Mississippi program
Nurses and aides at home through Medicaid
Nursing and hands-on help at home when your child’s health plan approves the care needs.
What it is
Nursing and hands-on help at home when your child’s health plan approves the care needs.
A discharge can leave you doing care that needs a nurse or aide. The clinic must describe the tasks and hours. Approval of hours and finding staff are separate steps.
Eligibility rules
- Your child needs full Medicaid first. There are three kinds of help: shift nursing for ongoing skilled care, an aide for daily tasks beyond what a child that age normally needs, and occasional nurse visits. Each needs a doctor's order and its own approval. A parent or anyone living in the home cannot be the paid worker.
- On CHIP the home-health benefit is smaller: about 36 nurse visits a year, with no shift nursing. If your child needs more than that, ask the benefit coordinator whether full Medicaid is open to you.
What you get
- Full Medicaid can cover approved nursing or personal-care services without family cost sharing. CHIP has different benefits, which the plan must confirm.
- Help from the discharge planner and plan care manager to arrange the service.
What this includes
- The medical order describes the skilled tasks or personal care needed. Finding an agency with staff can take additional work after hours are approved.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the discharge planner and plan care manager to discuss the hours and tasks with you.
- Keep a care log showing what happens, how often, and why help is needed.
- Ask the cancer team for the medical order and a written decision showing the approved hours.
The Division of Medicaid or the child's coordinated-care plan: 866-764-7081 · Official page ↗
What happens next
- Your social worker and ordering team can identify the responsible reviewer and request the written ordinary or urgent decision due date; plan and fee-for-service rules are not interchangeable.
- A missing-information request does not automatically give the plan 14 extra days. The notice should explain the allowed extension, its reason and the new due date; staff availability is separate from authorization.
- The health plan must answer a nursing request within about three days, or 24 hours when urgent. Ask the care manager for the due date in writing.
Good to know
For Medicaid nursing and personal care under these rules, an immediate family member or household resident cannot be the paid worker. Other programs have separate rules.
Other details
- The written decision says how many hours or visits are approved; a refusal can be appealed.
- If care at home may be unsafe, the oncology and discharge teams need to assess the support required before treating a home plan as workable. A benefit screen or approved number of hours does not establish that enough staff are available.
Official sources
- DOM - Title 23, Part 223, EPSDT, effective August 1, 2026
- DOM - Mississippi True (TrueCare) Coordinated Care Services Contract
- DOM - Care Management Services for Beneficiaries with Specific Conditions
- DOM - MississippiCAN Contacts
- DOM and CMS - the five approved Mississippi HCBS waiver renewals, effective July 1, 2023
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — Medicaid home nursing, personal care, waivers and paid parents
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — Medicaid home nursing, personal care, waivers and paid parents
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — CHIP home nursing and whether Medicaid service rules also apply
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — TrueCare ordinary clocks, other plans and fee-for-service authorization
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — TrueCare ordinary clocks, other plans and fee-for-service authorization
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — TrueCare ordinary clocks, other plans and fee-for-service authorization
- Mississippi medicaid.ms.gov — TrueCare ordinary clocks, other plans and fee-for-service authorization
“Could nursing or aide hours at home help us, what are the benefits and drawbacks, and could you help us request an assessment if it fits?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know which care can be shared with trained help and what arranging it would involve.
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 care in hours and tasks: what you do, how often, and what would happen if nobody did it.
Your social worker
The discharge planner and the plan's care manager put the request in and chase the authorisation.
The care team
The oncologist or the ward nurse writes the order and the description of skilled need.
- Who decides
- The Division of Medicaid, or the coordinated-care plan your child is in.
- Ask your social worker
- “Can we request private-duty nursing hours before discharge, and can I have the decision in writing with the hours on it?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the discharge planner and the plan's care manager for private-duty nursing hours before your child leaves the ward.
- Ask the discharge planner to request nursing hours before your child leaves the ward.
- Ask for the authorisation decision in writing, with the number of hours on it.
- Ask the plan's care manager for the agency list, and ring the agencies yourself: staffing is the real bottleneck.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask the hospital discharge planner and the plan's care manager together, before discharge. If the plan is TrueCare, a care manager must contact you within 72 hours of discharge.
What to gather
- A two-week log of what you do at home and how long it takes
- The doctor's order and the list of equipment
- Your child's Medicaid number and the plan name
How long: The plan confirms the written ordinary or urgent due date and any permitted extension. Three calendar days and/or two business days in posted contracts are not added together; care-manager contact after discharge is a separate requirement.
What a yes looks like
A written authorisation with a number of hours a week and a date range. Then the search for an agency with staff starts.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask whether the no was on skilled need or on hours. Appeal through the plan first, and if the plan misses its own deadlines you can go straight to a state hearing.
Watch out
- EPSDT nursing and personal care do not pay an immediate family member or household resident; other programs have separate worker rules.
- Getting hours approved and finding an agency with staff are two different problems. Start both at once.
- Ask for the authorisation in writing. A verbal yes with no hours on it is not something you can appeal.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Skilled nursing and personal-care hours require approval of the child’s assessed needs. The responsible reviewer confirms the applicable ordinary or urgent decision deadline.
- $3 — TrueCare ordinary authorisation decision
- $24 — TrueCare urgent authorisation decision
- $72 — TrueCare care-manager contact after a hospital discharge
Covers: Private-duty nursing hours at home · Personal care: washing, dressing, feeding, moving · Care management, including a fee-for-service programme that names the Katie Beckett group
Legal protection: For a child under 21, Medicaid must cover what is medically necessary to correct or improve the condition · A denial can go to a hearing; a plan that misses its own appeal deadlines opens the state hearing route
What it costs the family: Nothing. These are Medicaid services.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- under 21 for the correct-or-improve rule
- Coverage
- Full Medicaid for EPSDT nursing and personal care; separate CHIP home-health benefits require the CHIP plan’s review.
- Level of care
- Skilled need for nursing; hands-on need for personal care
- Residency
- Mississippi
- Processing standard
- The responsible reviewer confirms its written deadline and any justified extension. Posted Magnolia and Molina contracts use three calendar days and/or two business days ordinarily and 24 hours urgently; those ordinary periods are not added together. TrueCare and direct-Medicaid clocks require separate confirmation.
Decisions this site cannot make: Prior authorisation by the Division of Medicaid or the child's coordinated-care plan
Expect friction on: Finding a nursing agency with staff, which is the real bottleneck · A parent cannot be the paid carer
The trap: Medicaid EPSDT private-duty nursing and personal-care rules do not pay an immediate family member or household resident as the worker. Other waiver or caregiver programs need a separate review of their own rules.
Where I read this
- DOM - Title 23, Part 223, EPSDT, effective August 1, 2026 — Mississippi Division of Medicaid, read September 10, 2026
- DOM - Mississippi True (TrueCare) Coordinated Care Services Contract — Mississippi Division of Medicaid, read September 10, 2026
- DOM - Care Management Services for Beneficiaries with Specific Conditions — Mississippi Division of Medicaid, read September 10, 2026
- DOM - MississippiCAN Contacts — Mississippi Division of Medicaid, read September 10, 2026
- DOM and CMS - the five approved Mississippi HCBS waiver renewals, effective July 1, 2023 — Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, read September 10, 2026