Steadily increasing health care costs for the frail elderly provide incentive to develop programs providing quality services at reasonable costs. Capitated “risk-based” financing provides an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service payment system by providing a fixed, per capita monthly payment for a package of health care services and requiring the provider to assume financial responsibility for cost overruns. Based upon the success of the demonstration projects in California, the state is now providing community-based, risk-based, and capitated long-term care services under the PACE program as optional services under California’s Medi-Cal State Plan.