Paying for it
Nobody pays for this out of their own pocket.
Medicaid pays for disability support in Texas. Getting Medicaid to say yes is the hard part, and it is where almost everyone gets stuck. That part we do with you.
Free, and it does not commit you to Birch. Plenty of people use our help and choose somewhere else. That is fine.
What we actually do
We do not hand you a list of phone numbers.
Most places tell you to call your local authority and wish you luck. That is not help. Half of what makes this hard is that nobody explains what the words mean, nobody tells you when to chase, and nobody notices when a form has been sitting on someone's desk for a month.
So we do it with you. Here is what that looks like in practice.
We work out what you qualify for
One conversation, and we tell you which programme fits and whether there is a faster way in than the one everybody knows about. If the answer is that nothing fits right now, we say that too.
We fill the forms in with you
Sat down together, in person or on a call, in English or Spanish. We know which questions get people rejected and how to answer them properly. You do not do this alone at a kitchen table at midnight.
We make the calls and chase
Assessments get booked. Paperwork goes missing. People stop replying. We stay on it, with your permission, so you are not the one ringing an office every Tuesday.
We tell you where it has got to
You can see the whole thing at any time — what has happened, what we are waiting on, what is next. And we tell you when something moves, rather than you having to ask.
You get one person, not a queue
A name and a direct number, and it stays the same person the whole way through. They know your case without you re-explaining it.
We keep going after the yes
Getting funded is not the end. The plan has to say the right things, and it gets reviewed every year. We help with that too, whether or not you choose us as your provider.
How the money works
Three words worth knowing.
You will hear these a lot, and nobody ever stops to explain them. They are simpler than they sound.
Health cover paid for by the state and the federal government. If someone is on Medicaid, that is what pays for their support. You are not billed and neither is your family.
Home and Community-based Services. This is the one most people are trying to get. It pays for somewhere to live with support, day support, skills, nursing and more. It is why people call it the gold standard, and it is also why there is a queue.
Texas Home Living. Similar support, smaller in scale, for people living at home with their family. Less waiting, and often a sensible thing to have while you wait for HCS.
HCS has an interest list, and it is long — tens of thousands of people. Your place on it is decided by one thing only: the date you joined. Which is why the single most useful thing anyone can do today is get on it, even if they do not need it yet.
The list is not the only route. Texas can move faster when someone is leaving a hospital or a facility, when a young person is ageing out of another system, or in a genuine crisis where there is nowhere safe to live. These routes get missed constantly, and they are the first thing we look at.
"I had been on that list for six years and I had no idea I was supposed to keep telling them my new address. Somebody should have said."Parent, Houston — the reason we do the chasing
Where you probably are
Almost everyone is in one of three places.
Find yours, then call us or run the check. Either way it is the same conversation.
Nothing yet
No waiver, maybe no diagnosis
This is the most common one and it is not a problem. We work out what you can apply for, get you on the list the same week, and look at whether a faster route applies to you.
Waiting
On the list, years in
We check you are still actually on it and that your details are current, because that is how people lose a place they had already earned. Then we look at whether anything has changed that opens a faster route.
Funded
HCS or TxHmL in place
The hard part is done. Now it is about whether the plan says the right things and who delivers it. We will look at the plan with you, for free, even if you go elsewhere.
Straight answers
The questions people ask us first.
What does the help cost?
Nothing. Not now, not later, and not if you choose another provider. We help with funding because it is how people find us, and because someone should.
Do I have to use Birch afterwards?
No. Use all of it and pick someone else. We would rather be the people who helped you than the people who held the information back.
How long does it take?
Honestly, it depends, and anyone who gives you a number without knowing your situation is guessing. A crisis route can move in weeks. The interest list can take more than a decade. What we can tell you quickly is which of those you are looking at.
We do not have a diagnosis on paper
Then that is the first thing. We will tell you what is needed and help you arrange it. And we get you on the interest list at the same time, because the two do not have to happen in order.
Someone is being discharged and has nowhere to go
Call now rather than filling anything in. Tell us how many days you have. We will tell you the same day whether we can take them, whether a short-term place is realistic while the funding is worked out, or whether you need a different kind of provider.
Can you help if we live outside Houston?
With the funding, yes, anywhere in Texas. With a home, only if you are in Houston or the counties around it. We will tell you which of those applies before you spend any time on it.
¿Nos pueden ayudar en español?
Sí, en todo: la llamada, los formularios, la comprobación y los informes. Llámenos al (832) 359-1399.
Start wherever is easiest.
The check takes about five minutes and tells us enough to be useful on the first call. Or skip it and just ring us — that works too.
If you are a hospital, shelter or service coordinator, use the referral form instead. It takes two minutes and you do not need to know their funding position.