Washington home care license application: DOH’s packet, step by step

Insurance: the statute and the rule differ. The rule and DOH’s application ask for commercial general liability cover. The statute’s wording is wider: "Provide evidence of and maintain professional liability, public liability, and property damage insurance in an amount established by the department, based on industry standards." (RCW 70.127.080(1)(d)). DOH’s rule does not mention professional liability. Ask your insurer and DOH whether you need professional liability cover as well.

Your manual. It is not on DOH’s list of things to mail, but DOH says it must approve it before licensing, and the nine-month limit starts when you submit. Our suggestion: have it written before you apply. What DOH looks for in it.

Your name. Using "home care agency", "home care services" or "home care" in a business name or advertising is not allowed unless you are licensed for those services (RCW 70.127.030(3)). A license is also required to advertise an in-home services agency (RCW 70.127.020(1)), so, by our reading, launch advertising waits until the license arrives. Our suggestion: if the business name you registered contains those words, ask DOH before you use it.

The rule says an applicant must "complete a department sponsored in-home services orientation class prior to submitting a state licensing application." (WAC 246-335-320(1)). DOH’s page says "Classes are online, about four hours, and free of charge." Each class runs from 8:30 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. and is limited to 80 participants, and the login details are emailed a week before (DOH, Orientation Class).

• Dates. DOH’s schedule lists one class a month; the remaining 2026 dates are October 7, November 4 and December 9 (DOH, Orientation Class). You register on DOH’s page, and questions go to inhomeservices@doh.wa.gov (DOH, Contact).
• The certificate. It arrives by email within two business days. DOH’s page says "The certificate of completion is valid for one year." and "Initial in-home services applications submitted without an orientation class certificate of completion will not be processed." (DOH, Orientation Class)
• Who does not need it. "The orientation class is not required for current licensees adding a new service category, renewing a license, or change of ownership applications." (DOH, Orientation Class)

Our suggestion: plan backwards from a class date. With one class a month and the certificate valid for a year, booking early leaves time to get your checks, insurance and manual ready.

DOH’s In-Home Services License Application Packet (DOH 505-052, April 2026) holds a mailing page, the application instructions (DOH 505-053), the license requirements sheet (DOH 505-109), the application form (DOH 505-051), the disclosure statement (DOH 505-055), the FTE worksheet (DOH 505-137) and a page of law and web links (DOH 505-052). Applying for home care only, these are the parts you fill in. DOH says "All information should be printed clearly in blue or black ink. It is your responsibility to submit the correct required forms." (DOH 505-053)

The descriptions. Alongside the forms, DOH’s license requirements page asks for three descriptions: your organizational structure; "how the agency will provide management and supervision of home care services throughout all requested service areas"; and "the services the agency will offer directly and those offered under contract" (DOH, License Requirements). The statute adds that DOH’s criteria for approving a service area may not "limit the number or type of agencies in any service area" (RCW 70.127.080(1)(f)).

FTEs: one or two per county? DOH’s instructions say "A minimum of one FTE per service area, per service category is required" (DOH 505-053), while the fee rule in force since June 1, 2026 assumes at least 2 FTE for each approved county when it sets renewal fees (WAC 246-335-990(4)). If you plan several counties with a small team, ask DOH how it will count you.

The rule lists policies and procedures among the items an applicant submits, and says "Policies and procedures must clearly demonstrate compliance with the applicable chapter requirements." (WAC 246-335-320(2)(g)). DOH’s license requirements sheet explains how it handles them: "These individual P&Ps, when put together, will create a P&P manual that DOH must review and approve before your license can be issued." It also says "Do not submit your P&P manual with your application – our survey office will request them at a later point in the licensing process." (DOH 505-109, April 2026).

How DOH wants it written

• In your own words. DOH’s survey page: "P&Ps may not consist of the WAC or RCW copied word for word, nor may they refer to Medicare certification or accreditation prior to an agency officially gaining Medicare certification or accreditation." (DOH, Survey Program).
• No Medicare. "Home care agency policies and procedures will not reference federal medicare requirements and may only reference an accrediting organization’s requirements if they are accredited by that organization." (WAC 246-335-320(2)(g)(i))
• Templates and AI, reviewed by you. DOH says "Applicants can write the P&Ps themselves or choose to purchase generic manuals on-line or choose to hire business consultants." If AI tools or templates were used, it says the documents "must be thoroughly reviewed by the applicant prior to submission": legal and regulatory accuracy, the WAC provisions and whether they apply, and whether the workflows and staff duties match current practice (DOH 505-109).
• Checked against DOH’s own list. DOH publishes the Home Care Policy and Procedure Checklist its surveyors use (DOH 505-141, May 2018): 60 survey tags for the plan of operation, delivery of services and personnel policies, with a column for the administrator to verify each one (DOH 505-141). The checklist, section by section.

When to write it. By our reading of the rule and DOH’s sheet together, the manual is not mailed, but it is still part of what DOH approves before licensing, and the nine-month limit runs from the day you submit. Our suggestion: have it written before you apply, and keep a copy ready to send in the format the survey office asks for.

DOH’s packet says to "Mail your application with initial documentation and your check" or money order to Department of Health, P.O. Box 1099, Olympia, WA 98507-1099 (DOH 505-052). We did not find an online application for this license on DOH’s pages.

