INP - Indep. Nurse Provider for Medi-CAL Info needed

CharlaRN · May 11, 2009

Hi Kath,

I'm an INP for Medi-Cal. You can get patient referrals from Social Workers. If you are currently with a hospital, speak to the various SW there. Also, give a call to Medi-Cal In-Home Operations and put your name on a list so they can notify patients who call that you are available. If you are interested in taking care of a Medically Fragile Foster child, call the DHS in your area. My adopted child was my patient in the hospital, I called the group home, spoke to their SW, and got placement to my home. I provide her nursing care, and bill Medi-Cal. She is on TPN 20hours/day, GT dependent, and would be in an institution if she hadn't been adopted - so, win-win-win with Medi-Cal saving institutional costs, adoption, and me being at home!

Char

sweetsooziep · Sep 9, 2010

Hi Char, bless your heart! Is your Foster daughter still thriving? I wanted to see if you are still at this address and ask you some questions about INP for infants and children vs adults. Do I still need to go through IHO? I think they discontinued IHO and merged it into MCM. Do you know? I am having such a hard time getting a new case. It's been 7 weeks and no social workers from Medi-Cal have responded; though I have been working as an independent for 5 years, all prior referrals were from the PT, OT, Speech therapists that knew needy families....

Thanks for talking, Susan

CharlaRN · Sep 9, 2010

These kids are straight Medi-Cal, and, not Managed Care. Your POT/TAR would NOT go through CCS like Managed Care has to. By looking up their Benefit ID # (BID) on the Medi-Cal site, you can check for yourself that the child is straight Medi-Cal. I do an e-TAR, make a copy of my POT, CPR, RN License, Insurance, Drivers License, and FAX everything over to the phone # on the TAR attachment form (I fax it all) The letter IHO/EPSDT sent out to mail paper TARS/POTS to a new address was confusing - that's only if you DO paper TARS/POTS to begin with! My daughter is doing well! Three years with no Central Line infection!

CharlaRN · Sep 9, 2010

Hi again, Susan!

Another idea is to go directly to a few hospitals and speak with the Social Workers in NICU and PICU. Once you clarify what you've been doing at home with medically fragile foster children, they can refer a child to you. I haven't heard of a Medi-Cal SW referring a child to an INP - I think a hospital SW may be a better way to go for referrals - especially, in highly populated areas where more children may be in need of qualified RN/LVN foster homes.

HTH! Charla