Choosing a pediatric home care agency is not like choosing a daycare. You are inviting nurses
and aides into your home, often during the most vulnerable hours, to care for the most fragile
person in your life. The decision deserves more than a Google search.
LICENSING AND OVERSIGHT: In Georgia, any agency providing in-home care must hold a
Private Home Care Provider license from the Georgia Department of Community Health. For
GAPP work, the agency must additionally be enrolled and approved by Medicaid. Ask to see
both. If the agency hesitates, that’s your answer.
EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR CHILD’S SPECIFIC NEEDS: Ask: ‘How many children with [your
child’s condition] are you currently caring for in Metro Atlanta?’ The honest agencies answer
specifically.
STAFFING DEPTH IN YOUR COUNTY: An agency might have wonderful nurses — but if all of
them live in Cherokee and you’re in Conyers, you’ll feel the gap during a 6 a.m. callout.
COMMUNICATION CULTURE: When (not if) a nurse calls in sick at 3 a.m., what happens?
Who picks up the phone? How fast does a backup arrive?
CARE COORDINATION: Your home care nurses should communicate care notes with the
Medically Complex Care Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta or whichever clinic follows
your child.
TRAINING AND CREDENTIALING: Every direct caregiver should have undergone GCIC and
FBI fingerprint background checks. Trach- and vent-trained nurses should have current
competencies documented.
One quiet test: ask how the agency handles a mistake. The good ones have a policy. The great
ones tell you about a specific time they got something wrong and what they did about it.
We’d be glad to be one of the agencies you interview. Visit AxessHS.com to learn more
about how Axess Health Solutions works with GAPP families across Metro Atlanta.