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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Arkansas program

Nurses and aides at home through Arkansas Medicaid

Nurses or personal-care aides at home, paid through Arkansas Medicaid when your child's care needs qualify.

What it is

Nurses or personal-care aides at home, paid through Arkansas Medicaid when your child's care needs qualify.

Care at home can be more than one parent can manage. Medicaid assesses nursing and personal-care needs separately. Coverage planning and care assessments can happen together before discharge.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child needs effective Arkansas Medicaid for Medicaid-paid care. ARKids A, TEFRA, SSI and other routes can provide that coverage. Care assessment and coverage planning can happen together.
  • A parent or anyone living in the home cannot be paid as the child's nurse or aide. The hours go to an agency worker.
  • Children under 21 have Medicaid's EPSDT protection for medically necessary services within covered categories. A cancer diagnosis alone does not decide the hours or staffing.
What you get
  • Medicaid-paid nursing or personal-care hours at home when approved.
Coverage and limits
  • Intermittent home-health visits, extended private-duty nursing and personal care are separate services. Personal care helps with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing and eating.
  • A personal-care request is usually reviewed within seven days of the assessment. Nursing hours are approved separately by your child's PASSE plan; ask it for its deadline.
  • You do not need a place on the developmental-disability waiver (CES) to get nursing or personal care at home; that is a different program with its own waiting list.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital social worker about a home-care request while planning discharge.
  2. Describe a full day and night of feeds, lines, medicines and hands-on care.
  3. Ask the oncology team to document the care and the time each task takes.

Acentra, 1-888-660-3831; Arkansas Children's social work, 501-364-1406 · Official page ↗

After you apply
  • The team sends orders and supporting care records for review. Approved hours depend on the assessment.
Good to know

Approved hours do not guarantee an available nurse. Your discharge team can help plan for unfilled hours.

Other details
  • For extended skilled RN or LPN care, the clinician and enrolled nursing agency prepare a separate request. It includes medical need, orders, proposed hours and the discharge plan.
  • The request goes to the child's Medicaid reviewer or PASSE plan. That payer confirms its nursing decision deadline and urgent-review process. The family and discharge team need a safe plan for any hours an agency cannot staff.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could a nurse or aide safely take on some of our child's care at home? What would qualify and what would still fall to us, and could you help arrange the assessment?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand the help available before we plan daily care at home.

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

Say plainly what the day and night look like at home: feeds, lines, medicines, how often you are up.

Your social worker

The hospital social worker starts the request and chases the assessment.

The care team

The oncology team writes the orders and describes the daily care in hours.

Who decides
Acentra Health reviews personal-care requests for Arkansas Medicaid.
Ask your social worker
“Before we go home, can we start the personal-care request, and can the team write down how many hours of care a day this is?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the hospital social worker today to start the home-care request, and ask Acentra on 1-888-660-3831 who does the assessment.

  1. Ask the hospital social worker to start home-care requests before discharge, not after.
  2. Ask the oncology team to write down the daily care in hours.
  3. If the request stalls, call the Medicaid helpline on 888-987-1200, option 3.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the hospital social worker to start the request before discharge. Acentra: 1-888-660-3831. Arkansas Children's social work: 501-364-1406.

What to gather

  • The oncology team's orders and letter
  • Your child's Medicaid number
  • A written note of what care the day and night take

How long: Acentra personal-care review: seven calendar days after the current assessment. The payer confirms nursing deadlines; approval does not guarantee staffing.

What a yes looks like

An approval naming the hours a week and the agency that will provide them.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask for the reason in writing and appeal. A child on Medicaid has a right to what is medically necessary; call the helpline on 888-987-1200, option 3.

Watch out

  • The seven-day personal-care review clock starts after the current assessment; nursing and staffing have separate timelines.
  • Approval of hours does not establish parent pay. The actual program confirms permitted workers and any paid-relative exception.
  • Start the request before discharge; the hours are hardest to get once you are already home.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Nursing and personal-care hours at home through Arkansas Medicaid; the reviewer answers a personal-care request in seven days once the assessment is in.

  • $7 — Reviewer's decision time for a personal-care request with a current assessment

Covers: Personal care at home · Home nursing where approved · Help preparing to bring your child home from hospital

What it costs the family: None beyond the Medicaid cost-sharing rules.

The eligibility facts, as published

Coverage condition
Effective Arkansas Medicaid, including ARKids A, TEFRA, SSI-linked and other full Medicaid routes; planning can proceed while coverage is pending.
Level of care
Decided on the documented daily care need
Processing standard
Seven calendar days for a personal-care request with a current assessment, or seven days after the assessment arrives (contractor guide, November 2025)
Paid parent
Approval of care does not establish parent wages. Ordinary personal care restricts legally responsible caregivers. CareSource PASSE July 1, 2026 nursing policy excludes parents of minors, guardians and household members; the actual program must confirm any permitted paid-relative arrangement.

The trap: The seven-calendar-day standard is for personal-care review after the current assessment. It is neither a nursing deadline nor a staffed-shift guarantee.

Where I read this

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