Nebraska · Checked October 22, 2026
Non-medical home care is not state-licensed in Nebraska — but the lanes around it are regulated, and the skilled door is a different license.
Checked in part. Home health fees and the skilled-services definition are primary-verified from 175 NAC 14 and § 71-434. The 'no license for non-medical' conclusion follows from the absence of any non-medical category in the Health Care Facility Licensure Act scheme and the skilled-first definition of a home health agency; no primary sentence stating it verbatim was located. 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 | Nebraska |
|---|---|
| License / registration | No distinct non-medical home care license. Nebraska licenses Home Health Agencies under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-401 et seq.; 175 NAC 14), and that license is built around skilled services. There is no separate personal care / companion agency license category. |
| Issued by | Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Public Health — Health Care Facilities Licensure — official page |
| Application / initial fee | Not published — No license fee for a standalone non-medical agency (no category exists). For comparison, the Home Health Agency initial license fee is $650 under 175 NAC 14-003.01. Do not present $650 as a non-medical agency fee. |
| Renewal | Not applicable for the non-medical lane. Home health renewal fees are tiered by unduplicated admissions: $650 (1-50), $850 (51-200), $950 (201+) under 175 NAC 14-003.02. Statutory cap for home health agency license fees is $1,000 (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-434). |
| 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 |
| Administrator | No administrator standard for unlicensed non-medical agencies. For a licensed home health agency, the administrator must be a physician, a registered nurse, or a person with training and experience in health service administration and at least one year of supervisory or administrative experience in home health care or a related health program, with a qualified alternate; a registered nurse supervisor oversees aide services (175 NAC 14). |
| State extras | Home health route: $650 initial license fee and tiered renewal; background/registry check costs. Non-medical lane: no state agency fee found. |
| 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 is descriptive, not a licensed scope: Nebraska has no licensed non-medical scope. 175 NAC 14-003.03 requires a home health agency to be 'primarily engaged in providing skilled nursing care or a minimum of 1 other therapeutic service' (physical therapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy, respiratory care, home health aide services, social work, IV therapy or dialysis), which is why a purely non-medical agency does not fit the license. Secondary consulting sources state companion, sitter and chore services do not require a license in Nebraska — that sentence was not found verbatim in a primary source, so the finding rests on the statute/rule structure. Live-in and transport are not named categories in 175 NAC 14.
Skilled care requires the Home Health Agency license (175 NAC 14, rewritten effective May 5, 2024): complete application, $650 initial fee, services/staffing requirements, approved counties only, and RN supervision of home health aide services. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-434 funds licensure by fees with a $1,000 cap for home health agencies.
Medicaid personal care is Personal Assistance Services (PAS) and Aged & Disabled Waiver services through Nebraska DHHS Medicaid: providers enroll as Medicaid PAS/HCBS providers (individuals may also self-direct and hire their own provider, including eligible family members). Licensed home health agencies and enrolled in-home providers must run criminal history plus Adult Protective Services / child abuse registry checks.
EVV is required for Medicaid personal care services under the federal 21st Century Cures Act as implemented by Nebraska Medicaid.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Nebraska 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
