Protect care at home

Private duty nursing saves lives

Private duty nursing, or PDN, supports Coloradans with disabilities and complex medical conditions in the comfort of their homes at a fraction of the cost of a similar hospital stay. Children dependent on life-saving supports like feeding tubes and trachs rely on this program for round-the-clock care. Without 24/7 care, these children could experience severe health consequences.

List of medical conditions: birth injury, congenital disease, failure to thrive, muscular dystrophy (MS).

Through Colorado Medicaid’s private duty nursing program, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses care for children with complex medical and developmental conditions such as:

A lifeline for critically ill patients

List of health conditions: spinal muscular atrophy, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury (TBI), with icons on the left.

Luke’s Story

Meet Colorado parents Rod Schiller and Amy Wiedeman and their son, Luke. Luke was born with a brain malformation that has led to severe cerebral palsy. In addition to working full-time jobs, Rod and Amy shoulder the bulk of Luke’s complex care needs themselves. Medicaid initially provided 24/7 nursing support, but this has been gradually reduced, now covering only four days and nights each week. Facing the strain of providing around-the-clock care, they appealed to Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee, urging an increase in Medicaid's reimbursement rate for private-duty nursing to attract and retain more nurses. Watch their interview with Colorado 9|News.

Child smiling, wearing a neck pillow and seated with a patterned blanket outdoors. Luke is a 13-year-old medically fragile son who requires full care at home
“I have a 13-year-old medically fragile son who requires full assistance because he is non-verbal, he is wheelchair bound and he has seizures every day. It’s not possible for me to care for him alone without nursing assistance, but we don’t have adequate nursing care or support for my son because the reimbursement rates are not adequate at all for home health care nurses to make ends meet in the state of Colorado.”
— Amy, Luke's mother

Luke

Why It Matters

  • hand holding a money bag icon

    Saves the state money

    Home-based care lowers health care costs by reducing complications and avoiding costly hospital stays.

  • Abstract family icon with four figures

    Keeps families together

    While receiving PDN care, patients can live with their loved ones, instead of away in a facility.

  • Medical cross symbol inside a circle

    Reduces hospital stays

    PDN enables many high-need Medicaid clients to receive care at home and avoid long-term hospitalization.

Resources & Updates

  • Text document cover for "The Menges Group" report on Medicaid nursing rates, February 2024.

    Analysis: Benefits of raising Medicaid payments

    Study finds higher payment rates could reduce Colorado’s PDN shortage.

    Read the report

  • Person lying in bed with medical equipment, another person assisting them.

    Low Medicaid reimbursement rates lead to nursing shortage

    Denver7: Low reimbursements causing nurses to seek higher paying jobs.

    Watch the story

  • Nurse with stethoscope holding and smiling at a baby, who has a chromosomal disorder

    Parents of medically fragile kids can’t find nurses

    Colorado Sun: Nurses underpaid & hard to find. Parents urge the state to step in.

    Read the article