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Indiana · License fee and time frames · IC 16-27-4-6
IDOH charges $250 with each personal services agency license application, and a license lasts one year, so the fee comes round every year. IDOH publishes no processing time. Here is IDOH’s fee, the costs the law requires without setting a price, each step from Gateway access to renewal, and what the 2026 Medicaid waiver pause changes.
Quick answer
Cost: the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) charges $250 with each personal services agency license application: initial, renewal or change of ownership. A license lasts one year, so you pay it every year, online in the IDOH Gateway. IDOH’s forms call it non-refundable. It is IDOH’s fee, set by statute, not a CareRulebook price, and the statute sets no other state fee.
Time: IDOH publishes no processing time, and the statute sets no deadline for its review. IDOH’s 2022 instruction letter says it reviews applications in the order received and will not accept requests for immediate review, and its form says it approves all documentation before it issues a license. You may not serve clients until it does.
The law also requires costs IDOH does not price: criminal history checks, TB tests for staff with direct client contact, and liability insurance if you provide lift services. Medicaid waiver certification of new providers has been paused since August 1, 2026.
21 days
Calendar days a caregiver may work in homes without a check result, barring outside delays
IC 16-27-2-5(c)Every amount below is a state fee paid to IDOH. None of them is a CareRulebook price.
| What for | IDOH fee | Term | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal services agency license, initial application | $250 | Up to 1 year | Paid online in the IDOH Gateway. The statute sets the fee for each license application; IDOH’s forms call it non-refundable. | IC 16-27-4-6(d) |
| Renewal | $250 | 1 year | Every year, in the Gateway, from 60 days before the license expires. | State Form 53591 |
| Change of ownership (the new owner’s license) | $250 | 1 year | A license cannot be transferred, so the buyer applies for its own with the fee. | IDOH-HCBC/PSA-1 |
The statute: an application "must be accompanied by the payment of a fee of two hundred fifty dollars ($250)" (IC 16-27-4-6(d)). IDOH’s renewal form says "RETURN APPLICATION AND A NON-REFUNDABLE $250.00 LICENSE FEE" (State Form 53591). In the Gateway, the Details page shows the payment amount before you continue, and you pay as the last step (IDOH program page).
What we found no fee for. Branch offices operate under the parent agency’s license (IC 16-27-4-6(a)-(b)), and IDOH’s 2024 document lists what to send to add a branch or report a change of address, name, office hours or staff without naming a fee (IDOH-HCBC/PSA-1). That is our reading of what IDOH has published, not an IDOH statement that these are free.
Simple arithmetic, not an IDOH figure
$250 × 3 = $750 in IDOH license fees to cover your first three years of licensing: the initial fee and two renewals, assuming a full first year.
Our reading of the first year
IDOH may issue a first license for less than a year to stagger expiry dates (IC 16-27-4-6(h)). If yours is shorter, the first renewal and its $250 fee come sooner. Check the expiry date printed on your license as soon as it arrives.
Some of these are duties in the law and some are what IDOH’s form asks for; each card says which. IDOH does not set their price. We do not quote typical prices: none of the official sources we checked publishes them.
IDOH’s form asks for a lifetime expanded or national criminal history report, dated within the past three months, for the manager, alternate managers, officers and owners, and its 2024 document asks for one with each later staff change or stock transfer over 5%. For a new applicant’s own national check, IDOH’s letter describes registering with the FBI and getting fingerprint cards from the State Police. It gives no price.
Apply within 3 business days after a worker starts in clients’ homes. The agency is responsible for the fees but may make the job applicant pay or reimburse them. A State Police fingerprint request goes in with any required fees; an expanded check costs what your vendor charges.
A baseline two-step skin test or a blood test, a chest X-ray route for anyone with a TB history or new positive result, and screening every year, as 410 IAC 17-12-1(i) sets out for home health staff. Neither IC 16-27-4-15 nor the TB rule says who pays or what a test costs.
An agency that provides lift services must have a liability policy that covers them. IC 16-27-4 sets no other insurance requirement. Medicaid waiver certification is different: FSSA asks every provider for proof of liability insurance.
IDOH’s form asks for a physical location and an operational agency phone, and its 2022 letter says the location may be a home address. Records are kept, or electronically accessible, at the Indiana office for at least 7 years.
You must employ a manager. The statute sets no qualifications for the role, and the manager or a designee must answer client calls 24 hours a day. No nurse is required.
IC 16-27-4 sets no training hours. The agency evaluates each worker for each attendant care task, trains where needed and documents it for every worker who provides personal services. The time this takes is yours to plan.
IDOH’s form asks for nine policies and seven forms and says they are approved before it issues a license. Its 2022 letter says general policies not specific to the Indiana Code are rejected.
