Tennessee · Checked October 22, 2026
Your license is the Personal Support Services Agency License — issued as a Home Care Organization authorized to provide only Professional Support Services (Health Facilities Commission lane), with a parallel PSSA license from the Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services / Dept. of Disability and Aging for their populations, issued by Tennessee Health Facilities Commission (formerly Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities, Dept. of Health) for professional support services; Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) Office of Licensure — and Dept. of Disability and Aging for I/DD — for PSSA licensure under TCA 33-2-403.
Checked in part. Fees are from the official rule texts ($1,404 / $351 in Ch. 0720-35; $810 per-category schedule in the DDA licensure rules, Ch. 0465-02-02-.05, which mirrors the TDMHSAS schedule in 0940-05-02) and tn.gov licensure pages, and the CON gate is from HFC's own application procedures. Marked partial because Tennessee runs TWO PSSA licensors plus the HFC professional-support category with overlapping names — which fee a given founder pays depends on the population served, and the Ch. 0720-35 text was read from a rules compilation rather than the Secretary of State's rules portal directly. Confirm the licensor with the state before quoting a single Tennessee fee. 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 | Tennessee |
|---|---|
| License / registration | Personal Support Services Agency License — issued as a Home Care Organization authorized to provide only Professional Support Services (Health Facilities Commission lane), with a parallel PSSA license from the Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services / Dept. of Disability and Aging for their populations |
| Issued by | Tennessee Health Facilities Commission (formerly Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities, Dept. of Health) for professional support services; Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) Office of Licensure — and Dept. of Disability and Aging for I/DD — for PSSA licensure under TCA 33-2-403 — official page |
| Application / initial fee | $1,404 — Annual fee of $1,404 for a home care organization authorized to provide ONLY professional support services, per the Rules of the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission (Ch. 0720-35): $351 instead if the organization also pays a DIDD license fee, is therapist-owned and licensed under Title 63 Ch. 13 or 17, or is owned/controlled by another home care organization paying at least $1,404. Fee is submitted with the initial or renewal application and the state does not return it. PARALLEL LANE: a PSSA licensed by TDMHSAS/DDA instead pays the non-residential per-site fee schedule in the licensure rules — $810 for one distinct category of service at one site (then $1,010 / $1,220 / $1,420 / $1,620 for 2 / 3 / 4 / more than 4 categories); TDMHSAS invoices the fee after the application forms are received (tn.gov 'Become a Licensed Provider'). Which licensor applies depends on the population served — see skilledNote. |
| Renewal | $1,404 |
| 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 for the PSSA/professional-support license; TDMHSAS initial inspections for PSSAs are conducted as an electronic desk audit, and an initial license is issued for up to 1 year once paperwork, fee and inspection are complete (tn.gov). For the skilled home health lane, HFC directs applicants to request a survey about 30-45 days before they are ready to open |
| Administrator | No degree standard for a PSSA administrator was stated in the rules checked. The applicant must identify the persons who will manage/supervise the agency, prove ability to meet the agency's financial needs, submit background check and financial statement forms (TDMHSAS application packet), and be inspected (desk audit for PSSAs) before licensure. |
| State extras | $351 reduced annual fee categories under the HFC rule (see feeInitialNote); TDMHSAS-lane fees rise per added service category/site ($810-$1,620 per site); skilled lane adds CON application costs and the separate $1,404 home health license 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 + a gate (see below) |
Personal support services are non-medical: self-care assistance, household assistance, personal assistance and education services (TDMHSAS licensing definitions). The license does not authorize home health (skilled) services — those require licensure as a Home Care Organization providing Home Health Services under Ch. 0720-27 at the same $1,404 annual fee, plus a Certificate of Need first (see gates). An individual who holds out to the public as being in the business of personal support services for compensation is NOT exempt from PSSA licensure (TCA 33-2-403(b)); family-only and genuinely part-time individual carve-outs exist for individuals, not agencies.
Skilled = Home Care Organization providing Home Health Services, licensed by the Health Facilities Commission under Ch. 0720-27 (annual fee $1,404), and gated by a Certificate of Need (see gates). DUAL-LICENSURE TRAP avoided by statute: a PSSA serving both aged/mental illness and I/DD populations does not need licenses from both TDMHSAS and the Dept. of Disability and Aging — the licensing entity is determined by the larger population served (TCA 33-2-403(c)).
Certificate of Need required BEFORE licensure for a new home health agency: HFC's 'Home Health Services — Procedures for Applying for Licensure of a New Facility' states 'You must first apply for a Certificate of Need (CON) from the Health Facilities Commission prior to applying for licensure of this type of facility' (exceptions in TCA 68-11-1607 for agencies providing only pediatric services and/or EEOICPA federal program services, which must instead obtain accreditation within 2 years). The CON gate applies to the SKILLED home health lane, not to a personal support services agency.
TennCare CHOICES (long-term services and supports) through the TennCare Managed Care Organizations, and Employment and Community First (ECF) CHOICES for I/DD; the PSSA license is a precondition to contracting, and TennCare credentialing/MCO enrollment follows licensure
EVV is required for Medicaid personal care / personal support services in Tennessee (TennCare/MCO systems). Verify the current TennCare EVV requirements before billing.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with Tennessee 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
