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Ask Medi-Cal to review care your child needs (EPSDT)
A way to ask Medi-Cal to cover medically necessary care for a child under 21, even outside its usual service list [EPSDT].
What it is
A way to ask Medi-Cal to cover medically necessary care for a child under 21, even outside its usual service list [EPSDT].
For a child under 21 on Medicaid, medically necessary care that fits a Medicaid benefit category must be covered, even when the plan’s usual list leaves it out. It is a coverage protection, not cash, and a doctor’s order is not automatic approval; the clinician explains the need and the plan reviews it.
Rules
- The care must fit a federal Medicaid benefit category and meet medical-necessity rules.
- For a Medi-Cal health plan, the usual appeal deadline is 60 calendar days after the adverse notice. The plan normally decides within 30 calendar days. A qualifying urgent appeal has a 72-hour deadline. Under specified conditions, a permitted extension can add up to 14 days. The usual state-hearing window is 120 calendar days after the appeal-resolution notice. If the plan misses its deadline, you may not have to finish its appeal first. Ask a benefits advocate to check your notice and the route that applies.
- Keeping an existing service has a shorter deadline. A qualifying plan appeal generally must arrive within 10 calendar days after the notice is sent or before its stated effective date, whichever is later. An authorized clinician must have ordered the service. It must have been approved already and still be within its authorization period. California plan materials describe continuation without a separate request when those conditions are met. Ask the plan to confirm that your service will continue. After an adverse appeal decision, keeping services during a hearing requires two requests: the hearing and continued services. Both have a separate 10-day postmark/delivery window or any applicable later stop date in the notice. Appealing does not approve a new service. Ask the plan and a benefits advocate to confirm the exact dates and any repayment condition. Federal permission to recover payments does not establish California’s actual recovery policy.
What you get
- A route to coverage of nursing, equipment, therapies or other care the plan’s standard list omits.
- Expedited review when waiting could harm your child.
What it is not
- Not a promise of any service requested, and not a cash program.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your Medi-Cal care manager how to send a written request for an EPSDT review.
- Ask the clinician to explain the service, how often it is needed and its expected benefit. Include the risk of going without it.
- Check any denial notice for the appeal route. Ask the care team to support urgent review if waiting could harm your child.
Medicaid: EPSDT · Official page ↗
Records
- Keep the request date and the plan’s reference number.
Good to know
Ask for a named care manager at the plan as soon as your child is enrolled; that is who receives these requests. If a service might be cut, do not wait for the reduction to happen before asking about continued services.
Other details
- This applies inside Medicaid only; a work plan has its own appeal route (below).
Related California card: Nursing at home through Medi-Cal.
Official sources
“If Medi-Cal refuses care our child needs, could an EPSDT review help? What could it change, what limits should we expect, and could you help us request it?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know who can help explain our child’s care needs if Medi-Cal refuses a service.
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
Ask the plan for a care manager, keep a two-week log of the daily tasks, and put every request in writing under Medicaid's rule that a child under 21 gets what is medically needed.
Your social worker
Gets the care manager assigned and sends the request to the right approval desk.
The care team
Writes the order and the letter of medical necessity naming the service, the frequency and the risk without it.
- Who decides
- The Medicaid plan or agency, on medical necessity
- Ask your social worker
- “Can you get us a care manager at the Medicaid plan? Will the team write the letter asking for home nursing, equipment and rides?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the Medicaid plan for a care manager. Put the request in writing and ask for review under EPSDT.
- Ask the Medicaid plan for a care manager.
- Put the request in writing under EPSDT.
- Ask the clinician to write what the service corrects, how often, and the risk without it.
Where it starts: Written request to the plan's care manager. Medicaid appeal if denied
What to gather
- The doctor's order and a letter of medical necessity
- A two-week log of the daily tasks at home
- Any denial letter, with the date
How long: An appeal of a “no” is decided within 30 days, or 72 hours when waiting is unsafe.
What a yes looks like
An approval with hours or units and a start date.
What a no looks like, and the next move
A written denial with appeal rights. Appeal within the notice's period and ask for benefits to continue.
Watch out
- “Not a covered benefit” is not the end of it for a child. Ask the plan to review the request under Medicaid's rule that a child under 21 gets what is medically needed, in writing.
- Medical necessity is still reviewed. The doctor's letter must say what the service corrects or prevents, how often, and what happens without it.
- Nursing and personal care fit. A parent's wages for care usually do not, unless the state runs a paid-caregiver option.
- Hospice does not mean stopping chemo for a Medicaid child. Since 2010 a child under 21 can have hospice and treatment at the same time. A CHIP-only plan can choose not to cover hospice; if it does, the same rule applies.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 8, 2026.
What it is worth
Home nursing, personal care, equipment, therapies and transport paid by Medicaid on the doctor's word.
Covers: Private-duty nursing at home · Personal care · Feeding pumps, oxygen and other equipment · Therapies and behavioral health · Rides to treatment
Legal protection: Correct-or-ameliorate standard for any service in a Medicaid category · The state owes the benefit even when a managed-care plan says no · Hospice does not mean stopping treatment: since March 23, 2010 a Medicaid child under 21 can have hospice and curative care at the same time (a doctor still certifies a prognosis within six months for hospice)
What it costs the family: Part of Medicaid. No separate premium.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age under
- 21
- Medicaid required
- yes
Decisions this site cannot make: Medical necessity · Medicaid service category (section 1905(a))
Expect friction on: Prior approval · Clinical documentation
The trap: Medicaid's rule that a child under 21 gets what is medically needed changes the standard, not the review: the doctor's letter still has to say what the service corrects, how often, and what happens without it.
What changes by state: Nothing in the rule. The plan's forms and the state's paid-caregiver option do.
Where I read this
- Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, read August 27, 2026
- State Medicaid Director letter 23-006: non-emergency medical transportation guide — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, read September 7, 2026
- 42 CFR 438.408: Resolution and notification of managed-care appeals — Cornell LII (eCFR mirror), read September 7, 2026
- CMS State Medicaid Director letter 10-018: concurrent care for children (ACA §2302) — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, read September 8, 2026