Montana · Checked October 22, 2026
Non-medical home care is not state-licensed in Montana — but the lanes around it are regulated, and the skilled door is a different license.
Checked in part. No-license finding for non-medical care is by absence in Title 50, Chapter 5 and DPHHS facility categories. The home health fee is statute-derived ($20, no beds) and not restated in DPHHS application materials, and the CON position changed between DPHHS letters — both flagged rather than smoothed over. Anything the state does not publish is printed as "Not published" below — never filled from blogs or consultancy tables. Confirm on the agency page before you budget.
| Item | Montana |
|---|---|
| License / registration | No state license for a standalone non-medical / personal care agency. Montana licenses Home Health Agencies as health care facilities (Montana Code Annotated Title 50, Chapter 5) through DPHHS. Personal care for Medicaid members is delivered as Personal Assistance / Community First Choice services through Medicaid provider enrollment, not a facility license. |
| Issued by | Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), Office of Inspector General, Licensure Bureau (formerly Quality Assurance Division) — official page |
| Application / initial fee | Not published — No license fee for non-medical agencies (no license exists). For the licensed home health category, MCA § 50-5-202 sets health care facility license fees at $20 for facilities with 20 beds or less and $1 per bed for 21+ beds; a home health agency has no beds, so the statutory fee reads as $20 — but DPHHS application materials reviewed say only 'completed License Application and fee' without restating an amount, so treat $20 as statute-derived, not application-confirmed. |
| Renewal | Not applicable for the non-medical lane. Health care facility licenses may be issued for up to three years depending on survey history (ARM 37.106.310). |
| 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. DPHHS instructs applicants not to submit a home health application earlier than 6 months before the desired licensure date, to submit policies and procedures at least 45 days before the expected opening date, and states a 6-month provisional license is issued once documentation is approved, with an on-site survey during the provisional period. |
| Administrator | No state administrator standard for private-pay non-medical agencies. For home health licensure, DPHHS requires an attestation from the prospective administrator that he/she has reviewed the rules pertaining to home health agencies, plus a list of all professional staff with license numbers (DPHHS prospective HHA provider letter). |
| State extras | For the home health route: CON application fee historically $500 or 0.3% of capital expenditure, whichever is greater (MCA § 50-5-310(2)), if CON is held to apply; background checks and insurance are operating costs, not published state fees. |
| 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 |
Coverage shown reflects Montana Medicaid personal-assistance service vocabulary, not a licensed scope — there is no licensed non-medical scope. Nothing in Title 50, Chapter 5 creates a personal care agency category; an agency may not operate as a home health agency (skilled) without the facility license. Live-in and transport are not named categories in the licensure sources reviewed; Medicaid Community First Choice / personal assistance rules govern those services for members.
Home health = health care facility license from the DPHHS Licensure Bureau: application + fee, BFS plan submittal, policies and procedures submitted 45+ days before opening, list of counties to be served, professional staff list, administrator attestation; 6-month provisional license, then survey. Current DPHHS letter states home health agencies are NOT reviewed by the Health Planning Program and a Certificate of Need is NOT required (an older 2021 letter said CON was required through Oct. 1, 2021 — the requirement has lapsed/changed).
Certificate of Need: DPHHS's older prospective-provider letter required CON review for home health agencies through October 1, 2021; the current DPHHS letter states a CON is NOT required for home health agencies. Montana's CON statute (MCA 50-5-301) still lists home health among regulated categories in secondary summaries — verify current CON status with DPHHS Health Planning before relying on either statement at launch.
Enroll as a Montana Medicaid provider for Personal Assistance Services / Community First Choice (CFC) and Big Sky Waiver services through DPHHS Montana Medicaid provider enrollment; the agency must be a Medicaid-enrolled provider, and Medicaid home health (separate benefit) requires a licensed, Medicare-certified home health agency per ARM 37.40.702.
EVV is required for Medicaid personal care services under the federal 21st Century Cures Act as implemented by Montana Medicaid.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Montana 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
