Colorado · Home care agency license, Class B · Free checklist
Colorado home care license checklist
Every step to a Colorado Class B home care license, from choosing Class B and your HCA manager to the letter of intent, the COHFI application, CDPHE’s fitness review, the initial survey, your first clients and renewal, each with the rule or CDPHE source it comes from. Answer a few questions to tailor it, tick steps off as you go and email it to yourself.
- Rule-verified October 2, 2026
- 50 steps, each cited
- Free, no account
Quick answer
If your business employs or contracts with people to give personal care in clients’ homes in Colorado, including companionship, personal laundry or medication reminders, you need a home care agency license from CDPHE (C.R.S. 25-27.5-103(1)). For non-medical care it is the Class B license, which may not include any skilled service (Ch. 26, 4.1(A)(2)).
You send a letter of intent, then apply in COHFI at least 90 calendar days before you plan to start (Ch. 2, 2.3.2), with $2,720.30, CDPHE’s Class B initial fee on its 2026/27 schedule, not a CareRulebook price (CDPHE fee schedule). CDPHE expects "All required policies and procedures ready for review" at the initial survey, and issues the license when that survey is completed with zero deficiencies (CDPHE guidance, steps 6 and 7).
Steps that say "the rule" or cite a chapter come from 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26 or Chapter 2, or from the Colorado statutes. Steps that say "CDPHE says" or "CDPHE’s checklist" come from CDPHE’s initial licensing guidance (updated September 11, 2025) or its Home Care Agencies initial application checklist (updated July 23, 2026). Where we add advice of our own, the step says "our suggestion". The application, step by step →
Tailor your checklist
Eight quick questions
Your answers stay in this browser. The checklist below updates as you answer.
Skilled care needs a Class A license
A Class A agency provides any skilled healthcare service, such as nursing, therapy or medication administration, and may also provide personal care. This checklist covers Class B, which provides only personal care: change your first answer to see it.
6 CCR 1011-1 Ch. 26, 4.1(A)(1)Housekeeping alone is outside the license
Chapter 26 says a home care agency does not include organizations that provide only housekeeping services. Companionship, personal laundry and medication reminders are personal care services in the rule, so by our reading adding any of them brings you under the license. Change your first answer if you will offer them.
6 CCR 1011-1 Ch. 26, 2.10(B)(1)An individual working alone is not a home care agency
The rule excludes an individual who is not employed by or affiliated with a home care agency and who acts alone, without employees or contractors. By our reading that ends once you hire anyone or use a contractor: change your first answer to see the steps.
6 CCR 1011-1 Ch. 26, 2.10(B)(3)A placement agency registers with CDPHE instead
An organization that, for a fee, provides only referrals of providers to clients is a home care placement agency. It registers under Part 3 of Chapter 26 rather than holding an agency license. This checklist covers agencies that provide the care.
6 CCR 1011-1 Ch. 26, 2.12; Part 3Medicaid personal care: a license first, then HCPF enrollment
Personal care under Community First Choice needs a Class A or Class B license, and HCPF and CDPHE strongly recommend Class B. CDPHE’s survey for Medicaid certification is not approval to bill: enrollment with HCPF is a separate application. We have not checked HCPF’s Medicaid provider rules, so check them as well. The steps below include the Medicaid items.
HCPF PM 25-001, p. 3Your checklist
Showing the steps for a new private-pay Class B agency giving hands-on personal care from one leased office, with no branches and none of the tasks or client groups that add steps. Answer the questions above to tailor it.
Set up the agency
Apply in COHFI
CDPHE’s review
Before the initial survey
Licensed: your first clients
Every year, and when things change
Email me this checklist
We send the checklist with your answers and a link back to it. Nothing else unless you tick the box.
CareRulebook
Tick off “write the policies” from your answers
Answer a few questions about your agency and CareRulebook writes its Colorado Class B policy and procedure manual, built on the requirements in Chapters 26 and 2 and the Colorado statutes they rest on, with your details filled in, the rule each policy meets quoted under it, and the forms the policies use, including a survey-day checklist. Recommended practice is added only if you choose it. Read every policy and adopt it before CDPHE’s initial survey.
- 33 policies, 155 requirements mapped
- Free preview before you pay
- Editable Word and PDF
- 12 months of updates: download again after a rule change
$199CareRulebook founding price for the first 50 Colorado agencies, then $249. Not a CDPHE fee.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to get a home care license in Colorado?
A Class B home care agency license from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), if you will give only personal care, which in Colorado includes companionship, personal laundry and medication reminders. Before you apply: a business registered with the Secretary of State, a qualified HCA manager, a fixed office in Colorado, the local zoning sign-off, and liability insurance or a surety bond. You send a letter of intent, then apply in COHFI at least 90 days before you plan to start, with CDPHE’s $2,720.30 Class B initial fee (2026/27 schedule). CDPHE issues the license after an initial survey completed with zero deficiencies.
Do I send my policies with the Colorado application?
They are not on CDPHE’s initial application checklist. But CDPHE may review your policies and procedures in the fitness review, and its guidance says all required policies and procedures must be ready for review at the initial survey. Our suggestion: have them written and adopted before you apply.
How long does a Colorado home care license take?
