A Georgia child with seizures or epilepsy who has full Medicaid can receive care at home through GAPP, the Georgia Pediatric Program, when that care is medically necessary. Seizures are one of the needs the state asks the physician to record, and the agency keeps a log of every seizure. Whether your child gets nursing hours, personal support hours or both depends on how often seizures happen, what care they need, and everything else about your child’s care.
For many families, seizures are what make it hard to leave a child with anyone. This page explains how GAPP looks at seizures, why the seizure log matters so much, and what to ask an agency.
How GAPP looks at seizures
GAPP does not approve care by diagnosis. It approves care that is medically necessary, judged on your child’s overall medical condition, the equipment they use and the level and frequency of care they need (GAPP manual §702.1.1). On the state’s nursing evaluation form, the DMA-6(A), the neurological section lists seizures, and other sections cover medications, monitoring such as a cardiopulmonary monitor or pulse oximetry, and vital signs taken more than twice a day.
So a diagnosis of epilepsy does not decide anything on its own. What the review needs to see is the care in practice: how often seizures happen, how long they last, what has to be done when one starts, and whether they happen at night. The physician’s orders and statement of medical necessity should carry that detail.
The seizure log
The GAPP manual requires agencies to keep seizure logs whenever a child has seizure activity. Each entry records the date and time, the type of seizure, how long it lasted, the intervention required and your child’s response (§914). The state publishes a generic Seizure Observation Log that agencies may use, which also records who reported the seizure (Appendix V).
The log matters beyond the paperwork. It is the record reviewers see when hours are requested, renewed or changed, so a log that is complete and kept every day is one of the strongest things your child’s file can have. Keep your own notes of seizures that happen when a nurse is not there, and share them with the agency and your child’s neurologist.
What a home nurse does
A GAPP nurse provides the skilled care in your child’s physician’s orders. For a child with seizures that can include monitoring, responding to a seizure according to your child’s seizure plan and orders, giving medications as ordered, recording each event in the log, and teaching the family. The orders decide the care, not the agency and not this page.
Nursing and personal support
Some children are approved for skilled nursing, some for personal support, which is hands-on help with feeding, bathing, dressing, hygiene and moving, and some for both. A child can be approved for personal support without skilled nursing (§601). Which tasks belong to which service follows the physician’s orders and the plan of care, so ask your agency to walk you through it for your child, including who responds if a seizure starts.
How hours are decided
- Hours are based on your child’s specific medical treatment needs and on the training needs of the primary caregiver (§702.1.4).
- They are approved as a monthly maximum, for up to six months at a time, and renewed. The renewal is due 30 days before the approval ends (§819.4, §804.2, §817).
- There is no published number of hours for epilepsy. Anyone who quotes one before the state’s review is guessing.
If your child’s hours are denied or cut, federal law requires Medicaid to cover the private nursing a child needs, and our page on who pays for private duty nursing explains a 2026 court ruling about exactly that.
When seizures change
More frequent or longer seizures, a new medication, or a seizure that sends your child to the hospital is a change in condition. The agency must submit a change request within five days, and the state’s medical review team expedites these when necessary (§827). Hospital stays must be reported too (§818.11). An increase in hours needs documentation from the physician and updated orders, and the seizure log shows the reviewers why.
Your training
One of GAPP’s stated goals is to teach parents and caregivers to care for their child safely when a nurse is not there (§825.5). Your agency keeps a teaching plan and a caregiver skills checklist that records what you have learned (§918). If there are parts of your child’s seizure plan you are not yet confident doing alone, make sure the checklist says so.
School
GAPP hours cannot be used at school. Seizure care during the school day is arranged through the school, usually through your child’s IEP (§604, §703.2.3). Share your child’s seizure plan with the school as well as with the agency, so everyone responds the same way.
Can a parent be paid?
Through GAPP’s Family Caregiver Option, a parent or other legally responsible adult who lives with the child can be paid for approved personal support hours, as an employee of the agency. It does not cover skilled nursing (§604.2). Our Village Care page explains how it works.
For long-term supports such as respite, which GAPP does not fund, Georgia’s NOW and COMP waivers serve people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, which can include epilepsy. See how Georgia’s programs compare.
What to ask an agency
- How many of your nurses in my county have cared for a child with frequent seizures, and with my child’s emergency medications?
- Who will follow my child’s seizure plan on each shift, and how is it kept up to date with the neurologist?
- How do you keep the seizure log, and can I see it?
- What happens when my child’s nurse calls out? Agencies must have provisions for back-up staffing (§609.4).
There are more in our guide to choosing a GAPP provider.
In short
- Seizures are one of the needs GAPP weighs, alongside everything else about your child’s care.
- Agencies must keep a seizure log; a complete log is the strongest evidence for your child’s hours.
- More or longer seizures are a change in condition, reported within five days.
- Seizure care at school comes through the school, not GAPP.
If your child has seizures and needs care at home, tell us about your child and we will tell you honestly whether we can staff the care in your county. The full program rules are in our GAPP guide.
Common questions
Can a child with epilepsy get nursing at home in Georgia?
Yes, if the child has full Georgia Medicaid and GAPP approves care as medically necessary. Seizures are among the neurological needs the physician records on the state's nursing evaluation form, alongside medications and monitoring. You apply through a GAPP-approved agency.
Does epilepsy qualify a child for GAPP?
GAPP does not approve care by diagnosis. It looks at the child's overall medical condition, the equipment they use, and the level and frequency of care they need, so two children with epilepsy can get different answers. How often seizures happen and what care they need is what matters.
Why does GAPP need a seizure log?
The GAPP manual requires agencies to keep seizure logs when a child has seizure activity, recording the date and time, the type of seizure, how long it lasted, the intervention required and the child's response. The state publishes a generic seizure observation log agencies may use. The log is how reviewers see the care your child needs.
Can I get paid to care for my child with seizures?
Through GAPP's Family Caregiver Option, a parent or other legally responsible adult who lives with the child can be paid only for approved personal support hours. Care the physician orders as skilled nursing is provided by a licensed nurse.
Sources
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Part II Policies and Procedures for Georgia Pediatric Program (GAPP) In-Home Nursing, July 1, 2025 edition, published on GAMMIS under Provider Manuals.
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Georgia Pediatric Program (GAPP) provider presentation, June 2023, published on the Georgia Medicaid Management Information System portal.
- Georgia Medicaid, Waiver Programs.
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Community Based Services.
Please read. This article is general information about a public program, not medical, legal or financial advice, and it is not a decision about your child. Program rules change. Confirm anything that matters with the Georgia Department of Community Health or with a GAPP participating agency before you rely on it.