What Is the Ohio Home Care Waiver (OHCW)?

The Ohio Home Care Waiver, usually shortened to OHCW, is a Medicaid home and community-based services waiver that — like PASSPORT — pays for services delivered in a person's own home rather than a facility. The practical difference families run into is administrative and functional rather than geographic: OHCW is run by the Ohio Department of Medicaid, not the Ohio Department of Aging, which administers PASSPORT, and it's generally the program used for applicants with more intensive, technical, or specialized care needs than a typical PASSPORT enrollee. Financial eligibility rules are broadly similar across Ohio's Medicaid waivers — see our Medicaid and PASSPORT explainer for the general framework — but which specific waiver a given senior should apply for depends on the details of their medical and functional needs, which is exactly the kind of judgment call a caseworker or Area Agency on Aging assessor is positioned to make.