Can you run an Indiana personal services agency from home?

IDOH says you can. Its instruction letter for initial applicants (last updated August 2022) says the agency must have a physical location in Indiana and that the provider may use a home or residential address. The application form also asks for an operational agency phone. The statute does not say what kind of premises the office must be, though it expects an office in Indiana where records are kept. Because the letter predates the Gateway and is not linked from IDOH’s current program page, our suggestion is to confirm with PSA@health.IN.gov before you apply, and to check local zoning with your city or county.

A P.O. box can be your mailing address: the application has a mailing address section with a P.O. Box field, and IDOH sends correspondence there. The practice location is different: the form says the applicant must have a physical location, and IDOH’s letter says it must be in Indiana. Neither defines "physical location" or says whether a virtual office or shared workspace counts, so ask IDOH before relying on one.

It may. The statute lets IDOH conduct an onsite inspection when it issues or renews a license, limited to checking compliance with IC 16-27-4, and IDOH investigates complaints. The client rights statement must also tell clients that IDOH does not inspect PSAs as part of the licensing process. We found nothing from IDOH saying how often it inspects. IDOH’s complaint page, which describes its complaint program in general, says facilities do not get advance warning of complaint investigations.

Yes. IC 16-27-4-18 requires the documentation, or copies, to be kept at the agency’s office in Indiana or to be electronically accessible there, for at least seven years. The statute does not name systems or security standards. Whoever is on duty should be able to open them, since IDOH reads the statute as giving you 24 hours to produce documents it asks for.

Within a radius of 120 miles of the parent agency, and the branch must be a site the agency provides services from, owned and controlled by the parent. IDOH asks for the branch’s address and a map showing the mileage before it adds the branch. (A home health agency’s branch is measured differently: within 120 minutes’ driving time.)

We found no such requirement for the PSA license: IC 16-27-4, the application and renewal forms and IDOH’s 2024 requirements document ask for addresses (some with their county), not a list of counties you serve, and the 120-mile radius applies to branch offices. Medicaid waiver work is different: OMPP certifies providers for specific counties, and the 2026 moratorium stops existing waiver agencies adding counties for the services it covers, unless the IHCP grants an exception.

Tell IDOH: its 2024 requirements document asks for the license number, the new address and the date of the change, sent by a manager, owner or designated party on file. IDOH’s documents give no deadline, and the current program page does not say how changes are sent now that applications go through the Gateway, so ask PSA@health.IN.gov. If you have branches, check that each is still within 120 miles of the new address (our reading, since the radius is measured from the parent).

The Indiana sources we hold for PSAs (IC 16-27-4, IDOH’s forms, letter, requirements document and program page) do not address zoning, home occupation permits or local business licenses. That does not mean your city or county has no rules, so ask them, because the answer depends on where you are.