CareRulebook
Answer a few questions and CareRulebook writes the Indiana policies and forms IDOH asks for, in IDOH’s order, with your agency’s details, plus the policies you keep on file. You also get an IDOH upload set, without the rule text or Recommended practice.
$199CareRulebook founding price for the first 50 Indiana agencies, then $249. Not an IDOH fee.
Since May 1, 2026, initial applications, renewals, document uploads and payments go through the IDOH Gateway (IDOH program page, May 2026 copy). Tick steps off as you go; progress is saved in this browser only.
IDOH’s form asks for your Secretary of State documents, an IRS document with your legal name and EIN, criminal history reports dated within the past three months for the manager, alternate managers, officers and owners, and the nine policies and seven forms (which policies).
Register with Access Indiana, request access to the Personal Service Agency License Registration application and wait for an administrator to approve it. The approval email gives the registration ID you sign in with. IDOH gives no time for this step.
Enter the agency details (every field, including agency hours), ownership, manager and locations, upload the required documents, complete the attestation and pay. A payment confirmation is shown and emailed to the agency’s address on file.
IDOH’s form says all documentation must be received and approved before it issues a license. Its 2022 letter says applications are reviewed in the order received, that IDOH will not accept requests for immediate review, and that IDOH contacts you by email or letter once it has reviewed yours.
IDOH may inspect on site when it issues an initial license. We found nothing from IDOH on how often it does.
A license expires one year after it is issued, and IDOH may issue a first license for less than a year to stagger expiry dates. Do not open, advertise or serve clients before it is issued.
TB testing as the home health rule sets out, a competency check for each attendant care task before it is done without direct supervision, and a criminal history check applied for within 3 business days of their first home visit. They may not keep working in clients’ homes for more than 21 calendar days without the result, unless the State Police, the FBI or the vendor caused the delay.
Renewal opens in the Gateway 60 days before the license expires. The renewal form warns that an agency whose renewal is not received and approved by the expiry date may face a civil penalty.
Texas and Illinois set review time frames in their rules, and Texas also publishes an average (their cost pages are linked below). Indiana does neither, as far as we found:
The only time in IDOH’s documents is from the paper process: the 2022 letter said IDOH received an application only after the Cashier processed the payment, which "can take several weeks", and asked applicants to allow at least 2 to 3 weeks before asking whether it had arrived (IDOH letter, page 2). The Gateway now takes payment online, so that note may no longer apply, and it never covered the review itself.
We have no basis for an estimate, so we do not give one. Our suggestions: have every document ready before you apply, so nothing has to go back and forth; do not sign client contracts, advertise or set a start date until the license is issued, since operating or advertising an unlicensed agency is a Class A misdemeanor (IC 16-27-4-23); and if you need an update, email PSA@health.IN.gov (IDOH program page, Contact).
In force since August 1, 2026
What the bulletin says. "The effective date for the moratorium is Aug. 1, 2026. This moratorium will be in place for an initial period of six months. The IHCP may continue to extend the moratorium in six-month increments." It covers Attendant Care, Home and Community Assistance and other 1915(c) waiver services, and "The moratorium will prevent certification and enrollment for certain waiver services as well as changes of ownership, adding counties and adding services subject to the moratorium for existing HCBS agencies." For the H&W, PathWays and TBI waivers, applications already under review are processed, while "Any applications currently awaiting review or new applications will be expired. Expired applicants may reapply after the moratorium has been lifted." (IHCP Bulletin BT2026124)
Exceptions. The IHCP will consider limited exceptions where members lack access to waiver services. A provider must meet every qualification for the service and send a narrative explaining the access concern to OMPPProviderRelations@fssa.in.gov. (BT2026124, page 2)
What it does not say. The bulletin does not mention the IDOH license or private-pay clients. By our reading, the license steps above are unchanged, and you can be licensed and serve private-pay clients while the pause runs. By our arithmetic the first six months end around February 1, 2027, unless the IHCP extends the pause.
When it lifts. Medicaid waiver work takes three steps after the license: certification by FSSA’s Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning, enrollment with Indiana Health Coverage Programs, then waiver program enrollment (FSSA, Medicaid HCBS Certification). For Attendant Care and Home and Community Assistance, FSSA’s document list marks the PSA license as required, lists a home health agency license as the alternative, and does not accept provisional licenses (OMPP Required Document Definitions). Once you start an OMPP application you have 30 calendar days to submit it in full (FSSA), and certification takes effect on the date the application is fully processed (FSSA). FSSA gives no total time for the three steps that we found.
Knowingly or intentionally operating, or advertising the operation of, an unlicensed personal services agency is a Class A misdemeanor.
IC 16-27-4-23IDOH’s form says not to send a handbook or paste the statute, and its letter says general policies not specific to the Indiana Code are rejected. Fixing them means sending them again.
