Nevada in-home care licensing, explained

What the license is

An agency that provides non-medical personal care in someone's home in Nevada must be licensed as an “Agency to Provide Personal Care Services in the Home” — commonly a personal care agency, facility code PCS — by the Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance (HCQC), part of the Health Care Purchasing and Compliance Division of the Nevada Health Authority. A Nevada personal care agency license expires on December 31 following issuance and is renewed annually, with a November 15 renewal deadline (NRS 449B.210). Day-to-day operating rules still sit in NAC 449.396 to 449.3982 while Nevada writes replacement regulations under the new chapter. We date-stamp every regulatory page on this site for that reason.

What the agency had to do to get and keep it

Fingerprints and an FBI background check

Within 10 days of hire the agency must obtain a set of fingerprints and submit them through the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History to the FBI, plus written and oral confirmation of the person’s criminal-history statement. Re-investigation is required at least every five years. A disqualifying conviction requires termination. (NRS 449B.300–449B.340, NRS 449B.440)

A training program covering ten required subject areas

Nevada regulation sets the curriculum, not an hour count: documentation and time records; client rights and confidentiality; the sensory, physical and cognitive changes of aging; communication skills; first aid and CPR; attendant duties and technique; recognizing and responding to emergencies; dealing with adverse behaviors; nutrition, hydration, bowel, bladder and skin care; infection control, body mechanics, transfers and safe environment. It must be completed within the 12 months before the attendant starts, and finished before they work independently. (NAC 449.3977)

Eight hours of continuing training every year

NAC 449.3975(6) requires each attendant to receive “not less than 8 hours” of training annually related to client needs.

A documented competency evaluation

The agency must evaluate and determine each attendant competent in every required training area, and the administrator or a designee must sign off. (NAC 449.3976–3977)

CPR and first aid certification within six months

The personnel file must show a Red Cross or Division-approved certificate obtained within six months of starting. Agencies that require certification before the first shift exceed the state minimum — worth asking about. (NAC 449.3976)

Elder abuse training before providing care, then annually

Required of the administrator and of every employee who provides care, at the agency’s expense, covering recognition of elder abuse including sexual abuse, how to respond to reports, and the applicable law. (NRS 449B.225)

A tuberculosis test and proof of age 18 or older

Plus documented reference checks, and proof of at least the statutory minimum auto liability insurance if the attendant will drive clients. (NAC 449.3976, NAC 441A.375)

A surety bond covering the agency

$5,000 for agencies with fewer than 7 employees, $25,000 for 7 to 25, and $50,000 above 25. The bond runs to the Aging and Disability Services Division and indemnifies an older client for property damage. If the bond lapses, the license is suspended by operation of law that moment. (NRS 449B.185)

What that does not guarantee

A license means the agency met a floor: background checks, a training curriculum, a bond, a supervisory process, an administrator who meets minimum qualifications. It does not mean the caregivers are well paid, well retained, well matched to your situation, or that anyone will answer the phone at 6am on Sunday. Those are the things to ask about, because the state does not test them.

How to check an agency’s license yourself

Takes about two minutes and you do not need us to do it.

1. Open the Nevada HCQC public license search.
2. Choose “Health Facilities” in the Business Unit menu.
3. Choose “Agency to Provide Personal Care Services in the Home” in the Credential Type menu.
4. Set Entity Type to “Agency”, then Search — or click Generate Excel to download the whole list.
5. To search by credential number, enter only the digits that come before the letters.

Open the Nevada HCQC license search.

Where the boundaries of the license sit

On accepting a client, a Nevada agency must hand over and have you sign a written disclosure that includes, in plain language, a statement that managing medical and health conditions is NOT within the scope of its license if those conditions become unstable or unpredictable; attendant qualifications and training; charges and billing method, payment system, due dates and how price increases are announced; the circumstances that can end services and the notice policy; how to reach the administrator during all service hours and the on-call policy; and your rights and the grievance procedure. (NAC 449.3979) If you get nothing in writing at signing, that is a violation, not a formality.

The full list of what a Nevada caregiver can and cannot legally do.

A related license you may run into

Nevada separately licenses an “employment agency to provide nonmedical services” — the caregiver registry model, where a business contracts with caregivers and matches them to households, rather than employing them. It is a different arrangement with different consequences for who the employer is. If a company describes itself as a registry or a matching service rather than an agency, ask which license it holds and who employs the caregiver.

See how we are paid and how this state regulates referral services.

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