Home care policies and procedures, state by state
There is no national list. Home care licensure is a state function, so the policies you must have in writing are whichever ones your state’s licensing rule names. Across the 6 states below that count runs from 6 to 15, and the obligations behind them are not interchangeable.
64 named requirements, each citing the rule that requires it. Pick your state to see its set.
Researched and written by Larry Osakwe · Last verified August 4, 2026
Checked against the published rules of the state licensing agency. Not a lawyer, not a compliance consultant, and not affiliated with any state agency.
What each state names
Even the name of the licence differs. So does how prescriptive the rule is: some states enumerate a manual section by section, others state general duties and leave the structure to you.
| State | What the licence is called there | Named policies | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | Residential Service Agency (RSA) | 15 | COMAR 10.07.05 (Health-General Title 19, Subtitle 4A) |
| Georgia | Private Home Care Provider (PHCP) | 13 | Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 111-8-65 (O.C.G.A. §31-7-300 et seq.) |
| New Jersey | Health Care Service Firm (HCSF) | 11 | N.J.S.A. 34:8-45.1 and N.J.A.C. 13:45B-13 |
| Pennsylvania | Home Care Agency | 10 | 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611 |
| Texas | Home and Community Support Services Agency (HCSSA), Personal Assistance Services category | 9 | 26 TAC Chapter 558 |
| California | Home Care Organization (HCO) | 6 | Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act (H&S Code §1796.10 et seq.) |
Counts are the individually named written-policy requirements we have verified against each state’s primary source, not an estimate of manual length. A state with fewer named policies is not necessarily easier to license.
Everything we have on each state
Maryland
Maryland Department of Health, Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ)
Georgia
Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation Division (HFRD)
New Jersey
New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Regulated Business Section
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Home Health
Texas
Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC)
California
California Department of Social Services (CDSS), Home Care Services Bureau
Why the free templates do not survive a survey
There are plenty of free home care policy templates, and the problem with them is not that they are badly written. It is that a surveyor is not reading your manual for quality. They are checking it against a specific regulation, item by item.
So the questions are narrow ones. Does your hiring policy name the registry your state actually requires you to check? Does your grievance procedure name the right complaint authority, with its contact details? If your state requires a written disclosure a fixed number of hours before service starts, does your intake packet contain it and does your policy say so? A manual written for no state in particular answers none of those, because it cannot.
That is why every policy in the state pages above carries its citation. Not decoration: it is the thing that lets you check your own manual against the rule before someone else does.
What policies and procedures does a home care agency need?
There is no single national list, which is the part most guides get wrong. Home care licensure is a state function, so the required set is whatever your state's licensing regulation names. Across the 6 states we cover in depth, the number of individually named written policies ranges from 6 in California to 15 in Maryland. The categories recur (personnel and background checks, client rights and grievances, care planning and supervision, infection control, emergency preparedness, records), but the specific obligations, the timing, and the documents you must be able to produce at survey differ by state.
Can I use a generic home care policy template?
You can start from one, but a generic template cannot satisfy a state rule it does not reference. A surveyor is checking your manual against a specific regulation: whether you have the disclosure your state requires before service begins, whether your background-check policy names the right registry, whether your grievance procedure names the right complaint authority. A template written for no state in particular names none of those. That is the practical problem with the free PDFs: they are not wrong so much as unaddressed to your regulator.
Are home care and home health policies the same thing?
They overlap but they are licensed separately in most states, and the written requirements differ. Home health is typically skilled nursing and therapy under a physician's plan of care, frequently Medicare-certified, which brings federal Conditions of Participation on top of state rules. Non-medical home care (personal care, companionship, homemaker services) is generally licensed only by the state. The pages here cover the state-licensed home care side; if you are pursuing Medicare certification, you have a second, federal layer.
How often do these policies need to be reviewed?
Most states require at least annual review, and several require the review itself to be documented with dates and signatures rather than simply performed. The practical trap is that a manual that was correct at licensure drifts as rules change, so the review is what keeps it current. Where a state names a review interval, the state page below cites it.
Primary sources
- Maryland: COMAR 10.07.05 (Health-General Title 19, Subtitle 4A)
- Georgia: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 111-8-65 (O.C.G.A. §31-7-300 et seq.)
- New Jersey: N.J.S.A. 34:8-45.1 and N.J.A.C. 13:45B-13
- Pennsylvania: 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611
- Texas: 26 TAC Chapter 558
- California: Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act (H&S Code §1796.10 et seq.)
Last verified August 4, 2026. Informational, not legal advice, and not a determination about any specific agency. Licensing rules change; confirm against the primary source for your state before relying on any of it.
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