Florida · Checked October 22, 2026
Your license is the Homemaker and Companion Services Provider Registration (Fla. Stat. §400.509), issued by Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
| Item | Florida |
|---|---|
| License / registration | Homemaker and Companion Services Provider Registration (Fla. Stat. §400.509) |
| Issued by | Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) — official page |
| Application / initial fee | $50 — Registration fee set in Fla. Stat. §400.509(3): $50 per biennium (2 years). This is a registration, not a license — §400.509(1) exempts homemaker/companion-only providers from licensure but requires registration with AHCA. |
| Renewal | $50 |
| Surety bond | No state bond minimum found in the published rules |
| Liability insurance | State sets no minimum |
| Timeline | AHCA's statutory decision clock (60 days after receipt of all required documentation) is written for home health agency licensure applications in §400.471; §400.509 sets no separate published processing time for homemaker/companion registration. |
| Administrator | Section 400.509 sets no administrator education/experience qualification for homemaker/companion registrants. The registrant must obtain employment/contract history for staff who will have contact with clients in their homes and must comply with AHCA background-screening rules (Ch. 408, Part II). |
| State extras | Level 2 background screening (FDLE + FBI fingerprinting) for the administrator, financial officer and direct-care staff, repeated every 5 years — screening prices are charged by LiveScan vendors and are not printed in §400.509, so no state-published amount is shown here. |
| Service | Under this license |
|---|---|
| Companionship & supervision | Covered |
| Homemaker help | Covered |
| Hands-on personal care | Not covered by this license |
| Live-in / 24-hour care | Not covered by this license |
| Transportation | Not covered by this license |
| Skilled nursing or therapy | Home health license required |
THE SCOPE TRAP: a homemaker/companion registration legally EXCLUDES hands-on personal care. AHCA's own surveyor guidance states a homemaker and companion service is prohibited from providing any hands-on personal care, must not accept clients who need personal care, and may provide only housekeeping, chores, errands, cooking and companionship. Bathing, dressing, toileting or other personal care — and any home health service — requires a Home Health Agency license (or a Nurse Registry license).
Personal care AND skilled care both sit in the separate Home Health Agency license (Fla. Stat. §400.471). Initial HHA applicants must prove financial ability to operate: CPA-compiled balance sheet, income/expense and cash-flow statements for the first 2 years, a business plan, and contingency funding; the HHA must carry malpractice and liability insurance (minimum $250,000 per claim under §400.471). The HHA fee is set by AHCA rule and capped by statute at $2,000 per biennium — the statute itself does not print a flat fee (secondary sources cite $1,660/biennium; treat that figure as rule-set, not statutory). A third model, the Nurse Registry license, is referral-only with independent contractors.
Homemaker/companion registrants cannot bill Florida Medicaid for personal care. Medicaid personal care and home health are billed by AHCA-licensed Home Health Agencies enrolled as Florida Medicaid providers (enrollment via the Florida Medicaid portal/FLMMIS), largely through Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) Long-term Care plans.
AHCA contracted HHAeXchange as its EVV system; AHCA home health fee-for-service providers went live on HHAeXchange Oct 1, 2024. EVV applies to Medicaid personal care and home health visits, not to private-pay homemaker/companion registration work.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Florida selected — it adds the bond premium, insurance class, screening and the payroll runway your first hires create.
This page is information, not legal advice. Confirm before you file: the agency — not this page — decides your application.
The free checkers give you the verdict and the number. The Kit gives you the working papers: your state's application packet walked through in filing order, the policies-and-procedures binder spec (what your binder must contain — never a boilerplate binder), the administrator self-audit, the insurance & bond spec sheet, the Medicaid gate map, the franchise-vs-independent 10-year worksheets, and the payroll-runway planner.
$49 one-time payment
Included in the $49 HomeCareLicenseCheck Kit
