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Coming home from the hospital
If your child is being discharged with equipment, orders and a lot of instructions, this is the moment to set up in-home nursing. Starting before discharge changes everything.
Start before discharge, not after
This is the single most useful thing in this guide. If a referral starts while your child is still admitted, the physician documentation, the Medicaid steps and the staffing search all happen in parallel with the rest of the discharge planning. If it starts after you get home, they happen in sequence, and you do the first stretch alone.
Ask your discharge planner or hospital case manager to contact HeartPath directly. They do this constantly and they know how to make the referral. Our line for hospital staff and physicians is 404-771-2570. Families can always reach us on 678-459-2590.
What to ask the hospital before you leave
- Who is the discharge planner or case manager assigned to my child, and how do I reach them directly?
- Has a referral for in-home skilled nursing been made, and to which agency?
- Which equipment is coming home, and which supplier is providing it?
- Who writes the orders and the plan of treatment for home nursing, and when?
- What happens if home nursing is not in place by the discharge date?
- Is my child's Medicaid active, and if not, who is helping with that?
The gap nobody warns you about
Discharge dates move faster than authorizations. It is common for a child to come home before nursing hours are approved, which means the family covers the first days or weeks themselves. That is exhausting and it is frightening, and it is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering it on day one.
It is also the reason we push so hard on starting early. Every day of documentation done before discharge is a day you are not doing this alone.
What we do
- Talk to you and to the hospitalWe coordinate with the discharge planner so nothing is duplicated and nothing is missed.
- Get the documentation movingWe prepare the forms and chase the physician orders and the plan of treatment.
- Submit for authorizationWe request prior authorization from Georgia Medicaid against that plan.
- Match a nurse to your childFor trach, vent and high-acuity cases we match on the specific skills your child needs, and we work to keep the same nurse with your family.
If Medicaid is not in place
That has to come first, and it is worth starting immediately. If your income is over the regular limit, read Katie Beckett, which ignores parents' income entirely. If you are not sure where you stand, the Path Finder maps it in about three minutes.
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 678-459-2590HeartPath 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.