Connecticut program
Nurses and aides at home through HUSKY
Nursing and personal-care help at home through HUSKY, after the relevant care assessment.
What it is
Nursing and personal-care help at home through HUSKY, after the relevant care assessment.
Discharge can leave your family doing complex care at home. HUSKY reviews nursing needs separately from insurance eligibility. Community First Choice has its own assessment for personal assistance.
Eligibility rules
- HUSKY coverage is required, with no separate nursing income test. The child’s medical needs decide the service request.
- For children under 21, EPSDT covers medically necessary services within federal Medicaid benefit categories. It does not cover every requested service.
What you get
- No family charge for approved HUSKY home-care services.
- Skilled nursing, home-health visits and approved personal-care help.
- Support with the move from hospital to home.
What the help covers
- HUSKY reviews home-health visits and extended nursing separately from Community First Choice personal assistance. Case management coordinates care; it does not promise staffed nursing hours.
- Community First Choice requires Medicaid eligibility and an institutional-level-of-care assessment. Katie Beckett is a separate, limited-place route into Medicaid.
- Nursing beyond two visits a week or two hours a day, and aide help beyond 14 hours a week, needs approval in advance.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the discharge planner to document home-care tasks and request a nursing review.
- Have your child’s HUSKY card, discharge plan and a list of daily care tasks ready.
- Ask the team which agency can staff the approved hours and what happens while you wait.
Community Health Network of Connecticut, for the Department of Social Services. 800-440-5071 · Official page ↗
After you apply
- HUSKY's transitional care team usually calls within 48 hours of discharge to help with the move home.
- Your clinician or home-health agency sends the request to HUSKY Utilization Management at 800-440-5071. HUSKY confirms the initial decision deadline and whether urgent review applies. The discharge team still needs a safe plan for any approved hours without staff.
- If HUSKY refuses, cuts or stops a service, you have 60 days to appeal and the answer is due within 30 days, or 72 hours when urgent. To keep an existing service running while it is decided, ask in writing within 10 days of the notice. (one bullet)
Good to know
Approved hours and an available nurse are different things. A written approval does not guarantee staffing.
Other details
- Utilization Management: 800-440-5071. Transitional care: 800-859-9889 extension 2011. Complex case management: 800-440-5071 extension 2024.
- Connecticut does not currently pay parents for their own child's care; a change is proposed for 2027. Ask DSS if that matters to you. (one bullet)
Official sources
- HUSKY Health provider manual — home health and nursing
- DSS — EPSDT for children under 21
- HUSKY Health — transitional care and intensive case management
- HUSKY Health: member handbook
- HUSKY Health: covered services grid
- Connecticut: community first choice
- Connecticut: cfc transition faqs final 31126
- Connecticut: CT
- Connecticut: medicaid waiver applications
“Which of our child’s care tasks could a nurse or aide help with at home? What would the limits be, and could you help request an assessment if it would make home care safer?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand what help we can rely on after discharge.
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
Discuss the benefit and tradeoffs with the social worker. Ask the discharge planner to document home-care tasks and request a nursing review. Have your child’s HUSKY card, discharge plan and a list of daily care tasks ready. Ask the team which agency can staff the approved hours and what happens while you wait.
Your social worker
The discharge planner and the oncology team write the medical necessity and file the authorisation.
The care team
The doctor documents why continuous skilled nursing is needed at home.
- Who decides
- Community Health Network of Connecticut reviews the service for DSS. The discharge team and home-care agency confirm safe staffing arrangements.
- Ask the care team
- “Which of our child’s care tasks could a nurse or aide help with at home? What would the limits be, and could you help request an assessment if it would make home care safer?”
How to apply
First step: Your social worker can help you discuss this route and prepare the request if it fits. Ask the discharge planner to document home-care tasks and request a nursing review.
- Ask the discharge planner to document home-care tasks and request a nursing review.
- Have your child’s HUSKY card, discharge plan and a list of daily care tasks ready.
- Ask the team which agency can staff the approved hours and what happens while you wait.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: The care team files through the medical authorisation portal. Utilization Management: 800-440-5071. Hospital-to-home transitional care: 800-859-9889 extension 2011. Complex case management: 800-440-5071 extension 2024.
What to gather
- The discharge plan
- The list of care tasks at home
- The HUSKY plan card
How long: The transitional care team’s practice is contact within 48 hours after discharge notification. This is outreach, not a nursing staffing deadline. Your clinician or home-health agency sends the request to HUSKY Utilization Management at 800-440-5071. HUSKY confirms the initial decision deadline and whether urgent review applies. The discharge team still needs a safe plan for any approved hours without staff.
What a yes looks like
A written service decision identifies approved hours. The discharge team separately confirms staffing and a safe plan for unfilled hours.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask for the reason in writing, then appeal, and say the words 'medically necessary for a child under 21'.
Watch out
- Approved hours and a nurse available to work them are separate questions.
- HUSKY confirms the initial decision deadline; a denial has its own appeal and written DSS hearing route.
- DSS confirms whether the specific program permits payment to a parent; a draft or proposed rule does not establish a current benefit.
Dates that change this
2026-09-11: DSS confirms whether the specific program permits payment to a legally responsible parent. Approved nursing or aide hours alone do not establish paid-parent eligibility. The decision must identify eligible tasks and whether an agency or fiscal intermediary employs the caregiver.
2027-04-01: The state has described a proposal to change how Community First Choice runs from April 1, 2027. It is a proposal, not an approved change.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
HUSKY can approve medically necessary home nursing; the assessment, prior approval and available staff are separate requirements.
Covers: Extended Care Nursing and Complex Nursing Care at home · Home health visits · Community First Choice: self-directed personal-care help · Hospital-to-home transitional care
Legal protection: EPSDT covers medically necessary services for children under 21 within federal Medicaid benefit categories, not every requested service.
What it costs the family: No family charge for approved covered HUSKY home-care services; exact service coverage is reviewed separately.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- under 21 for the medically-necessary rule
- Age max exclusive
- 21
- Income
- no separate income test; the child has to be on HUSKY
- Insurance status condition
- HUSKY coverage
- Residency
- Connecticut
- Processing standard
- HUSKY confirms the initial service-decision deadline and urgent review; a published transition contact target is not an approval or staffing deadline.
Decisions this site cannot make: Medical necessity review by Community Health Network of Connecticut for DSS
Expect friction on: Hours are approved by review, and staffing an approved case is a separate problem
The trap: Approved hours and an available nurse are different things. A written approval does not guarantee staffing.
Where I read this
- HUSKY Health provider manual — home health and nursing — Community Health Network of Connecticut, read September 10, 2026
- DSS — EPSDT for children under 21 — Connecticut Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026
- HUSKY Health — transitional care and intensive case management — Community Health Network of Connecticut, read September 10, 2026
- DSS — Community First Choice resources — Connecticut Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026
- DSS — Community First Choice transition FAQ, March 2026 — Connecticut Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026