Louisiana Nursing Home Medicaid

Level of care is determined through LOCET and PASRR

LDH's nursing-facility admission guide says the medical-eligibility application process for any applicant to a Medicaid-certified nursing facility has two components: the Level of Care Eligibility Tool, or LOCET, and a Level I Pre-Admission Screening and Resident Review, or PASRR. The guide says both components must be received by the Office of Aging and Adult Services to complete the process (LDH nursing-facility admission guide).

The guide describes LOCET as a telephone screening tool used to determine whether an individual meets nursing-facility level-of-care criteria. LDH's level-of-care manual likewise describes the nursing-facility level-of-care determination as a process to assure functional and medical necessity for admission and continued stay and for OAAS-managed Medicaid-funded services (LDH nursing-facility admission guide; LDH level-of-care eligibility manual).

The resident's personal-needs allowance

LDH's current Z-700 chart gives a $45 monthly LTC personal-care-needs allowance effective July 1, 2025 for both non-MAGI-related and MAGI-related LTC. For non-MAGI-related LTC, the same table notes an optional state supplement of up to $15 and a protected $90 VA improved-pension reduction amount (LDH Z-700, January 2026).

The personal-care-needs allowance is not the whole patient-liability calculation. LDH's income policy has separate rules for spouse and dependent allocations, medical expenses, and VA income treatment, so a family should request the written budget and compare it to the current policy when a facility payment amount is calculated (LDH I-1530 income policy).

For a person transferring assets, Louisiana applies its 60-month review and its published $7,200 monthly divisor; these can affect payment even after level-of-care requirements are met (LDH I-1670 transfer policy).