Tennessee · Personal Support Services Agency license · Free checklist
Tennessee home care license checklist
Every step to a Tennessee PSSA license, from checking which department licenses you and starting your own fingerprint check to the four forms, TDMHSAS’s invoice, the electronic desk audit, your first workers and clients and renewal, each with the rule or TDMHSAS 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
- 45 steps, each cited
- Free, no account
Quick answer
If your business employs or subcontracts people to help clients at home with self-care, household tasks or getting to activities, you need a license before you start: "No person, partnership, association or corporation may begin delivering services until the Department issues a license." (0940-05-02-.03(1)). When 50% or more of your clients will be aged, or have a mental illness or substance abuse diagnosis, it is the Personal Support Services Agency (PSSA) license from TDMHSAS (0940-05-38-.04(3)(a)).
You send four forms to a TDMHSAS regional office (TDMHSAS, step 2) and pay its invoice: $810 per site for one category, TDMHSAS’s fee, not a CareRulebook price (0940-05-02-.05(1)). The initial inspection is an electronic desk audit that TDMHSAS says covers certain policies and procedures (TDMHSAS, step 5), so your policies come before the forms, not after the license.
Steps that say "the rule" or cite a rule number come from Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-38, 0940-05-02 or 0940-05-06-.03. Steps that say "TDMHSAS says" or "TDMHSAS asks" come from TDMHSAS’s forms, its Become a Licensed Provider page or its 2025 PSSA slides. Where a statute is involved, the step relies on the TDMHSAS, DHS or DCS document that states it. 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.
Housekeeping, transportation or delivery alone is exempt
The PSSA rules exempt a person who provides only housekeeping, only transportation or only delivery services, with no other help with major life activities. By our reading, adding household help such as laundry, meals, shopping or bill paying, or help getting to social activities, brings you under the license: change your first answer if you will offer them.
0940-05-38-.03(2)(c)Skilled care needs a Health Facilities Commission license
Since July 1, 2024 the home care organization license from the Health Facilities Commission covers home health, home medical equipment, professional support and hospice services. This checklist covers non-medical personal support licensed by TDMHSAS: change your first answer to see it.
Public Chapter 858 (2024), section 1 (T.C.A. 68-11-201(22)(A))One client, with no advertising, is exempt
A person serving only one client, with no business arrangement to serve anyone else, is exempt, unless they hold themselves out to the public as being in the business of personal support services for pay. Advertising ends the exemption. Change your first answer if you will advertise, hire or serve more clients.
0940-05-38-.03(2)(a)Caring only for your own family is exempt
A person who provides personal support services only to members of their own family does not need the license. By our reading, serving anyone else, or hiring workers, changes that.
0940-05-38-.03(2)(b)Your license comes from the Department of Disability and Aging
An agency where 50% or more of clients have an intellectual or developmental disability is licensed by the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, now the Department of Disability and Aging (DDA), under its own rules, Chapter 0465-02-17. This checklist covers the TDMHSAS license. An agency serving both groups needs only one license, from the department that serves the larger group.
0940-05-38-.04(3)(b)Your checklist
Showing the steps for a new TDMHSAS personal support services agency serving mainly older adults, set up as a company with an office it rents or owns, with no management firm and none of the tasks or client groups that add steps. Answer the questions above to tailor it.
Set up the agency
Send the forms and pay
The desk audit
Licensed: your first workers and clients
T.C.A. 33-2-1202 (as summarised by TDMHSAS, PSSA slides 11 and 34)Background checks →
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-38-.08(1)(a)Training and competency →
TDMHSAS Incident Reporting Requirements (under 0940-05-02-.20)Abuse and incident reporting →
Tennessee Adult Protection Act, T.C.A. 71-6-101 ff (as stated by DHS)
TDMHSAS PSSA slides, slide 31 (reading of 0940-05-38-.06(1)(c) and (q))
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 and adopt your policies” from your answers
Answer a few questions about your agency and CareRulebook writes its Tennessee PSSA policy and procedure manual, built on the 17 policy items, the 8 personnel topics and every other requirement in 0940-05-38, 0940-05-02 and 0940-05-06-.03, with your details filled in, the rule each policy meets quoted under it, the forms the records rules need and a crosswalk for TDMHSAS’s desk audit. Read every policy and adopt it before you send the forms.
- 32 policies, 107 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 Tennessee agencies, then $249. Not a TDMHSAS fee.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to get a home care license in Tennessee?
