Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Arizona program

Nursing and aide hours at home

Your child’s Arizona health coverage can pay for approved nursing and hands-on help at home.

What it is

Your child’s Arizona health coverage can pay for approved nursing and hands-on help at home.

Your child may need help with lines, feeding or care through the night. Ordinary AHCCCS can assess medically necessary home nursing without ALTCS. ALTCS has separate rules for additional long-term support.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child needs Arizona health coverage and medically necessary services assessed by the plan or case manager.
  • ALTCS sets services with the family using the care plan and a cost-effectiveness study. The exact services available through ordinary coverage and ALTCS differ.
  • Ordinary AHCCCS can pay for nursing and aide visits at home without ALTCS; for a child under 21 it must look at what is medically necessary, including shift nursing. ALTCS adds homemaker help and habilitation. The team's notes should say which tasks are needed, how often, and what happens overnight.
  • Your child does not have to be housebound. Two-hour visits or four hours a day are common starting points, not hard caps; the hours follow what the team documents.
What you get
  • Approved nursing and aide hours paid through your child’s coverage.
  • Help with daily care and, through the applicable program, homemaker tasks or in-home habilitation.
What the help includes
  • The written approval identifies the service, hours and agency. The plan can explain any family charge and when staffing can begin.
  • A parent can be paid in two ways: through ALTCS's paid-parent option (next card), or, if the parent holds a nursing-assistant or health-aide license, as an employee of a home-health agency. Neither is automatic.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the discharge team, ALTCS case manager or health plan for a home-care assessment.
  2. Have the oncology team’s orders, your child’s coverage number and a description of a full day and night of care ready.

Your plan’s member services; Clinical Resolution Unit: 602-364-4558 or 800-867-5308 · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The plan must decide a home-nursing request within 14 days (seven days from October 2026), or 72 hours when urgent. Approved hours still need an agency with staff to fill them.
  • An AHCCCS plan appeal normally must reach the plan within 60 calendar days of the dated denial, reduction or termination notice. The usual decision limit is 30 calendar days after receipt, or 72 hours for an urgent appeal. A permitted extension can add up to 14 days with the required reasons and notice. Arizona Complete Health and DES/DDD instructions give 90 days after receiving the adverse appeal decision to request a hearing. Ask the plan and social worker to confirm the hearing deadline on your actual notice; the separate, shorter continued-care deadline matters first when existing care may stop.
  • Keeping qualifying existing services requires both an appeal and a continued-services request by the later of 10 days after the notice was mailed or the proposed cut-off date. After an unfavorable appeal decision, both a hearing request and a continued-services request are generally needed within 10 days after receiving that decision. Federal continuation conditions include previously authorized care ordered by an authorized clinician and an unexpired authorization. This does not start a never-approved service. Ask the plan and social worker whether Arizona’s continuing-treatment rules also protect a renewal, and whether a final loss could require repayment.
Good to know

The assessment takes time. A plan that approves hours still needs an agency able to staff them.

Other details
  • The team’s description should explain care tasks, how often they happen and what an adult does overnight. A diagnosis by itself does not establish the hours.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could a nurse or aide help with the care our child needs at home? What help could the plan cover, what would still fall to us, and could you help arrange an assessment?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know what support could make care at home manageable.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Describe the daily and nightly care honestly, and keep a copy of what you said.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker asks for the assessment before discharge and chases the authorisation.

The care team

The team writes the orders and the description of what care is medically necessary.

Who decides
The long-term care case manager, or the child’s health plan.
Ask your social worker
“Can we have a home care assessment before discharge? Who authorises nursing hours and by when must they answer?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the case manager or the health plan for a home care assessment now, before discharge.

  1. Ask the case manager or the health plan for a home assessment before discharge.
  2. Write down what one full day and one night of care actually takes.
  3. If hours are refused, use the plan’s appeal and then ask for a State Fair Hearing.

Where it starts: Ask the case manager or call the plan’s member services line. Clinical Resolution Unit: 602-364-4558 or 800-867-5308.

What to gather

  • The oncology team’s orders
  • A written description of a full day and night of care
  • Your child’s coverage number

How long: As of September 16, 2026, the standard service-decision limit is 14 calendar days, or 72 hours urgent. The standard limit becomes seven days on October 1, 2026. A permitted extension can add up to 14 days with required reasons and notice; staffing has a separate timetable.

What a yes looks like

A written authorisation naming the service, the number of hours and the agency.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask for the reason in writing, appeal to the plan, then ask for a State Fair Hearing.

Watch out

  • Ask before discharge, not after; the assessment takes time.
  • Service-request decisions, appeals, requests to continue existing care and staffing are different steps. The plan and social worker can check the actual notices and deadlines.

Dates that change this

2026-09-11: As of September 16, 2026, standard AHCCCS service authorization decisions use a 14-calendar-day limit, with 72 hours for urgent requests. A seven-day standard limit is scheduled for October 1, 2026. Permitted extensions can add up to 14 days with the required conditions and notice. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Medically necessary home nursing and aide care can be covered through ordinary AHCCCS and EPSDT. ALTCS has additional assessed long-term services.

Covers: Nursing hours at home · Attendant and personal care · Homemaker help · In-home habilitation · A case manager who reassesses when things change

Legal protection: A plan appeal, and then a State Fair Hearing, if hours are refused or cut

What it costs the family: No family cost was found for approved hours.

The eligibility facts, as published

Coverage
Ordinary AHCCCS can cover home health nursing and aides, with private-duty nursing under EPSDT for eligible children. ALTCS separately covers additional long-term services such as homemaker help and habilitation.
Medical
medically necessary, assessed by the case manager or the health plan

Expect friction on: Service-decision deadlines do not guarantee that an approved nurse or agency is immediately available.

The trap: The case manager works out the hours with you and a cost-effectiveness study. Write down what a night actually looks like before the assessment. If the plan says no, the route is the plan’s own appeal first, and then a State Fair Hearing.

Where I read this

← Back to your options