The HCBS Taxonomy: A New Language for Classifying Home- and Community-Based Services

Key findings used in wiki

• The CMS HCBS taxonomy defines 18 service categories and 60+ subcategories, providing the classification system GiveCare uses to organize and match home- and community-based services.
• The taxonomy standardizes service definitions across state Medicaid programs, enabling GiveCare's cross-state eligibility comparisons and service matching.
• Prior to this taxonomy, no consistent language existed for HCBS services, explaining the fragmentation GiveCare's navigation tools address.
• The classification structure maps to specific waiver authorities and funding streams, informing GiveCare's benefit-program linkage logic.
• The taxonomy's hierarchical design allows GiveCare to present services at appropriate levels of detail depending on user context and need.