How to Get a Personal Services Agency License in Indiana

To get a personal services agency license in Indiana, you apply to the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) using its application form, pay a $250 fee, and show that your agency has the policies, staffing, insurance, and infrastructure to deliver safe nonmedical in-home care. The form is the easy part. The harder part is having everything the state expects a licensed agency to have already in place on the day you apply, because IDOH can inspect at any time and your license year starts running the moment it issues.

What a Personal Services Agency Is in Indiana

Indiana Code 16-27-4 defines “personal services” as attendant care and homemaker services: help with bathing, dressing, meal preparation, light housekeeping, and other daily support that lets a person stay in their own home. These are nonmedical services. If you plan to provide skilled nursing or therapy, you need home health agency licensure under a different chapter, not this one.

The line matters after you’re licensed, too. A personal services agency cannot serve clients with unstable health conditions that require skilled medical intervention. When a client’s needs cross that line, you have to refer them to an appropriately licensed provider.

The Application

The application goes to IDOH on the department’s form. It covers your organizational structure, the services you intend to provide, and the qualifications of your administrative personnel, and it must be accompanied by the $250 fee.¹

Alongside the form, you need to show financial stability, liability insurance, and written policies covering staff training, supervision, client intake, service delivery, and emergency response. IDOH wants evidence that you have the infrastructure to operate safely, not just plans to build it.

Once IDOH receives a completed application showing basic compliance with the chapter and the $250 payment, it issues the license. The statute says the department “may conduct” an on-site inspection in connection with an initial license, so a pre-license visit is discretionary and not guaranteed.¹ Because IDOH can inspect at any time after licensure, your records and operations should be ready from day one.

Out-of-state applicants have an extra requirement. They must be authorized by the Indiana Secretary of State to conduct business in Indiana and must maintain a branch office in the state.¹

Set Up the Business Before You Apply

If you’re forming an LLC, corporation, or other legal entity, complete the state entity registration first, then get your Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Applying out of order can cause processing delays. The IRS issues EINs for free through its online application; you don’t need a paid service.²

Background Checks You Must Be Ready to Run

This is the compliance area IDOH watches most closely, and the rules take effect the moment you hire someone. Under Indiana Code 16-27-2, a personal services agency must obtain a criminal history check for every employee who will provide services in a client’s home. You have to apply for that check within three business days of the employee’s start date, and the employee cannot continue working past 21 calendar days without the check in hand, absent a narrow exception when the delay lies with the state police, FBI, or the background check provider.³

The required check is either a national criminal history background check or an “expanded criminal history check,” which Indiana defines as a lifetime search of records from every county the person has lived in, including out-of-state counties. There is no year cap.³

Certain convictions disqualify a person from working in a client’s residence, including sex crimes, exploitation of an endangered adult, and failure to report abuse or neglect, among other offenses listed in the statute. These rules apply to agency owners and operators, not only frontline caregivers.⁴

If you plan to accept Medicare or Medicaid, you also need to screen new hires and current staff against the HHS Office of Inspector General’s List of Excluded Individuals and Entities. Hiring someone on the LEIE exposes the agency to civil monetary penalties.⁵

Policies and Standards To Have In Place

A license commits you to ongoing standards for staffing, training, records, and workplace safety. Have these written down and operational before you open.

Staffing and Training

You need qualified staff, documented credentials, a designated agency manager, and staffing levels adequate to serve your client base. Training programs should cover the specific services your agency provides, emergency response, and client rights.

If any caregiver could encounter blood or other potentially infectious materials on the job, OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard applies. You must keep a written exposure control plan, updated annually, provide personal protective equipment at no cost to workers, offer hepatitis B vaccinations within 10 days of assignment to jobs with exposure risk, and deliver bloodborne pathogen training at hire and at least annually thereafter.⁶

Records

Keep detailed client records: intake assessments, service plans, and documentation of services delivered. Records must show continuity of care and be available for IDOH review, while also protecting confidentiality through written privacy policies and access controls.

Client Rights

Indiana law requires you to inform clients of their rights when services begin. At a minimum, clients have the right to be treated with dignity, to participate in decisions about their care, to be free from verbal, physical, and psychological abuse, and to raise grievances without retaliation. You need a written grievance resolution policy, and staff training should cover these rights in practical terms rather than as an abstract recitation.

Worker Classification and Pay

Most caregivers at a personal services agency are W-2 employees, not 1099 contractors. The IRS looks at three categories to sort this out: behavioral control (do you direct how the work is done), financial control (do you set pay, provide tools, reimburse expenses), and the relationship (is the work central to your business and ongoing). No single factor decides it.⁷ If you control caregivers’ schedules, assign them to clients, and their work is the core of your service, they’re employees. Misclassification to avoid payroll taxes is something the IRS and state labor agencies actively look for in this industry.

Travel time between client homes during the workday is compensable and your agency has to track and pay it. Normal commuting from home to the first client and from the last client home is not.⁸

Federal Privacy and Nondiscrimination Duties

Almost every personal services agency handles protected health information, which brings you under HIPAA’s privacy, security, and breach notification rules. You’ll need written privacy policies, staff training on handling client health information, a designated privacy officer, and breach reporting procedures.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires you to communicate effectively with clients who have vision, hearing, or speech disabilities, providing auxiliary aids and services such as large-print materials or qualified interpreters when needed.⁹

If you’ll receive any federal financial assistance, including Medicaid payments, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act applies. It bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs receiving federal funds. Covered agencies must post annual nondiscrimination notices, provide free language assistance for clients with limited English proficiency, and maintain written grievance procedures if they employ 15 or more people. Records of discrimination grievances must be kept for at least three years after resolution.¹⁰

Renewal

An Indiana personal services agency license expires one year from its date of issuance. IDOH may issue an initial license for less than a full year to stagger expiration dates.¹ Submit renewal before the expiration date to avoid a gap in your authority to operate. Update your documentation for any changes in operations, personnel, or policies since your last application. IDOH may conduct an on-site inspection at renewal, so use the cycle to verify that background checks are current, training records are complete, client files are up to date, and your written policies still match what happens in the field.

What Happens Without a License or Out of Compliance

Operating a personal services agency without an IDOH license is illegal. The statute authorizes the state attorney general to seek injunctive relief, meaning a court can order the operation to stop.¹

For licensed agencies, IDOH can issue deficiency notices requiring corrective action within a set timeframe. Common triggers are missed background check deadlines, thin training documentation, and poor record-keeping. Penalties depend on the violation’s severity, the potential harm to clients, and the agency’s compliance history. Repeated or serious violations can lead to revocation, which effectively closes the agency.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 16-27-4-6 – License Required; Branch Offices; Fee; Application; Onsite Inspection; Expiration; Home Health Agency
2
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
3
Indiana Department of Health. Criminal History Checks State Statute IC-16-27-2
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 16-27-2-5 – Employees; Prohibition
5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Background Information – Exclusions
6
OSHA. OSHA Factsheet – Bloodborne Pathogens Standard
7
Internal Revenue Service. Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Travel Time
9
U.S. Department of Justice. ADA Requirements: Effective Communication
10
eCFR. Part 92 – Nondiscrimination in Health Programs or Activities