• In the envelope: the application (DOH 505-051), the fee, the orientation certificate, proof of insurance, the State Patrol checks and disclosure statements for the administrator and supervisor, business licenses for each office, the FTE worksheet, and the descriptions of your structure, management and supervision across your counties, and services (DOH, License Requirements).
• Documents you send later, such as anything DOH says is missing, go to a different address: In-Home Services Credentialing, P.O. Box 47877, Olympia, WA 98504-7877. The packet’s contact number is 360-236-4700 (DOH 505-052).

Our suggestion: keep a full copy of everything you send and a record of when you mailed it, since the nine-month limit runs from the date you submit.

• The nine-month limit. The rule says "an applicant has nine months from the application submission date to complete all steps required for initial licensure". After that DOH may close the application with no refund, and you can reapply with new fees (WAC 246-335-320(4)).
• Sample files with no clients yet. We did not find DOH guidance on what the "sample employee and client/patient files" should be for an applicant that has no clients. Our suggestion: have the files of everyone already hired complete, and your blank client forms ready, and ask the survey office when it calls.
• Extra surveys. The rule lets DOH charge a licensee $5,000 for a follow-up on-site survey needed to complete the survey process, among other cases (WAC 246-335-990(6)). That is DOH’s fee. The rule does not say whether it applies to an applicant’s initial survey.
• Refunds if you stop. Two-thirds of the initial fees (less $50) back if no survey or technical assistance has happened; one-third (less $50) after; nothing after more than one on-site visit or once nine months pass without a license. (WAC 246-335-990(9)-(10))
• No clients until the license arrives. Operating without a license is a misdemeanor, and each day is a separate violation (RCW 70.127.020(3)). DOH may also fine up to $5,000 for each day (RCW 70.127.213(5)).

If DOH refuses. If DOH acts to deny a license, the rule says the applicant is offered an adjudicative hearing under chapter 34.05 RCW (WAC 246-335-345(9)). For a licensee, a written request contesting an adverse action must reach DOH within 28 days of receiving the notice (RCW 70.127.175(1)).

"A license, unless suspended or revoked, is effective for a period of two years, however an initial license is only effective for twelve months." (RCW 70.127.100) The rule says: "At least thirty days before the expiration date of the current license, the licensee must submit to the department:"

• a completed renewal application on DOH’s form: the same DOH 505-051, with Renewal ticked on page one (DOH 505-053);
• evidence that your liability insurance continues;
• a completed, signed FTE worksheet;
• the most current State Patrol checks and disclosure statements for the administrator and the supervisor of direct care services, each renewed within two years of the previous check;
• a description of your current organizational structure; and
• DOH’s renewal fee (WAC 246-335-325).

Counting FTEs at renewal. The renewal fee is set by your full-time equivalents, which the fee rule describes as "a measurement based on a 40 hour week" (WAC 246-335-990(4)). DOH’s worksheet (June 2021) counts as full time anyone who works "on average 30 or more hours per week" and converts part-time hours at 120 a month, "as a proxy of a 30 hour work week" (DOH 505-137). The two can give different counts. Our suggestion: fill in DOH’s worksheet as printed, and ask DOH if your count sits near a fee band boundary.

Late. DOH’s late fee is $50 a day, up to $1,000, counted from the renewal date, which is 30 days before the license expires (WAC 246-335-990(8)). No orientation class is needed to renew (DOH, Orientation Class).

Surveys after licensing. DOH must survey within each licensure period (RCW 70.127.100), and those surveys are unannounced (WAC 246-335-340(1)).

• No transfer without approval. "A license issued under this chapter shall not be transferred or assigned without thirty days prior notice to the department and the department’s approval." (RCW 70.127.100)
• What counts as a change of ownership. Transferring all or part of the ownership, dissolving a partnership or corporation, mergers and consolidations, and any change of the UBI number or federal employer identification number (WAC 246-335-330(1)-(5)).
• Both sides file 30 days ahead. At least 30 days before the change, the current licensee sends DOH’s change of ownership form, and the prospective owner sends a change of ownership application with the items a new applicant sends (application, insurance, FTE worksheet, background checks and disclosure statements, organizational structure, business licenses) and DOH’s fee (WAC 246-335-330(6)-(7)). On DOH’s form, both owners sign section 5 (DOH 505-053).
• DOH’s fee and the new license. $500 for each licensed service category, and DOH issues a new license for the rest of the current license period (WAC 246-335-990(5)). DOH may survey after approving the change (WAC 246-335-330(9)).
• What does not pass to the buyer. Any exemption DOH granted the seller (WAC 246-335-355). The buyer does not need the orientation class for a change of ownership application (DOH, Orientation Class).

• Clients first. Your plan of operation needs a process to tell clients about alternative services before you stop operating, or when you cannot meet a client’s needs (WAC 246-335-415(7)).
• Records. It also needs a plan for preserving records, including how they are kept or disposed of before you stop operating (WAC 246-335-415(8)). After closing, client records are kept for the rule’s retention periods (for adults, three years after services end) and kept or disposed of confidentially (WAC 246-335-450(7)-(8)).
• DOH. Tell DOH in writing within 30 days of ceasing home care services or closing an office (WAC 246-335-335(5)).

We did not find a DOH instruction on returning the license certificate when an agency closes. Ask DOH’s home care program on 360-236-2957 (DOH, Contact) before you close.