Pre-licensure survey · 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611

Pennsylvania home care license survey: the preparation checklist

Pennsylvania surveys your agency before the license issues: 28 Pa. Code §611.2 requires the Department of Health to conduct an on-site inspection prior to initial licensure. The surveyor reviews direct care worker files, consumer records, and your written policy and procedure manual against Chapter 611. Use this checklist to have every document ready.

Researched and written by Larry Osakwe · Last verified July 15, 2026

Checked against the published rules of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Home Health, and 7 primary sources linked below. Not a lawyer, not a compliance consultant, and not affiliated with any state agency.

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See the checklist The surveyor reviews your manual: see what a real one looks like

Informational summary of Pennsylvania regulations, not legal advice. We are not affiliated with any state agency. Verify current requirements with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Home Health.

What do home care surveyors look for in Pennsylvania?

Surveyors check your documents against the specific sections of 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611, working from the Department's own Licensure Survey Questions with lettered exhibits. Each row below is one thing the surveyor verifies, with the documents to have ready and the section that requires them.

What the surveyor verifies	What to have ready	Where it comes from
A complete compliance file for every direct care worker	Documented face-to-face interview and at least two verifiable references per worker (§611.51) PA State Police criminal-history report, or FBI/federal report for workers who did not live in Pennsylvania for the prior 2 years, screened against the prohibited convictions in 6 Pa. Code §15.143 (§611.52) ChildLine child-abuse clearance for each worker if the agency serves any consumer under 18 (§611.53) For anyone hired provisionally while checks were pending: documented supervision and proof the 30-day (resident) or 90-day (non-resident) clearance deadline was met (§611.54) Competency verification for each worker (PA nurse license, agency exam, or approved training), reviewed at least annually (§611.55) TB screening per CDC guidance within 1 year of the start date, updated every 12 months (§611.56)	28 Pa. Code §§611.51-611.56
Consumer records with the pre-service information packet	Proof each consumer received the §611.57(c) written disclosures before services began, all seven items: the services and worker identity, hours of service, fees and total costs on an hourly or weekly basis, the Department's licensure contact information, the Department complaint hotline (1-866-826-3644) and local ombudsman contact, the hiring and competency requirements applicable to direct care workers, and the worker's employee-vs-independent-contractor status with its tax and insurance consequences The completed Consumer Notice of Direct Care Worker Status form in each consumer packet (Exhibit L of the Department's Licensure Survey Questions, per the DOH Home Care FAQ) Documentation of compliance kept on file and available for Department inspection (§611.57(d))	28 Pa. Code §611.57(c)-(d)
The written policy and procedure manual itself	Written policies showing how you meet each worker standard of §§611.51 through 611.56 The §611.57 consumer protections in policy form: the 10-calendar-day advance written termination notice (§611.57(a)) and the prohibited-practices rules, no acting as a consumer's power of attorney or guardian and no requiring checks endorsed over to the agency (§611.57(b)) The general health-facility provisions of Chapter 51, which §611.4 applies to licensed home care agencies and registries	28 Pa. Code §§611.51-611.57; §611.4
License scope and regulatory basics	The correct license type applied for: Home Care Agency (employees), not Home Care Registry (independent contractors), and not the Chapter 601 home health license (§611.2) A physical Pennsylvania location matching the application; the address appears on the license, and once licensed the license must be posted at the agency (DOH Home Care FAQ) A current copy of Chapter 611 maintained at the agency (§611.4(a)) Compliance with applicable environmental, health, sanitation, and professional licensure standards (§611.4(c))	28 Pa. Code §611.2; §611.4
Complaint and abuse-reporting procedures	A consumer complaint procedure consistent with the disclosures your packet makes: the Department complaint hotline (1-866-826-3644) and the local Area Agency on Aging ombudsman (§611.57(c)) An abuse-reporting procedure under the Older Adults Protective Services Act: an employee or administrator who has reasonable cause to suspect a recipient is a victim of abuse must immediately make an oral report to the local Area Agency on Aging and a written report within 48 hours, a duty the Commonwealth's guidance applies to DOH-licensed home care agencies and registries (35 P.S. §10225.701, Act 13 of 1997)	28 Pa. Code §611.57(c); 35 P.S. §10225.701

Every policy the surveyor checks, written out to 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611 with the citation beside it:

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What happens if the surveyor finds deficiencies?

The surveyor records areas of non-compliance on a form called the Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction, a copy goes to the agency, and the agency must submit a plan describing how it will fix each problem and by when. That process comes from the Department's published survey-results guidance for home care agencies and registries; Chapter 611 itself sets the standards surveyed against and requires the inspection (§611.2), but does not publish a correction deadline or re-survey timeline for initial applicants.

The Department's guidance describes the report as a snapshot: it reflects only what was observed on the dates of the survey (DOH, Understanding Survey Results for home care agencies/registries).
Survey results, including plans of correction, are posted publicly through the Department's facility quality-assurance directory.
No published rule guarantees a second visit by a certain date, so the practical lever you control is passing the first time: complete worker files, complete consumer packets, and a manual organized to the Chapter 611 citations.

