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Babies Can’t Wait and GAPP, side by side
Babies Can’t Wait helps your baby develop. GAPP puts a nurse in your home. A child under three can have both at the same time, and starting GAPP early matters more than most families are told.
What Babies Can’t Wait is
Babies Can’t Wait is Georgia’s early intervention program, run by the Department of Public Health. It serves children from birth up to their third birthday, regardless of family income, who either have a diagnosed condition known to cause a developmental delay, such as spina bifida, Down syndrome or blindness, or have a developmental delay confirmed by a qualified team.
It works on development in everyday life: movement, communication, learning, feeding and play, usually with a therapist or specialist coming to where your child already spends the day, and a service coordinator who keeps the plan together.
What GAPP is
The Georgia Pediatric Program, GAPP, is the Georgia Medicaid program that pays for in-home skilled nursing and personal care for children under 21 whose daily care is medically complex. It is shift nursing: a nurse who stays for hours, not a visit.
How they compare
| Babies Can’t Wait | GAPP | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Georgia Department of Public Health | Georgia Medicaid (Department of Community Health) |
| Ages | Birth to the third birthday | Birth to the 21st birthday |
| What it provides | Early intervention for development, with a service coordinator | Skilled nursing by an RN or LPN, and personal care support, in your home |
| Who qualifies | A diagnosed condition known to cause delay, or a confirmed delay. Income does not matter | Active Georgia Medicaid and a documented daily skilled care need |
| Cost to families | Evaluation and service coordination are free. Other plan services are billed to insurance or Medicaid first, and a family cost share can apply to what they do not cover | No cost for authorized services |
| How to start | Your county’s Child Health Referral Contact, by phone, email, fax or form | Call a GAPP agency, or ask your doctor or coordinator to refer |
Why the timing matters
Most babies who qualify for both come home from a NICU, and Babies Can’t Wait often starts first. The GAPP referral is the one that tends to wait, and that wait is the gap families fall into: a baby home with a trach or a feeding tube and nobody to take a night shift.
So start GAPP at the same time, not after. Your Babies Can’t Wait service coordinator can refer you to a GAPP agency, or you can call us yourself on 678-459-2590. If your baby is still in the hospital, the discharge planner can refer too, and the earlier the paperwork starts, the smaller the gap.
Babies Can’t Wait ends at three. GAPP does not change at three and runs to 21, so the nursing your child is approved for carries on through the transition.
How to reach Babies Can’t Wait
Referrals go to the Child Health Referral Contact in the county where you live, and anyone can make one: a parent, a doctor, a hospital. The Department of Public Health keeps a contact finder by county. Our county pages also name the district that serves each county we cover.
Questions families ask
Can my child be in Babies Can't Wait and GAPP at the same time?
Yes. They are separate programs that do different jobs. Babies Can't Wait supports development until age three, and GAPP pays for in-home nursing and personal care through Medicaid until 21.
Does Babies Can't Wait cost anything?
Evaluation and service coordination are free. Other services in your child's plan are billed to private insurance or Medicaid first, and Georgia's family cost participation can apply to what those do not cover.
Do we need Medicaid for Babies Can't Wait?
No. Babies Can't Wait serves eligible children regardless of family income. GAPP is different: your child needs active Georgia Medicaid before GAPP nursing can start.
What happens at age three?
Babies Can't Wait plans a transition before the third birthday. GAPP does not end at three, so approved nursing continues.
Who can refer my child to GAPP?
You can call a GAPP agency yourself. Your Babies Can't Wait service coordinator, your pediatrician or a hospital discharge planner can also make the referral.
Ready when you are.
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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 an official publication of the Georgia Department of Community Health or Georgia Medicaid. It is a plain-language guide for families. Eligibility for GAPP, Medicaid and Katie Beckett is determined solely by Georgia Medicaid and the state agencies that administer them, based on your child's documented medical needs. Program rules and figures change.