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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Oregon program

Medicaid that leaves out parents' income (Oregon's children's waivers)

Oregon's children's home-care waivers can open Medicaid without counting parents' income [Children's Intensive In-Home Services, or CIIS].

What it is

Oregon's children's home-care waivers can open Medicaid without counting parents' income [Children's Intensive In-Home Services, or CIIS].

Some children need hospital or nursing-facility care even while living at home. Oregon's children's waivers can provide coverage and support without counting parents' earnings. A clinical assessment and an available place are both needed.

Eligibility rules
  • The medical waivers serve children from birth through age 17. The child's own income and resources are assessed.
  • Medically Fragile requires hospital level of care and an assessment score of at least 45. The need must be expected to last more than two months.
  • Medically Involved is for a child who needs nursing-home-level care at home; a CIIS nurse scores the assessment.
What you get
  • Full OHP coverage without counting parents' income.
  • Nursing and other home supports based on the waiver and your child's assessment.
What the help includes
  • Oregon uses these capped waivers rather than a Katie Beckett state-plan route.
  • Private duty nursing has a separate route that can continue for members under 21.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the oncology social worker to help arrange a CIIS referral and assessment.
  2. Have a care log and the oncologist's description of feeding, lines, oxygen and overnight care ready.

CIIS: 971-673-3000. Medically Fragile: 971-673-2285. Medically Involved: 503-729-1165. · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • CIIS assesses the care level, available places and applicable waiting-list priorities. Some Medically Involved referrals have priority because of institutional care or risk.
  • A written assessment helps explain the score and whether a place or a waiting-list position is available.
Good to know

A cancer diagnosis neither establishes nor rules out the required care level. The clinical assessment decides whether this route fits. An available place and financial eligibility are separate decisions.

Other details
  • Places are capped at about 120 children on the Medically Fragile waiver and 200 on Medically Involved at any one time, so there is usually a waiting list. Ask CIIS where your child would sit on it.
  • Only your child's own income and savings count: under $2,982 a month and $2,000 in savings (2026).

Federal background: Medicaid home-care programs (waivers).

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could our child's care needs qualify for a waiver that leaves out parents' income? What would it add, what are the drawbacks and waits, and could you help with a referral if it fits?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether the care needed at home opens another route to coverage.

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

Call for a referral and describe the daily care in plain terms: feeding, lines, oxygen, night care.

Your social worker

The oncology team writes the medical picture. The social worker makes the referral and asks for a written score.

The care team

The oncologist documents the level of care the child needs at home; that document is what the assessment turns on.

Who decides
Children's Intensive In-Home Services assesses the level of care, and a place has to be free.
Ask your social worker
“Can we refer my child to Children's Intensive In-Home Services and be put on the list now, and can the oncologist write the level of care my child needs at home?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the hospital social worker whether a CIIS referral and clinical assessment would be useful, what the program could add and how any waiting list works.

  1. Call 971-673-3000 and ask for an assessment and to be added to the list, even if a slot is not free.
  2. Ask the oncologist to write what your child needs at home in level-of-care terms.
  3. Ask which of the three waivers your child is being assessed against and what the score was.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Call Children's Intensive In-Home Services on 971-673-3000 and ask for a referral and an assessment. Medically Fragile: 971-673-2285. Medically Involved: 503-729-1165.

What to gather

  • A letter from the oncologist describing daily care at home
  • Your child's own income and accounts, if any
  • Oregon address and the child's date of birth

How long: No assessment deadline or measured wait was published. Ask for the date you were listed in writing.

What a yes looks like

An assessment score, a named waiver and either a place or a position on the list.

What a no looks like, and the next move

A score below the waiver's threshold. Ask which criteria were scored and whether a different waiver fits better.

Watch out

  • An assessment and an available place are separate requirements; CIIS confirms the waiting-list process.
  • The published figures are approved places, not a waiting-list count; no waiting-list number was published.
  • The clinical assessment, not a cancer diagnosis or questionnaire care label, determines whether the level-of-care and score tests are met.

Dates that change this

2026-07-01: The current published CEN waiver provides 230 concurrent places from July 1, 2026. Capacity is not a waiting-list count or a promise of an available place. (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

Medical waivers can provide OHP and assessed home services without counting parents’ income. From July 1, 2026, Medically Fragile has 121 concurrent places and 133 annual participants; Medically Involved has 200 concurrent places and 212 annual participants. The separate CEN program has 230 concurrent places.

  • $121 — Medically Fragile waiver, children served at one time (waiver year 3)
  • $133/year — Medically Fragile waiver, unduplicated children a year (waiver year 3)
  • $200 — Medically Involved waiver, children served at one time
  • $230 — Children’s Extraordinary Needs concurrent places, from July 1, 2026
  • $212/year — Medically Involved annual unduplicated participants, from July 1, 2026

Covers: Full Oregon Health Plan coverage for the child · In-home nursing and support hours · Care coordination through Children's Intensive In-Home Services

Legal protection: Parents' income is not counted

What it costs the family: A child with income of their own contributes to the cost of services; there is no published flat premium schedule.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
birth through 17 on the medical waivers; private duty nursing alone can continue to under 21
Income
the child's own income and resources are counted; parents' income is not
Level of care
Medically Fragile needs hospital level of care and a score of 45; Medically Involved needs nursing-facility level of care, 7 points on daily living and 100 overall
Residency
Oregon
Capacity
fixed approved places, first come first served, with a waiting list

Decisions this site cannot make: A level-of-care assessment by the Children's Intensive In-Home Services team · A waiver slot becoming free

Expect friction on: Every one of these waivers is first come, first served with a waiting list, and the state says it does not know how fast the list moves · A child in ordinary leukaemia treatment rarely meets hospital or nursing-facility level of care

The trap: Capacity does not establish an opening. The social worker can discuss the clinical assessment, application date and current waiting-list process with CIIS.

Where I read this

← Back to your options