Rhode Island · Checked October 22, 2026
Your license is the Home Care Provider licence (health care facility licence under R.I. Gen. Laws §23-17-4; skilled lane: Home Nursing Care Provider licence), issued by Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), Division of Facilities Regulation / Center for Health Facilities Regulation.
Checked in part. Licence model, $650 annual fee, scaled initial fee and the CON precondition in Part 17 are primary (SOS rules site). The June 2026 CON removal is verified only from a law-firm summary of the enacted FY2027 budget, not yet from the amended statute text or a conformed Part 17 — hence partial, and this is the single most important launch-eve recheck in this batch. 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 | Rhode Island |
|---|---|
| License / registration | Home Care Provider licence (health care facility licence under R.I. Gen. Laws §23-17-4; skilled lane: Home Nursing Care Provider licence) |
| Issued by | Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), Division of Facilities Regulation / Center for Health Facilities Regulation — official page |
| Application / initial fee | Not published — No flat initial fee: the RIDOH Fee Structure (216-RICR-10-05-2) sets 'Application for Initial Licensure or Changes in Owner, Operator or Lessee' on a scaled basis of $1,500 to $50,000 (the 2026 amendment raised the maximum from $20,000 to $50,000), plus a Certificate of Need application fee of $500 + 0.25% of capital cost (regular/accelerated) or $750 + 0.25% (expedited) while CON applied. Because the fee is computed from the application, no single initial dollar figure is published. |
| Renewal | $650 |
| Surety bond | No state bond minimum found in the published rules |
| Liability insurance | State sets no minimum in the licensure rule or fee structure excerpts reviewed. |
| Timeline | Decision within 90 days from acceptance of a licensure / change-of-owner application (216-RICR-40-10-17 §17.4.2(C)(2)), after a 30-day public comment window; CON review, where it applied, was additional and not given a single published total timeline. |
| Administrator | Applicant must file on RIDOH forms with evidence of ability to comply with §23-17 and Part 17, including a notarised listing of all direct and indirect owners (with ownership percentages), officers/directors or partners, updated annually. No degree-based administrator standard was published in the Part 17 excerpts reviewed. |
| State extras | Scaled initial licensure application fee ($1,500-$50,000) is itself a major start-up cost, plus CON application fee ($500/$750 + 0.25% of capital cost) for any filing made while CON applied, and $50 licence verification / $40 replacement fees in the general fee schedule. |
| 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 + a gate (see below) |
No person may establish, conduct or maintain a home care provider, or use the terms 'home care provider', 'home nursing care provider' or 'home health care provider' in advertising, without a licence (216-RICR-40-10-17 §17.4.1). Volunteer RN/LPN entities are exempt from facility licensure under §17.4.1(A).
Skilled nursing in the home requires the separate Home Nursing Care Provider licence under the same Part 17, also $650/year, historically also subject to the same Certificate of Need precondition — see gates for the June 2026 removal.
As written in the current licensure regulation, 216-RICR-40-10-17 §17.4.1(B): 'A certificate of need is required as a precondition to the establishment and initial licensure of any home nursing care provider or home care provider', with prior Health Services Council review and licensing-agency approval also required for changes in owner, operator or lessee (§17.4.1(B)(1)).
June 2026 removal: the FY2027 budget legislation signed 12 June 2026 amended R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-15 so CON review for new health care facilities is limited to hospitals (other than behavioural-health-only), nursing facilities, hospice, inpatient rehabilitation and free-standing emergency care — CON review is stated to be no longer required for home nursing care providers or home care providers. The licensure regulation Part 17 had not been conformed in the text retrieved for this pass, so a launch-eve check of the amended §23-15 and Part 17 is essential: the gate appears legislatively removed but the regulation on its face still imposes it.
Enrol as a Medicaid provider with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) / LTSS after RIDOH licensure; licensure is the precondition, Medicaid enrolment is separate.
EVV required for Medicaid personal care / home health visits under the federal Cures Act; Rhode Island operates an open model (Sandata aggregator in national EVV listings).
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Rhode Island 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
