Mississippi program
Help lining up services (CYSHCN)
A state care coordinator can help connect your child with services and talk with insurers.
What it is
A state care coordinator can help connect your child with services and talk with insurers.
You can ask for a referral when arranging services becomes difficult. The health department decides whether the child’s condition fits. This service coordinates care rather than paying for cancer treatment.
Eligibility rules
- Your child must live in Mississippi and meet the service’s special-health-need rules.
- MSDH describes its age range as birth to 21 years, also written as ages 0–21. The CYSHCN team confirms the last eligible date, including for someone already 21.
- MSDH accepts referrals for long-term conditions, including blood disorders, and its list is not exhaustive. CYSHCN confirms whether your child’s leukemia and requested help fit, any income limit and any family charge. Your social worker can discuss those questions at 800-844-0898. Coordination does not promise payment for cancer treatment.
What you get
- A coordinator to help connect appointments, paperwork and services.
- Help talking with your insurer and finding community support.
What this includes
- Coordination can include working with Medicaid or a private insurer and connecting the family with transport services. It is not a treatment-payment fund.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the social worker to help send the online referral, or send it yourself through the state health department.
- Have your child’s birth date, diagnosis, address and treating clinic’s details ready.
- Ask at intake what help is available and whether there is any family charge.
The Mississippi State Department of Health: 1-800-844-0898 · Official page ↗
What happens next
- The intake assessment repeats every year. A coordinator’s role and start date can be discussed during intake.
Good to know
The condition list includes blood disorders. The intake team needs to confirm whether your child’s cancer falls within its services.
Other details
- A parent can make the referral without waiting for a doctor. The Jackson-area contact is 601-576-7281.
Official sources
“Would a state care coordinator help us, what would we gain or need to do, and could you help with a referral if it fits?”
Why I’m asking: I would like help connecting services without having to explain everything separately to each office.
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
Send the online referral and answer the intake questions.
Your social worker
The hospital social worker can send the referral with you and say what the service has done for other families.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The Mississippi State Department of Health, after an intake assessment.
- Ask your social worker
- “Can we send a referral to the state's special health care needs service, and do you know what they do for families in treatment?”
How to apply
First step: Send the online referral form, or call 1-800-844-0898.
- Send the online referral yourself; you do not need the doctor to do it.
- Ask on the call whether leukaemia is taken under blood disorders, and what the service actually does for a child in treatment.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: A parent or a provider can send the online referral form. Call 1-800-844-0898, or 601-576-7281 in the Jackson area.
What to gather
- Your child's name, date of birth and diagnosis
- Your address and phone number
- The treating hospital and consultant
How long: No published timeline from referral to service.
What a yes looks like
A named coordinator who rings you and starts arranging things.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask which condition category was used and whether a letter from the oncologist would change the answer.
Watch out
- The published condition list says blood disorders and does not name leukaemia. That is not a refusal; send the referral anyway.
- No income table, cost share or payment schedule is published, so do not count on money from it.
- The assessment has to be repeated every year or the file closes.
Dates that change this
2026-09-11: The state page lists blood disorders among eligible conditions and does not name leukaemia or cancer. Neither acceptance nor refusal is settled, and no income rule was published. Send the referral and let them answer. (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
Care coordination for a Mississippi child under 21 with a special health need, at no published cost.
- $21 — Upper age for the service
- $1 — How often the intake assessment is repeated
Covers: Family-centred care coordination · Coordination with your insurer or Medicaid plan · Pointers to community services, including transport help
What it costs the family: No cost is published either way. Ask when you call.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- birth to 21
- Age max inclusive
- 21
- Residency
- Mississippi
- Condition
- an eligible special health care need; the published list names blood disorders and does not name leukaemia either way
- Income
- no published cutoff
- Review
- an intake assessment every year
Decisions this site cannot make: An intake assessment, repeated every year
Expect friction on: The published diagnosis list says blood disorders and does not name leukaemia either way · No income table and no cost share are published
The trap: The published list of eligible conditions says blood disorders and does not name leukaemia or cancer. That is not a refusal. Send the referral and let them answer rather than deciding for them.
Where I read this
- MSDH - Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs — Mississippi State Department of Health, read September 10, 2026
- MSDH - CYSHCN Referral Form — Mississippi State Department of Health, read September 10, 2026