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Pediatric private duty nursing in Clayton County

In-home skilled nursing (often called private duty nursing) and personal care for medically fragile children across Clayton County, through Georgia’s Pediatric Program. For families who qualify, Georgia Medicaid covers it in full.

Check eligibility Call 678-459-2590

JonesboroForest ParkMorrowRiverdaleLake CityLovejoy

Who we serve in Clayton County

Children under 21 whose day-to-day care needs a nurse or a trained caregiver: a tracheostomy or ventilator, a feeding tube, oxygen, seizure care, or significant help with lifting, positioning and daily activities. There is no fixed list of qualifying diagnoses. Approval turns on how much hands-on care your child needs each day, and Georgia Medicaid decides who is approved, not HeartPath.

Clayton has one of the highest shares of Medicaid-enrolled children in the metro, which means more families here are already through the door that stops everyone else. If your child is on Medicaid, the hardest step is behind you and GAPP is the next conversation.

Where children come home from in Clayton County

Most Clayton families are discharged from inside the county or from a Children’s campus just north of it. If your child is still admitted, that is the best time to call.

Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale is the main delivering hospital in Clayton and runs a Level III NICU. It is licensed for 331 beds and is the closest option for most of the county.

Children who need pediatric surgical or subspecialty care generally route to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Hughes Spalding downtown is the closest campus to most of Clayton, which makes it the one most Clayton families end up driving to.

Babies Can’t Wait in Clayton County

Clayton County is served by District 3-3, the Clayton health district. Clayton is its own health district, so the Babies Can’t Wait program here serves this county alone.

Babies Can’t Wait is Georgia’s early intervention program for children under three. It runs alongside GAPP rather than instead of it, and a child can be in both. If you are still working out which programs apply, our guide to coming home from the hospital walks through the order they happen in, and Babies Can’t Wait and GAPP explains how the two fit together.

Getting there from Clayton County

Clayton is south of the airport, and we staff it from both the south metro and the city.

Care is scheduled around your family, including nights, weekends and overnights. We match nurses to a child and work to keep the same nurse with the same family, because the nurse who knows your child’s baseline is the one who notices the day it changes.

What it costs a family here

Nothing. For children approved through Georgia Medicaid there is no out-of-pocket cost, no copay and no deductible. If you have been told your income is too high for Medicaid, read how Katie Beckett works before you give up on it. That pathway ignores parents’ income entirely and looks only at the child’s medical needs.

Starting from Jonesboro

Call 678-459-2590 or check eligibility online. We talk with you, help get the physician documentation moving, and submit the authorization request to Georgia Medicaid. About 30 days from first call to care starting is typical, though Medicaid sets the pace of its own review. Here is the full timeline.

Questions from families in Clayton County

Is there a children’s hospital in Clayton County?

No. Southern Regional in Riverdale has a Level III NICU, but pediatric subspecialty and surgical care is at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Hughes Spalding downtown is the nearest campus for most of the county. Home nursing is the part that comes back to Clayton with you.

Our child already has Medicaid. What is the next step?

You are past the step that stops most families. The next one is your child physician documenting the care needed at home, then we submit the authorization request to Georgia Medicaid. Call 678-459-2590 and we will start it.

Is there really no cost?

For children approved through Georgia Medicaid, none. No copay, no deductible, no out-of-pocket cost for GAPP services. The care is paid for by Medicaid.

Conditions we care for in Clayton County

HeartPath nurses care for children in Clayton County with a tracheostomy or a ventilator, a feeding tube, oxygen, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and hydrocephalus, and NICU graduates coming home for the first time. There is no fixed list of qualifying diagnoses, so if your child is not described here, call and ask.