How do I get Medicaid money?

Before you start: Medicaid pays after the work. Plan to cover three to four months of one worker's pay and the $750 enrollment fee. If you can't yet, start with Playbook 3 or 4 and come back.

The result: your organization gets paid by Medicaid for work you're probably already doing.

Rule zero: every Ohio Medicaid dollar, even through a health plan, needs an Ohio Medicaid enrollment first. Plans reject claims from organizations that aren't enrolled.

Fastest door in Columbus: become a Care Coordination Agency in the Pathways HUB.

• A. Call Health Impact Ohio, which runs the Central Ohio Pathways HUB. It already holds contracts with the health plans, and CVS just funded more community health workers there (March 2026). Ask when the next agency application opens.
• B. Answer the application. Other Ohio HUBs have moved from posting to award in about three weeks.
• C. Sign the agency contract and the privacy agreement. Your community health workers take the HUB's training (about 20 hours, paid by the HUB).
• D. Get your community health workers certified by the Ohio Board of Nursing. The $35 fee is the easy part. Each worker first finishes a Board-approved community health worker training program, so start that early. The HUB wants certified workers before it contracts with you.
• E. Document every visit within two business days. No note, no payment.

How you're paid: a monthly fee for each person you're actively working with, plus payment for each completed outcome (a healthy birth, a housing connection).

Done when: the contract is signed, a certified worker is on staff, and your first monthly invoice is paid. Expect two to four months.

Other doors, in order of speed:

• Doulas. Ohio Medicaid has paid for doula services since October 2024. Your doulas get certified by the Ohio Board of Nursing, then you enroll with Ohio Medicaid and bill directly or through a clinic.
• Health plan contracts. Ohio has seven Medicaid health plans. Enroll with Ohio Medicaid ($750 for an organization), then pitch each plan a defined service with a price and your outcomes. Expect six to twelve months.
• Senior services (PASSPORT). Certified by the Ohio Department of Aging, with an audit by the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging. You apply after you've billed at least two unrelated clients for three months. PASSPORT is a waiver, and Ohio has paused new waiver and home health enrollments until November 14, 2026, so this door opens after that.
• School-based Medicaid. Only school districts bill. You get paid as the district's contractor.

Watch out for: cash flow (you're paid after the work, so line up 90 to 120 days of payroll first), privacy rules, and missing visit notes.

Last checked: October 2026.