Interest in the development of community-based long-term care (CBLTC) programs as a substitute for institutional-based care has been steadily growing. The estimated benefits from the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), California's intensive CBLTC system, were measured by the expected increase in community residency days for clients for a 6-month care period. The evaluation suggests that benefits are 20 times larger for the average frail group client compared to the average strong group client, yet the total additional cost of the average frail group client is estimated as only 20 percent more than the total additional cost of the average strong group client. Administrative costs are a large proportion of the additional costs of caring for the frail group. CBLTC programs should focus their care on the more frail clients and alter practices to reduce administrative costs. If the feasibility for community-based care were incorporated into California's present Medicaid nursing home review, more frail CBLTC clients would be located in nursing homes. Using MSSP's client frailty prediction (probability of death or nursing home entry in 6 months) would assist in locating frail clients in community living situations. Altering case management practices so that two-thirds of California's CBLTC clients received intensive case management until their community living situations stabilized (e.g., 3 months), and thereafter continued receiving intensive services with non-intensive case management, would reduce administrative costs by a factor of two. (NB)