Can I operate before the survey?

No. Under §611.2, no entity may operate, maintain, or hold itself out as operating a home care agency or home care registry without first obtaining a license from the Department, and the Department conducts its inspection before issuing the initial license. The survey therefore stands between you and lawful operation, which is the opposite of the Texas sequence, where the license comes first.

Inspections do not end at licensure: the Department also inspects before each license renewal (§611.2) and conducts unannounced on-site inspections, including at home-based offices (DOH Home Care FAQ).
Renewals are filed at least 60 days before the expiration date printed on the license (§611.2).

What documents should be ready on the day of the survey?

Have the physical stack ready before the surveyor arrives: the written policy and procedure manual, one complete compliance file per direct care worker, consumer records with signed information-packet acknowledgments and service agreements, and a current copy of Chapter 611. Surveyors work from the Department's Licensure Survey Questions, so organizing your files to the Chapter 611 section numbers lets them find each item without hunting.

Do not mail the manual with the application: the Department's FAQ says unrequested material, including an entire policy and procedure manual or business plan, is discarded. The manual is reviewed on-site, at the survey.
Worker files are the largest surface area: §§611.51 through 611.56 each generate a document the surveyor can ask for by name (references, criminal-history report, ChildLine clearance, competency verification, TB screening).
The consumer packet is checked item by item against §611.57(c), including the Consumer Notice of Direct Care Worker Status form (Exhibit L of the Licensure Survey Questions).

Founding price

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Start-up consultants charge $1,000–$4,000 to assemble these documents by hand, and instant template shops are instant because they sell everyone the same generic document. Every manual is made to order: built from your agency details, organized to your state's rules, and delivered within 3 business days, with a full refund anytime before delivery. Founding pricing is limited to the first 25 agencies; after that the State P&P Manual is $199.

State P&P Manual

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Founding price · $199 after the first 25 agencies

A complete written policy & procedure manual built to your state's home care licensing requirements, ready to submit with your application.

Client rights, grievance & complaint-resolution policies
Infection control, safety & emergency-preparedness procedures
Personnel / HR policies incl. mandated abuse-reporting
Service delivery, supervision & care-plan procedures
Editable Word + PDF, organized to your state's checklist

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Founding price · $449 after the first 25 agencies

Everything you need to open: the P&P manual plus the employee handbook, client packet, and the forms surveyors expect to see in use.

Everything in the State P&P Manual
Employee handbook + job descriptions + org chart
Client admission packet & service agreement
Required forms: incident, supervisory visit, competency
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Policy Updates

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Keep your manual current. Once a year we re-verify every citation and send updated language if your state's rules change, plus policy-review reminders timed to your annual compliance tasks.

Annual re-verification of every citation in your manual
Updated policy language if your state's rules change
Annual policy-review and re-attestation reminders
Version-controlled re-downloads anytime
Email support for policy questions

Offered after your manual is delivered.

Delivered within 3 business days, with a full refund anytime before delivery. This is a self-prepared operational document you adopt for your own agency, not legal advice, and not a guarantee of license approval.

Pennsylvania survey FAQ

When does the Pennsylvania home care licensure survey happen?

Before the license issues. Under 28 Pa. Code §611.2, the Department of Health conducts an on-site inspection prior to issuing an initial license, and again before each renewal. The Department publishes no scheduling timeline, so survey scheduling and the completeness of your application, worker files, and policies drive your start date.

Is the Pennsylvania licensure survey announced?

The initial survey follows your application, but the Department's Home Care FAQ is explicit that once you are licensed it conducts unannounced on-site inspections, including at home-based agency offices. Chapter 611 defines an inspection as a scheduled or unscheduled examination (§611.5), so build your files to be surveyor-ready at all times, not staged for one visit.

Does the surveyor review my policy and procedure manual?

Yes. The manual is reviewed on-site at the licensure survey, against the worker standards of §§611.51 through 611.56, the consumer protections of §611.57, and the Chapter 51 provisions applied by §611.4. The Department's FAQ tells applicants not to mail the manual with the application; it is examined at the survey instead.

What is the most commonly missed item at a Pennsylvania home care survey?

Pennsylvania does not publish a ranked deficiency list for home care agencies, so no honest source can tell you the number-one citation. What the rules make checkable item by item: the seven §611.57(c) packet disclosures, the §§611.51-611.56 worker file documents, and the 10-day termination-notice policy of §611.57(a). Generic template manuals routinely miss the Pennsylvania-specific items.

Not licensed yet? The full Pennsylvania path, entity to survey, step by step.

How to start an agency in Pennsylvania→

Comparing states? Fees, timelines, and mandated policies, side by side.

Home care license requirements by state →

Sources

Last verified: July 15, 2026. Informational summary, not legal advice; not affiliated with any state agency. We do not guarantee survey results. Regulations change, so confirm current requirements with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Home Health before relying on them.

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