A Personal Support Services Agency (PSSA) license from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS), if most of your clients will be older adults or people with a mental illness or substance use diagnosis. Before you apply: the business registered, a person in charge with a fingerprint background check and three character references, and your written policies. You send four forms to a TDMHSAS regional office and pay TDMHSAS’s invoice, $810 per site for one category. The initial inspection is an electronic desk audit, and TDMHSAS issues an initial license once any deficiencies are corrected.
Do I send my policies with the Tennessee application?
They are not one of the four forms TDMHSAS lists. But the initial inspection for a PSSA is an electronic desk audit that TDMHSAS says covers certain policies and procedures, and deficiencies must be corrected before a license is issued. Our suggestion: have every policy the rules list written and adopted before you send the forms, and ask the Regional Manager what the audit will review.
Do I need a nurse to open a PSSA in Tennessee?
No. Tennessee’s PSSA rules set no administrator qualifications and require no supervising nurse. A registered nurse is needed only to give or supervise medication assistance training, or to give the optional education services.
How long does a Tennessee PSSA license take?
Neither the rules nor TDMHSAS’s pages give a processing time. The waits come at the invoice, the scheduling of the desk audit and any corrections. TDMHSAS says a Regional Manager can explain the next steps.
Can I take clients while my application is pending?
No. No one may begin delivering services until TDMHSAS issues the license, and providing personal support services without one is unlawful and can bring civil or criminal sanctions.
What if most of my clients have an intellectual or developmental disability?
Then the license comes from the Department of Disability and Aging (formerly DIDD) under its own rules, Chapter 0465-02-17, not from TDMHSAS. An agency serving both groups needs only one license, from the department that serves the larger group; a new applicant goes by the group it expects to be larger.
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 TDMHSAS source it links to.
Get Tennessee rule-change alerts
TDMHSAS has proposed a rewrite of its licensure procedure rules, Chapter 0940-05-02 (hearing November 18, 2026), and has said PSSA medication administration rules are coming. Leave your email and we will tell you when a Tennessee change affects your checklist or your policies.
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Keep reading
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Tennessee PSSA policies and procedures
The 17 policy items and 8 personnel topics TDMHSAS checks.
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Tennessee PSSA license cost and timeline
TDMHSAS’s $810 fee per site, other costs with official prices and each step to the license.
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Tennessee PSSA inspections
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Sources
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-38, Minimum Program Requirements for Personal Support Services Agencies (rules effective June 2, 2016; December 2022 revised edition) · Tennessee Secretary of State, Publications Division (TDMHSAS rules) · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-02, Licensure Administration and Procedures (December 2022 revised edition) · Tennessee Secretary of State, Publications Division (TDMHSAS rules) · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-06, Minimum Program Requirements for All Services and Facilities (May 2026 revised edition; 0940-05-06-.03(1)-(6) applies to PSSAs) · Tennessee Secretary of State, Publications Division (TDMHSAS rules) · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Public Chapter No. 110 (2015), amending T.C.A. 33-2-403(a) and (c), licensing of personal support services agencies · Tennessee Secretary of State (Public Acts) · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Public Chapter No. 730 (2024), amending T.C.A. 68-1-904, medication administration by unlicensed PSSA staff · Tennessee Secretary of State (Public Acts) · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Public Chapter No. 858 (2024), amending T.C.A. 68-11-201(22), definition of home care organization (effective July 1, 2024) · Tennessee Secretary of State (Public Acts) · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Become a Licensed Provider · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Licensing Forms · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Licensed Provider Frequently Asked Questions · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Personal Support Services Agency (PSSA) Provider Information (2025 slide deck; file modified November 2025) · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 1, 2026
- Initial Application for License, MH-4385 (rev. 05/15/2020) · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Licensure Application Addendum: Fact Sheet Form, MH-4386 (rev. 10/27/2025) · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Licensure Application Addendum: Financial Statement Form · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Agency/Service Change of Status Form, MH-4454 (rev. 5/15/2020) · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Incident Reporting Requirements · Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Office of Licensure · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Abuse Registry · Tennessee Health Facilities Commission · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Adult Protective Services page and APS brochure (2026) · Tennessee Department of Human Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Report Child Abuse: 877-237-0004 · Tennessee Department of Children’s Services · retrieved October 2, 2026
- Tennessee Sex Offender Registry · Tennessee Bureau of Investigation · retrieved October 2, 2026