentation the claim needs.

What to have ready

For Community Care, the gateway is VA health enrollment plus the clinical assessment your VA provider performs — there is no separate financial packet for the family to assemble. For an Aid & Attendance claim, the VA looks for:

• DD-214 discharge papers
• Medical records or a physician's statement describing specific daily limitations — the worst typical day, not the best one
• Financial information: income, assets, and unreimbursed medical expenses, which can offset countable income
• VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance); surviving spouses file VA Form 21-534EZ

Eligibility decisions, hour counts, rates and any cost-sharing all belong to the VA and change over time — confirm current figures with the VA or an accredited County Veterans Service Officer before planning around them.