Tennessee's TennCare CHOICES program divides long-term care recipients into three groups. Groups 2 and 3 — the home care groups — have no waitlist. That is Tennessee's defining advantage for home care agencies. Three MCOs administer CHOICES statewide: BlueCare, UHC Community Plan, and Wellpoint (formerly Amerigroup). Each MCO manages its own EVV — Wellpoint uses CareBridge. The AAAD (Area Agency on Aging and Disability) is the entry point for applicants not yet on TennCare. Here is what Tennessee operators need to know.
TennCare CHOICES divides eligible members into three groups based on their care needs and living situation. The group a member is in determines which services they receive, what cost-neutrality constraints apply, and how much the MCO will spend on their care. For home care agencies, Groups 2 and 3 are the primary referral pools.
Members who qualify for and receive nursing home care. Home care agencies generally do not serve Group 1 members — they are in nursing facilities. Some Group 1 members may transition to Group 2 if they choose to move to home-based care and can be safely and cost-effectively served.
Members who qualify for nursing facility care but receive home and community-based services instead. The MCO must be able to safely meet their needs at home, and the cost of home care cannot exceed the cost of nursing facility placement (cost neutrality cap).
Group 2 has no waitlist. This is the primary home care group for agencies serving higher-acuity clients. Services include personal care visits, attendant care, homemaker, PERS, adult day, respite, assistive technology, and home modifications.
Members who are at risk of needing nursing home care but don't yet qualify. Must receive SSI payments or receive home care services to prevent or delay nursing home need. No waitlist.
Annual expenditure cap of $18,000 per member. If a member's CHOICES home care is on track to exceed this cap, they cannot remain in Group 3. Group 3 members typically have lower acuity than Group 2 but still benefit from personal care and support services.
All three TennCare CHOICES MCOs operate statewide. Members choose a plan and may change for cause or during designated change periods. For home care agencies seeking to maximize their member access, credentialing with all three MCOs is necessary — a member enrolled in BlueCare cannot be billed under your UHC contract.
| MCO | Phone for CHOICES | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BlueCare Tennessee | 888-747-8955 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee subsidiary. Largest TennCare plan by enrollment. |
| UnitedHealthcare Community Plan | 800-690-1606 | UHC's TennCare plan. Statewide CHOICES services. |
| Wellpoint (formerly Amerigroup) | 833-731-2153 | Rebranded from Amerigroup January 1, 2024. Uses CareBridge for EVV. Provider news at providernews.wellpoint.com/tn |
Each MCO has its own credentialing process, prior authorization format, claims portal, and EVV requirements. Contact each MCO's CHOICES provider services team directly to begin credentialing. For members already on TennCare, they apply for CHOICES through their MCO. Members not yet on TennCare apply through the AAAD at 1-866-836-6678 or through TennCare's LTSS Help Desk at 1-877-224-0219.
Tennessee does not have a single statewide EVV aggregator for CHOICES. Each MCO manages its own EVV requirements. Wellpoint uses CareBridge — caregivers clock in and out with GPS capture through CareBridge's system. BlueCare and UHC have their own EVV systems and requirements. Verify current EVV platforms with each plan during credentialing and before onboarding caregivers.
Agencies serving all three MCOs may need to operate three different EVV platforms simultaneously. This is where a software layer that integrates across multiple EVV systems significantly reduces operational overhead — caregivers using a single scheduling and clock-in interface while the backend translates to the correct MCO EVV format is the most efficient approach.
Consumer direction in TennCare CHOICES is available for attendant care, personal care visits, in-home respite, and companion care. The Fiscal Employer Agent for consumer-directed CHOICES services is Consumer Direct Care Network Tennessee (CDTN). Members who choose consumer direction hire, train, and schedule their own workers through CDTN. For agencies, CDTN participants may still use your agency's workforce if they designate you as their FEA agency partner.
No — Groups 2 and 3 have no waitlist. Group 2 (NF-level care at home) and Group 3 (at-risk members) are both open-access. If a member meets eligibility criteria for these groups, they receive services without waiting. The only constraint for Group 2 is cost neutrality — home care cost cannot exceed what nursing facility placement would cost. Group 3 has an $18,000/year expenditure cap. These caps affect how much care a member can receive, but they do not create a waitlist. For agencies, no waitlist means the referral pipeline is driven by your MCO network relationships and AAAD referral relationships, not by a state-managed queue.
Tennessee does not have a single statewide EVV system for CHOICES. Each MCO manages EVV separately. Wellpoint uses CareBridge — caregivers clock in and out with GPS through CareBridge. BlueCare and UHC have their own EVV systems. Verify current requirements with each MCO during credentialing. Agencies serving all three MCOs often need to support multiple EVV platforms, which is why scheduling software with multi-MCO EVV integration matters significantly for Tennessee operations.
Amerigroup Community Care rebranded to Wellpoint effective January 1, 2024. All existing Amerigroup provider contracts, member enrollment, and provider IDs carried forward under the Wellpoint brand. The provider news portal moved to providernews.wellpoint.com/tn. Prior authorization contacts, claims portals, and EVV (CareBridge) continued under the new brand. If you were contracted with Amerigroup, your existing contract is now with Wellpoint — no re-credentialing was required at the rebrand, though you should verify current contract terms with Wellpoint's CHOICES provider relations team.
Tennessee's no-waitlist home care groups mean the growth ceiling is your operational capacity — your ability to manage three MCO billing relationships with their different EVV systems, authorization processes, and timely filing windows. CareBravo delivers all of it as completed operational work.