PACE Is Coming to Polk County, Slowly. What Families Can Use Meanwhile

Why families keep asking about PACE

PACE, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, is one of the few programs that wraps medical care and long-term care into a single team. A participant attends a PACE center for primary care, therapy, meals and activities, receives home care and transportation, and if needed moves to a nursing home with PACE still paying. Medicare and Medicaid cover it for people who have both. Families who have seen it work elsewhere in Florida ask whether Polk County has it.

The short answer is not yet. Polk County had about 174,801 residents 65 and older in 2025, but AHCA's monthly PACE report for August 2026 lists no operating PACE organization with Polk County enrollees.

Where the Polk applications stand

Source: AHCA PACE Monthly Report, August 2026. Status changes month to month; the report is the place to watch.

What PACE would require

Under Florida's rules, a PACE participant must be 55 or older, meet nursing facility level of care as assessed by the Department of Elder Affairs' CARES program, live in the organization's approved service area and be able to live safely in the community when enrolling. Participants agree to use the PACE center's physician as their primary care doctor, which is the biggest adjustment for people with long-standing doctors.

Because Kinship's application covers both Marion and Polk counties, its first center's location will matter a great deal in a county as large as Polk. Transportation is part of PACE, but a long daily ride is still a long daily ride. When an opening is announced, ask where the center is and which ZIP codes are in the approved service area.

What works today

For a Polk County resident who meets nursing facility level of care and Medicaid's financial limits, the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care program is the main route to paid help at home or in assisted living. It starts with a screening by Senior Connection Center (1-800-336-2226) and, for home and community-based services, usually a place on a wait list ranked by need. Ask for the screening early, because priority and screening date both affect when services begin.

Adult day care covers some of what a PACE center would. AHCA lists 2 licensed adult day care centers in Polk County, both in Lakeland, and Medicaid long-term care plans can pay for adult day care for eligible enrollees. Older Americans Act and state-funded services through Senior Connection Center, such as meals, respite and homemaker help, fill other gaps, often with a wait list and an income-based co-payment.

Why approval takes so long

A PACE organization needs approval from both the state and the federal government, and it cannot enroll anyone until its center is built, staffed and surveyed. AHCA's report tracks each step: the application, state readiness review, signed state assurances, and then CMS approval. Construction is often the slowest part, because a PACE center combines a clinic, therapy space, a day program and a kitchen. Florida also limits the number of PACE slots it funds, which is why one Polk application is pended until slots become available. None of that is within a family's control, but it explains why the honest answer to 'when will PACE start here' is that no date is set until the report shows a program as operational.

How to be ready when PACE opens

If PACE appeals to you, keep a simple file now: your parent's Medicare and Medicaid cards, a current medication list, recent hospital discharge papers and the name of each doctor. A person already enrolled in an SMMC long-term care plan can switch to PACE later, effective the first of a month after PACE's assessment and signed enrollment agreement.

Check AHCA's monthly PACE report every so often, ask Senior Connection Center whether enrollment has opened when you call about other services, and call Medicaid choice counseling at 1-877-711-3662 to confirm whether PACE is available at your parent's ZIP code.