Form 53391; IDOH letterIDOH asks for owner and manager reports dated within the past three months. A report that is older when you apply means paying for a new one.
State Form 53391The renewal form warns of a civil penalty if the renewal is not received and approved by the expiry date. Renewal opens in the Gateway 60 days before.
State Form 53591Keeping a caregiver in clients’ homes for more than 21 calendar days without the check result, or employing someone with a disqualifying result, is a Class A infraction.
IC 16-27-2-5(c), -7The license cannot be transferred. The buyer applies for its own, with the $250 IDOH fee, and must be licensed before operating.
IC 16-27-4-6(i)Penalties are set by the state, not by CareRulebook.
No. IDOH charges $250 with each application, and a license expires one year after it is issued, so the fee comes round at every yearly renewal, and again with a change of ownership. It is IDOH’s fee, set by IC 16-27-4-6(d), and IDOH’s forms call it non-refundable.
"A license expires one (1) year after the date of issuance of the license under subsection (e)."
It depends. The statute points both ways. The client rights statement must tell clients that IDOH does not inspect PSAs as part of licensing but does investigate complaints, yet the same statute lets IDOH inspect on site at initial licensing or renewal. We found nothing from IDOH saying how often it does. IDOH reviews your application and policies, and its complaint page says facilities get no advance warning of complaint investigations.
"That the state department does not inspect personal service agencies as part of the licensing process but does investigate complaints concerning personal service agencies."
It depends. IC 16-27-4 requires liability insurance only of an agency that provides lift services, and that policy must cover lift services. If you later apply for Medicaid waiver certification, FSSA’s document list asks every provider for proof of liability insurance. IC 16-27-4 sets no other insurance requirement; other Indiana laws, such as those that apply to employers, are outside what we checked.
"A personal services agency that provides lift services must have a liability insurance policy that covers lift services."
No. Not by its terms. Bulletin BT2026124 pauses certification and enrollment for listed Medicaid waiver services, and changes of ownership, added counties and added services for existing waiver agencies. It does not mention the IDOH PSA license or private-pay clients, so by our reading IDOH licensing and private-pay work carry on. New Medicaid waiver work waits until the pause ends, unless the IHCP grants an exception.
"The moratorium will prevent certification and enrollment for certain waiver services as well as changes of ownership, adding counties and adding services subject to the moratorium for existing HCBS agencies."
IDOH charges $250 with each application for a personal services agency license: initial, renewal or change of ownership. A license lasts one year, so you pay it every year, and IDOH’s forms call it non-refundable. The fee is set in IC 16-27-4-6(d) and paid to IDOH; it is not a CareRulebook price. The statute sets no other state fee.
IDOH does not publish a processing time, and the statute sets no deadline for its review. IDOH’s 2022 letter says applications are reviewed in the order received and that it will not accept requests for immediate review. We have no basis for an estimate, so we do not give one. Have every document ready before you apply, and do not take clients until the license is issued.
Yes. Since May 1, 2026 applications and renewals go through the IDOH Gateway, where you enter payment details as the last step and get a payment confirmation by email. IDOH’s page does not list which payment methods the Gateway accepts. Before the Gateway, applications went by mail with a check or money order, or by email.
Every year. The Gateway opens renewal 60 days before the license expires; IDOH’s example is a license expiring December 15, 2025 that could be renewed no earlier than October 16, 2025. IDOH’s 2022 letter said 60 to 90 days before expiry, and the 2018 renewal form says within 15 days before. The renewal form warns of a civil penalty if the renewal is not received and approved by the expiry date, so our suggestion is to renew as soon as the Gateway opens it.
The agency is responsible for the fees, but IC 16-27-2-6 lets it require a job applicant to pay them when applying or to reimburse the agency. The statutes we checked do not set the amount: a State Police fingerprint request goes in with any required fees, and an expanded check costs what your vendor charges.
Only if you provide lift services: IC 16-27-4-6(l) requires a liability policy that covers them. Medicaid waiver certification asks every provider for proof of liability insurance. IC 16-27-4 sets no other insurance requirement; other laws, such as those that apply to employers, are outside what we checked.
No. A personal services agency may not be opened, operated, managed or maintained, or conduct business, without a license, and knowingly or intentionally operating or advertising an unlicensed agency is a Class A misdemeanor.
The IHCP bulletin pauses Medicaid waiver certification and enrollment from August 1, 2026; it does not mention the IDOH license. By our reading the license timeline is unaffected, but Medicaid waiver clients have to wait until the pause lifts, unless the IHCP grants an exception.
Medicaid waiver enrollment is paused, and IDOH has proposed readopting the home health rules (410 IAC 17), whose TB test Indiana PSAs follow, with no text changes. Leave your email and we will tell you when an Indiana rule, fee or Medicaid change affects your agency.
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