To work as a home health aide in Florida, you need to meet three home health aide requirements in Florida before a client ever sees you: finish an approved training program, clear a Level 2 background screening, and provide health documentation confirming you can safely do the job. You also have to be employed by a licensed home health agency or nurse registry. Florida does not license HHAs individually, so your authority to practice comes through that employer under Chapter 400 of the Florida Statutes.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 400 – Nursing Homes and Related Health Care Facilities
Training Hours You Need
How many training hours you need depends on the agency that hires you. Agencies that accept Medicare or Medicaid must follow the federal floor of at least 75 hours of combined classroom and supervised practical training.2eCFR. 42 CFR 484.80 – Condition of Participation: Home Health Aide Services Agencies can require more, never less. If the agency is state-licensed but does not bill Medicare or Medicaid, the minimum is 40 hours, or you can bypass the coursework by passing a competency evaluation approved by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
The curriculum covers the tasks you actually perform: infection control, safe transfers and mobility help, personal hygiene, basic nutrition and meal prep, and recognizing and reporting changes in a client’s condition. Training has to come from a licensed home health agency or an approved educational institution. Self-study does not count.
After finishing the hours, you show competency through a written test, a hands-on skills evaluation, or both. Your employer keeps the paperwork on file and produces it during inspections. Without the documentation, you cannot work.
Level 2 Background Screening
Every HHA in Florida must pass a Level 2 background screening under Chapter 435 before providing any client care. It is the more thorough of Florida’s two screening levels and covers healthcare roles across the board.
You start with electronic fingerprinting at a state-authorized LiveScan provider. The prints go to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a state check and to the FBI for a national criminal history review. Results flow into the AHCA Clearinghouse, which makes the eligibility call.3Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Clearinghouse Fingerprinting typically costs between $35 and $90 depending on the vendor and whether the employer covers it.
Certain convictions disqualify you automatically. These include offenses involving abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a patient or vulnerable adult, along with other serious felonies. You can apply for an exemption under Section 435.07 if you have a disqualifying history, but you carry the burden of showing rehabilitation, and approval is not guaranteed.4Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 435.07 – Exemptions from Disqualification
Once cleared, your screening stays valid for five years through the Clearinghouse as long as you remain employed in a screened position. A break in employment resets the clock, and a new agency will need you rescreened before your first shift.
OIG Exclusion List
If the agency hiring you bills Medicare or Medicaid, it also has to confirm you are not on the federal Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals and Entities. People on the list are barred from federal healthcare programs entirely. Exclusions come from offenses like healthcare fraud, patient abuse, or controlled substance violations, and the minimum exclusion period is five years. Agencies typically check the list at hire and again on a regular schedule.
Health Documentation and TB Screening
Before your first day, you need a statement from a licensed healthcare professional confirming you are physically able to do HHA work and free of communicable diseases. Most agencies want the document dated within six months of your hire.
A negative tuberculosis screening is required for every newly hired HHA. The PPD skin test is standard, though a blood test such as QuantiFERON-TB Gold is accepted. Results go into your personnel file. Some agencies require annual TB rescreening; the baseline rule is at hire.
You Work Under a Licensed Agency
You cannot practice as an HHA on your own in Florida. Your legal authority to work comes from the employment relationship with a licensed home health agency or a registered nurse registry. The agency holds the license and the responsibility for confirming you meet every requirement.
A registered nurse supervises the care you provide, assigns your tasks, reviews your documentation, and retains responsibility for the personal care delegated to you.5The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 400.464 – Home Health Agencies to Be Licensed The RN’s assignments define what you do for each client.6Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 59A-8.0095 – Personnel
Ongoing Training Every Year
Being hired is not the end of the training obligation. HHAs have to complete at least 12 hours of in-service training each year on topics such as infection control, emergency procedures, and updates to care techniques. Your employer also runs an annual competency evaluation, observing you perform care tasks in person. For Medicare-certified agencies, that annual in-person competency check is a federal requirement.
What HHAs Can and Cannot Do
Your scope of practice is set by a care plan that a registered nurse or other qualified professional writes for each client. You help with daily activities: bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, light housekeeping, meal prep, and safe movement around the home. You can take vital signs when trained and report what you observe to the supervising nurse.
Several tasks are off-limits:
- Administering medications. You can remind a client to take a dose, but you cannot measure doses, give injections, or manage schedules.
- Skilled nursing procedures such as wound care beyond basic first aid, catheter insertion, or IV management.
- Medical judgments. If a client’s condition changes, you report it. You do not diagnose or adjust treatment.
- Adding tasks on your own. Everything you do must be authorized in the care plan, even if a client or family member asks.
The line between personal care and skilled nursing is where most scope problems start. When you are not sure, call your supervising nurse.
HHA and CNA Are Not the Same Credential
Home health aides and certified nursing assistants often get confused, and the difference matters. A CNA in Florida is individually licensed through the Florida Board of Nursing and has to pass a state competency examination after an approved training program.7Florida Board of Nursing. Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) That license belongs to the person and travels between employers.
An HHA has no individual license. Your credentials exist only within your employing agency. Finishing HHA training does not make you a CNA and does not qualify you for settings that require CNA licensure, such as nursing homes or hospitals. To hold both, you have to complete CNA training and pass the state exam separately.