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You have been doing this with a nurse in the room. Now it is just you.

A NICU discharge hands a family a monitor, a feeding plan, sometimes oxygen or a trach, and a car seat. Georgia Medicaid covers in-home nursing so the first months at home are not done alone.

Check eligibility Try the Path Finder

Start before discharge, not after

This is the single most useful thing on this page. The GAPP process can begin while your baby is still admitted, which means the Medicaid steps run alongside discharge planning rather than starting the week after you get home.

Ask your NICU case manager or social worker to contact us directly. They do this constantly and they know how to make the referral. Our line for hospital staff is 404-771-2570.

What a nurse actually does in the home

Apnea and bradycardia monitoring, and knowing what is real
Feeding support, including tube feeds and paced bottle feeding
Oxygen and saturation monitoring where they came home with it
Full tracheostomy and ventilator care where that is the picture
Weight, intake and output tracking the pediatrician will want
Overnight shifts, so new parents get actual sleep

Babies Can’t Wait ends at three. GAPP runs birth to 21, and a child can be enrolled in both at the same time. If your baby is in early intervention, that does not replace or delay anything here.

What qualifies a NICU graduate

NICU graduates come home with a wide range of needs, and the ones most often authorized are those with ongoing respiratory involvement, tube feeding, or complex medication and monitoring requirements.

Prematurity by itself is not the question. What your baby actually needs each day is, and it is worth asking rather than assuming you will be told no.

The discharge planner is your allyHome nursing is often what a discharge actually waits on. Involving us early tends to shorten that wait rather than lengthen it.

Nights firstMost NICU families ask for overnight coverage before anything else, and it is usually the right first ask. Sleep is not a luxury when you are learning to manage equipment.

If Medicaid is not in placeMany NICU babies qualify for Medicaid directly. If your income is above the standard limit, Georgia’s Katie Beckett pathway ignores parental income and qualifies the child on their own needs.

Questions families ask

When should we start the GAPP process?

While your baby is still in the NICU, if you can. Nothing about the process requires your child to be home first, and starting early means fewer days between discharge and having nursing in place.

Does prematurity alone qualify a baby for GAPP?

Not by itself. Georgia Medicaid approves on documented daily skilled care needs, so a baby coming home on oxygen, with a feeding tube, or with a tracheostomy presents a much clearer case than gestational age alone.

Can my baby be in Babies Can’t Wait and GAPP at the same time?

Yes. They are different programs and they run in parallel. Babies Can’t Wait is early intervention and ends at three; GAPP is medical care and runs to 21.

Who do we ask at the hospital?

Your NICU case manager, social worker or discharge planner. Any of them can contact us directly on 404-771-2570, and we can begin while your baby is still admitted.

Ready when you are.

Tell us about your child and a real person will walk you through what comes next. No cost, no obligation.

Check eligibility Call 678-459-2590

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HeartPath Home Care is an approved provider for the Georgia Pediatric Program. We are not a government agency, and this page is not medical advice. Georgia Medicaid decides who is approved, which services are authorized and how many hours. Talk to your child’s physician about your child’s care.