Minnesota · Checked October 22, 2026
Your license is the Home Care License — Basic (non-medical lane) or Comprehensive, issued by Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), Health Regulation Division.
| Item | Minnesota |
|---|---|
| License / registration | Home Care License — Basic (non-medical lane) or Comprehensive |
| Issued by | Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), Health Regulation Division — official page |
| Application / initial fee | $2,100 — Initial applicant seeking a TEMPORARY home care license pays $2,100 for a basic home care provider or $4,200 for a comprehensive home care provider, Minn. Stat. 144A.472 subd. 7(a). Basic is the non-medical lane (see excludesNote); the $2,100 shown is the basic fee. The same amounts apply on change of ownership (subd. 7(b)). |
| Renewal | Renewal is NOT a flat fee: it is charged on a statutory schedule based on the provider's revenues from home care services in the prior calendar year (Minn. Stat. 144A.472 subd. 7(c)-(e)), so no single renewal figure exists to publish. Historical schedules in the statute have run from a few hundred dollars at the lowest revenue tier to over $6,000 at the top tier; a provider may elect to pay the highest fee for its category instead of reporting revenue. Read the current subdivision before quoting any renewal range. |
| Surety bond | No state bond minimum found in the published rules |
| Liability insurance | State sets no minimum |
| Timeline | State does not publish a processing time in the sources checked; entry is via a temporary license first, then conversion to a full license after MDH survey/compliance |
| Administrator | Basic home care services must be overseen by the licensee with staff trained for the services offered; comprehensive home care adds professional (RN) supervision requirements for skilled services, and all Medicare-certified home health agencies must hold a comprehensive license (MDH). No single administrator degree standard was stated in the sections checked. |
| State extras | Change-of-ownership fee equals the initial fee ($2,100 basic / $4,200 comprehensive); $1,000 fine for failure to meet licensee notification duties (144A.473 subd. 2(c), referenced in 144A.472 subd. 7(i)); double-fee civil penalty for knowingly under-reporting revenue to lower the renewal fee. |
| Service | Under this license |
|---|---|
| Companionship & supervision | Covered |
| Homemaker help | Covered |
| Hands-on personal care | Covered |
| 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 BASIC license covers basic home care services — assistance with activities of daily living, homemaker/household help and related non-skilled support. It does NOT cover comprehensive home care services: skilled nursing, therapy, and other professional services that require RN assessment/supervision, which require the Comprehensive license.
Comprehensive Home Care license is the higher license class under the same MDH program (Minn. Stat. 144A.43-144A.4799): $4,200 initial temporary-license fee, RN-supervised skilled services, and it is mandatory for Medicare-certified home health agencies (MDH).
VERIFIED on mn.gov (DHS): temporary moratorium on NEW 245D Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) licenses administered by the Minnesota DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES — effective January 1, 2026, anticipated 24 months, ending December 31, 2027. DHS will stop accepting new 245D applications, stop adding new service lines to existing 245D licenses, and cancel pending applications. Authority: Minn. Stat. 245A.03 subd. 7a and Executive Order 25-10. IMPORTANT SCOPE LIMIT: this is the DHS 245D HCBS license, NOT the MDH 144A home care license above — the MDH basic/comprehensive home care license is a different license and this moratorium announcement does not close it. A founder who needs 245D HCBS waiver services is blocked until 2028; a private-pay / MDH-licensed home care launch is a different lane.
Enroll with Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) through the Department of Human Services (MPSE / MN-ITS) for Personal Care Assistance / Community First Services and Supports (PCA/CFSS) and HCBS waiver services (Elderly Waiver, CADI, BI, DD). NOTE: the separate DHS 245D HCBS license is under the moratorium in gates — MDH home care licensure and 245D licensure are different licenses from different departments
EVV is required for Medicaid personal care services in Minnesota. Verify the current DHS EVV service list before billing.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Minnesota 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
