Texas Community First Choice (CFC) / Consumer Directed Services (CDS)

Texas Community First Choice (CFC) is a 1915(k) Medicaid state plan option providing personal assistance and habilitation services to eligible Medicaid members with functional limitations. Consumer Directed Services (CDS) is an option within multiple Texas Medicaid and HCBS pathways that lets the member or legally authorized representative hire, manage, and supervise eligible attendants, including some family members and other workers, as an alternative to agency-directed care. Spouses are generally excluded from paid CDS employment except for narrow program-specific exceptions such as CMPAS.

CFC and CDS provide personal assistance, habilitation, emergency response, and support-management options for eligible Texas Medicaid members who need help with activities of daily living, community integration, or adapting behaviors and meet an institutional level of care. CFC personal assistance and habilitation can be delivered through the Consumer Directed Services option. Under CDS, the member or legally authorized representative becomes the employer of record and recruits, hires, manages, trains, and dismisses employees, including eligible family members, friends, or neighbors. Texas HHS materials do not support a single statewide FPL screen for this combined record; financial eligibility depends on the member's Medicaid or HCBS pathway. Spouses are generally excluded from being paid CDS employees, except for narrow program-specific exceptions such as CMPAS.

Some details for this program are still being verified. Check the official source for the most current information.

Eligibility

• Care recipient must have a qualifying disability
• Relationship: parent, child, sibling, grandparent, other relative, non relative

Services

CFC and CDS provide personal assistance, habilitation, emergency response, and support-management options for eligible Texas Medicaid members who need help with activities of daily living, community integration, or adapting behaviors and meet an institutional level of care. CFC personal assistance and habilitation can be delivered through the Consumer Directed Services option. Under CDS, the member or legally authorized representative becomes the employer of record and recruits, hires, manages, trains, and dismisses employees, including eligible family members, friends, or neighbors. Texas HHS materials do not support a single statewide FPL screen for this combined record; financial eligibility depends on the member's Medicaid or HCBS pathway. Spouses are generally excluded from being paid CDS employees, except for narrow program-specific exceptions such as CMPAS.

How to apply

Use the official program page for application details: official program page.