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When the Benefit Is Available
The CSHCN Services Program can help pay for certain costs when a client passes away. In order to be able to get this benefit, the client must have passed away:
- While getting Program health-care benefits, and
- While in a facility that is not in the city or town where the family lives.
What Is Covered
This is what the Program can pay for:
- The cost of travel by one family member or other person who escorts the body.
- The cost of transporting the deceased from the facility to the place of burial (within Texas). This cost may include the following:
- First Call Charge. (Maximum of $75) Removal of the body from the facility by the funeral home.
- Coffin. (Maximum of $75) A coffin that meets minimum legal conditions. Updated 9/14/2009
- Embalming. (Maximum $100) Airlines and rail systems require embalming.
Note: Depending on distance, a body may be transported over land without being embalmed.
- Land Travel. The Program can pay for:
- One-way mileage based on the State Mileage Guide.
Note: It is legal in Texas for the family to transport the body. If the family chooses to do this, the Program can pay the family the cost of mileage for that one-way trip.
- A container or coffin, if one is used. (Please note that it is common for the body to be transported on a cot.)
- Air Travel. The Program can pay for:
- Transportation to the airport by the funeral home
- An air tray provided by the funeral home
- Airline transportation for the body (and the one family member or other person who escorts the body)
- Rail Travel. The Program can pay for:
- Transportation to the rail station by the funeral home
- The container provided by the funeral home
- Rail transportation for the body (and the one family member or other person who escorts the body).
- Other types of travel. Contact the CSHCN Services Program at 1-800-252-8023.
What Is Not Covered
The Program cannot pay for:
- Cremation.
- Transportation of the ashes of a deceased client.
Reimbursement
Authorization is not required for transportation of deceased clients.
For reimbursement submit a CSHCN Services Program “Reimbursement Request for Transportation of the Remains of Deceased Clients” (PDF) form to the Texas Medicaid and Healthcare Partnership (TMHP). (updated link 8/12/2010)
Consult Chapter 35 (PDF) of the 2010 CSHCN Services Program Provider Manual for more details. (updated link 8/12/2010) Or, look at the CSHCN Services Program Rules, Texas Administrative Code (TAC), §38.10 (6)(D), Payment of Services.
Send comments, questions, complaints, or broken links by e-mail to CSHCN Services Program.