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The first question almost every prospective home care business owner asks is the same: what does it take to get licensed, and how hard is the process? It’s a fair concern. The non-medical home care industry is regulated at the state level, which means the requirements look different depending on where you plan to operate. The good news is that the process is more straightforward than most prospects assume, especially with the right support system behind you.
Here are seven things to know about home care licensing before you start a non-medical home care business of your own.
A non-medical home care license is a state-issued credential that authorizes a business to provide non-clinical, in-home support to seniors and adults with disabilities. Services covered under this license typically include companion care, help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, meal preparation), light housekeeping, and incidental transportation.
This is categorically different from a home health license, which authorizes skilled medical services delivered by licensed clinicians, such as wound care, medication administration, and physical therapy. Non-medical home care franchises like Griswold Home Care operate in the non-clinical category, and licensing rules reflect that distinction.
That distinction matters more than ever right now. In May 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) placed a six-month nationwide moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for home health agencies and hospices, effectively pausing the launch of new clinical home health businesses across the country. Non-medical home care providers like Griswold are not affected. The moratorium applies only to Medicare-certified home health, not to the non-medical category, which means new non-medical home care businesses can still move forward on their normal licensing timelines.
Licensing a home care business is different from state to state. Roughly 30 states require a non-medical home care license, while a handful of states do not regulate the category at the state level at all. The remaining states fall somewhere in between, with registration or certification requirements that stop short of full licensure.
Before you commit to a market, confirm the rules for your specific state, which change more often than most people expect.
This is the single biggest misconception prospective owners bring to the table. You don't need a medical background or clinical credentials to own and operate a non-medical home care business. The license authorizes your business to deliver companion and personal care services, not medical care.
A handful of states do require a licensed nurse to be named on the licensing application, typically as the Director of Nursing or a clinical consultant. You may simply need a nurse as a consultant on a part-time basis rather than a full-time hire. This is one of the most common state-specific wrinkles, but it’s easy to plan for if you know it’s coming.
Some states may want to inspect before you open to be sure it meets the requirements. Others may want to survey you shortly after you open and begin to accept patients as the final step of the licensing process. Both are routine. Knowing which approach your state takes lets you plan your launch timeline accordingly.
License approval can take anywhere from under three months to as long as 18 months, depending on the state and the volume of applications being processed. Building this timeline into your business plan is essential. The states with the longest approval windows tend to have the most rigorous documentation requirements, so you should budget time for back-and-forth with state reviewers.
The license application itself is rarely the hardest part. The supporting documentation is. State reviewers want to see detailed operational policies, procedure manuals, employee handbooks, training protocols, and quality assurance plans. These documents are what separate an application that sails through from one that gets sent back for revisions.
Once your license is issued, the work shifts to maintaining it. Most states require annual renewals, periodic re-surveys (often every 12 to 36 months), and ongoing adherence to any new regulations introduced by the state. Caregiver training documentation, background check records, and client file standards all fall under continuing compliance. Communication with state licensing authorities is the key to compliance.
For independent operators, the licensing process is a research project, a documentation project, and a compliance project rolled into one. For Griswold Home Care franchise owners, most of that work is already done.
Griswold has guided franchise owners through licensure in every regulated state in the country through over 40 years in non-medical home care. Our Compliance Department keeps up to date with the requirements for each state. That means franchise owners inherit state-specific policy and procedure manuals, application templates, and the institutional knowledge of a team that has walked owners through this exact process across dozens of states.
The Compliance team also monitors regulatory changes in real time. When a state updates its rules, affected owners are notified directly, and the supporting documentation is revised on the back end. The day-to-day responsibility for the business stays with the owner, but the regulatory navigation does not have to.
Licensing is one of the most common reasons prospective home care business owners hesitate. It does not need to be. The path is well-documented, the requirements are clear-cut, and the support exists to walk owners through every step.Griswold Home Care has been opening non-medical home care businesses since 1982, and the franchise system was built specifically to remove the regulatory friction that slows independent operators down. For prospective franchise owners evaluating the recession-resilient senior care category, that head start is one of the most concrete reasons to choose a franchise over a from-scratch build.
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