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Your child has a trach. You should not be doing every shift alone.

A tracheostomy turns a parent into a full-time airway manager. Georgia Medicaid covers in-home nursing for exactly this, through the Georgia Pediatric Program, at no cost to the family.

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Why trach care qualifies for nursing hours more often than almost anything else

GAPP approval turns on how much hands-on skilled care a child needs each day, not on a diagnosis list. A tracheostomy generates that need continuously: the airway has to stay clear, the site has to stay clean, and someone has to be awake and competent when it plugs at three in the morning.

That is why trach-dependent children are among the most consistently authorized in the program, and often at high weekly hours. Georgia Medicaid still makes the decision and sets the hours, but the clinical case is usually straightforward to document.

What a nurse actually does in the home

Suctioning, on a schedule and whenever your child needs it
Trach tie and dressing changes, with the site checked every shift
Routine tube changes alongside the plan your ENT set
Humidification, oxygen and pulse oximetry monitoring
Emergency airway management, including an accidental decannulation
Overnight shifts, so someone else is listening while you sleep

Talk to your discharge planner or pulmonologist about GAPP before your child leaves the hospital. Starting the paperwork while they are still admitted means the Medicaid steps run alongside discharge planning instead of after you are already home alone with the equipment.

What the first month usually looks like

Most families reach us in one of two moments: a few days before a first discharge home with a new trach, or six months in, when the exhaustion has stopped being survivable. Both are the right time to call.

We start by telling you honestly whether your child looks like a GAPP fit, and if Medicaid is not in place yet, which door applies. That screen is free and carries no obligation to choose us.

Nurses who have done this beforeTrach and vent experience is a hiring requirement for these cases, not a preference. Your primary nurse is matched to your child, not to an open shift.

Nights are the hardest partOvernight coverage is the single thing trach families ask for most, and it is the shift most agencies quietly cannot fill. Ask us directly what we can staff in your county.

You stay in chargeThe plan of care comes from your child’s physician. Our nurses follow it, document it, and tell you what they saw. Nobody changes orders except the doctor.

Questions families ask

Does a tracheostomy automatically qualify my child for GAPP?

No. GAPP publishes no list of qualifying diagnoses, and Georgia Medicaid approves based on how much hands-on skilled care your child needs each day. A tracheostomy usually generates a strong, well-documented need, which is why trach-dependent children are frequently approved, but the decision is Medicaid’s and so is the number of hours.

Can we get overnight nursing for a trach?

Overnight hours are a normal part of GAPP authorizations when the clinical need supports them, and they are what most trach families want first. Whether we can staff those specific hours in your county is a separate question from whether Medicaid authorizes them, and we will give you a straight answer on both.

What does it cost us?

Nothing. GAPP is a Georgia Medicaid program and there is no bill to the family for authorized services.

Our income is too high for Medicaid. Is that the end of it?

Not necessarily. Georgia’s Katie Beckett pathway looks only at the child’s medical needs and ignores parents’ income. Families apply for that themselves, and once approved we handle the GAPP paperwork from there.

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

Keep reading

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.