Mississippi home care license requirements
Bottom line: No state license — MS Division of Medicaid E&D Waiver provider enrollment.
CHANGED SINCE MARCH 2026 Change flag: MSDH Background Check Unit began final employment-eligibility determinations July 1, 2026; waiver letters discontinued.
- License required?
- No state license
- License / pathway
- MS Division of Medicaid E&D Waiver provider enrollment
- Fees (initial / renewal)
- No enrollment fee identified (Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency)
From the 50-state summary. Fees shown as stated in the state entry; see each entry for conditions, conflicts, and sources.
Mississippi requirements, item by item
Bracketed numbers link to the official sources at the bottom of this page.
Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency We could not confirm this item on an official state source during our review, so we did not estimate it.
| Item | What the guide found |
|---|---|
| License required? | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| License type / name | For the Elderly & Disabled Waiver, the documented pathway is enrollment as a Personal Care or In-Home Respite provider, including a final Provider Enrollment application to Gainwell. The MSDH home-health license described in the supplied rules covers agencies providing skilled nursing plus other services; the facts do not establish a blanket license exemption for all non-medical agencies. [1][2][3] |
| Licensing agency | Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) administers the E&D Waiver provider pathway; the final Provider Enrollment application is submitted to Gainwell. MSDH handles the fingerprint background-check process described in the sources reviewed. [1][2][4] |
| Agency website | https://medicaid.ms.gov/ (HCBS Waiver Providers page; temporary site during outage) [1] |
| Initial application / license fee | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| Renewal fee | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| Renewal cycle | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| Typical approval timeline | The enrollment guide says proposals are reviewed in the order received and gives no processing-time estimate. [2] |
| Administrator qualifications | The E&D Waiver pre-application requirements include qualified personnel, but the supplied guide does not specify the qualifications. The baccalaureate-degree/experience criteria in the MSDH source apply to a home-health agency administrator, not specifically to the non-medical waiver pathway. [2][3] |
| Caregiver background checks | For the waiver pathway, national fingerprint criminal background checks are required for all employees and volunteers before employment and every two years thereafter; the proposal checklist requests the most recent national fingerprint-check results for all staff. The supplied 2022 source states a cost of $50 per applicant. For new healthcare rap sheets processed on or after July 1, 2026, MSDH’s Background Check Unit makes final employment eligibility determinations, and waiver letters are discontinued. [1][5][4][6] |
| Caregiver training hours | No total number of training hours is stated for Personal Care or In-Home Respite direct-care staff. Staff must complete mandatory training upon hire, pass a scored examination before providing services, attend the training annually, complete a facility-administered initial hands-on skills assessment, and hold current first aid and CPR certification. The enrollment checklist also requires current Provider Orientation and Part 208 Training certificates. [7][5] |
| Registry checks | The E&D Waiver Personal Care proposal checklist requires the most recent Mississippi Nurse Aide Abuse Registry check results for all staff. [5] |
| General liability insurance | The MSDH home-health rules strongly recommend liability insurance for home health agencies. The sources reviewed do not establish whether this recommendation applies to E&D Waiver non-medical providers. [3] |
| Workers' compensation | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| Bonding (surety / dishonesty) | Not confirmed in official sources — check with the state agency |
| Rule changes 2025–2026 | June 1, 2025: Administrative Code Part 208 updates took effect; the sources reviewed do not detail those updates. July 1, 2026: for new healthcare rap sheets processed on or after that date, MSDH’s Background Check Unit began making final employment eligibility determinations, and waiver letters were discontinued; procedures were to be updated by June 30, 2026. [1][2][6] |
Source notes and conflicts
The MSDH source concerns licensed home-health agencies providing skilled nursing plus other services; the Medicaid sources describe enrollment of non-licensed agencies in an E&D Waiver pathway. These are distinct scopes, not a direct conflict. The $50 fingerprint-check cost in the 2022 Medicaid source is distinct from the MSDH rule’s authority to charge up to $50 for fingerprint submissions; neither source states an initial or renewal provider-enrollment fee.
Sources
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid's regular website has been down because of an outage at its web-hosting vendor, and the agency is running a temporary site. As of October 25, 2026, the Division of Medicaid documents below are cited by title and link to that temporary site. We will restore the direct links when the agency's site is back.
- HCBS Waiver Providers – Mississippi Division of Medicaid
Archived copy: web.archive.org (not the agency’s live site) - Home & Community Based Services (HCBS) Elderly & Disabled Waiver Provider Enrollment Step-by-Step Guide (DOM, revised July 2025)
- [PDF] chapter 46 minimum standards of operation for home health agencies
https://msdh.ms.gov/page/resources/264.pdf - Obtaining Fingerprint Criminal Background Checks for Non-Licensed HCBS Waiver & EPSDT Providers (DOM, Feb 22, 2022)
Archived copy: web.archive.org (not the agency’s live site) - Required Attachments Checklist – Personal Care & In-Home Respite (DOM, PCS Proposal Checklist, revised Aug 2025)
- The Scoop, Vol. 2, Issue 1 (DOM, July 1, 2026) — ‘MSDH Background Checks’
- Elderly & Disabled Waiver Training Requirements (DOM letter dated April 29, 2026)
Limits: fees and forms change often. Agencies sometimes post conflicting figures (a statute vs. an older form); those conflicts are shown, not resolved by guessing. Confirm the current fee with the agency before filing. This guide is a research reference, not legal advice.
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