CDPHE says typical initial applications, for any license type, may take 3 to 12 months from submission to license, and that home care agency applications are currently taking additional time because of the number coming in. You must apply at least 90 days before you plan to start, but CDPHE says that is a submission deadline, not a processing time.
Do I need a nurse for a Class B agency?
No. A Class B agency needs an HCA manager (21 or older, a high school diploma or GED, one year of documented supervisory experience in personal care or a degree-plus-experience route, and an 8-hour manager course) and supervisors whose experience your own policy sets. Nothing in Parts 4, 5 or 7 of Chapter 26 requires a nurse. An HCPF memo that expired June 2, 2026 required a registered nurse on staff for In-Home Support Services agencies; that is a Medicaid program rule, so check HCPF’s current rules if you plan to offer IHSS.
Do my caregivers need fingerprint checks?
Not under the license rules. Owners of 50% or more and the manager are fingerprinted through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. For each caregiver you run a criminal history record check (at least a Colorado search) no more than 90 days before employment, request a CAPS check before direct care, and check with DORA whether they hold any license or certification. We have not checked HCPF’s Medicaid provider rules, so check them if you will bill Medicaid.
Can a new Colorado agency take Medicaid clients?
Personal care under Community First Choice needs a Class A or Class B license, and HCPF and CDPHE strongly recommend Class B. CDPHE’s checklist says to send the Medicaid certification application with your license application if you want one survey for both. CDPHE’s survey does not approve billing: enrollment with HCPF is a separate application. In February 2025 HCPF estimated about 8 months for licensing and enrollment together.
Is this checklist free?
Yes. It is free to use and to email to yourself. It is guidance, not legal advice, so check each step against the rule or CDPHE source it links to.
Get Colorado rule-change alerts
CDPHE has proposed changes to Chapter 2 (comments due November 12, 2026), and the home care law is due for review before September 1, 2028. Leave your email and we will tell you when a Colorado change affects your checklist or your policies.
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Keep reading
Colorado
How to start a home care agency in Colorado
The full guide behind this checklist.
Colorado
The Colorado license application
CDPHE’s seven steps, every document on its checklist, the initial survey, renewal and changes.
Product
Build your Colorado policy manual
Every written policy Colorado’s Class B rules require, preview free.
Colorado
Colorado license cost and timeline
CDPHE’s fees, the other costs, and how long licensing takes.
Colorado
Colorado caregiver background checks
The 90-day criminal check, CAPS and DORA checks, in hiring order.
Colorado
Colorado caregiver training and supervision
Training topics, competency checks, special tasks and supervision.
Washington
Washington license checklist
The same tool for a DOH in-home services license, home care category.
Indiana
Indiana license checklist
The same tool for an IDOH personal services agency license.
Illinois
Illinois license checklist
The same tool for an IDPH home services agency license.
North Carolina
North Carolina license checklist
The same tool for a DHSR home care license.
Georgia
Georgia license checklist
The same tool for a Georgia private home care license.
Virginia
Virginia license checklist
The same tool for a Virginia home care organization license.
Texas
Texas license checklist
The same tool for a Texas HCSSA license.
Sources
- 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26, Home Care Agencies (effective July 1, 2025) · Colorado Secretary of State, Code of Colorado Regulations · retrieved October 2, 2026
- 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 2, General Licensure Standards (effective September 14, 2025) · Colorado Secretary of State, Code of Colorado Regulations · retrieved October 2, 2026
- C.R.S. Title 25, Article 27.5, Home Care Agencies (sections 25-27.5-101 to -110; Colorado Revised Statutes 2024) · Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- C.R.S. 26-3.1-101, -102, -107 and -111, Protective services for at-risk adults: definitions, reporting, CAPS checks (Colorado Revised Statutes 2024) · Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- C.R.S. 18-6.5-101 to -103 and 18-6.5-108, Crimes against at-risk persons; mandatory reports of mistreatment of at-risk elders and at-risk adults with IDD (Colorado Revised Statutes 2024) · Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- C.R.S. 19-3-304 and 19-3-307, Persons required to report child abuse or neglect; reporting procedures (Colorado Revised Statutes 2024) · Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Initial Health Facility/Agency Licensure: Guidance and Instructions (All License Types), updated September 11, 2025 · Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, HFEMSD · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Home Care Agencies (HCA/HHA): Initial Application Checklist, updated July 23, 2026 · Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, HFEMSD · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Home Care Agencies: 7/1/2026 to 6/30/2027 Fee Schedule · Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, HFEMSD · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Home Care Agency Zoning Department sign-off form (rev. 10-19-2022) · Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, HFEMSD · retrieved October 2, 2026
- CAPS Check Unit: home page and Frequently Asked Questions · Colorado Department of Human Services, CAPS Check Unit · retrieved October 2, 2026
- HCPF PM 25-001, Upcoming Licensure Requirement for Personal Care Service Providers Under Community First Choice (February 6, 2025) · Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Child welfare; Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Reporting System · Colorado Department of Human Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Adult Protective Services · Colorado Department of Human Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- HCPF IM 25-017, Backup Care and Staffing Requirements for Class A and Class B Licensed Home Health Agencies (effective June 2, 2025; expired June 2, 2026) · Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing · retrieved October 2, 2026