Credential tracking for home care agencies.
Home care credentials in Texas
Texas requires 5 credentials of the agency itself and 4 of every caregiver. An agency with 20 caregivers is carrying 85 expiring things, plus 2 more that apply in some circumstances.
Non-medical private-duty home care in Texas is the Personal Assistance Services category of an HCSSA license, under 26 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 558. Everything runs through the TULIP portal. Texas is unusual in two ways worth planning around: the license fee is large, in the thousands rather than the hundreds, and license terms are being phased from 2 years to 3, which changes what your renewal costs depending on which term you land on.
Last verified September 3, 2026 · Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Home and Community Support Services Agency licensing unit.
What the agency must hold
§ 1 · TEXAS — AGENCY-LEVEL CREDENTIALS
Scroll the table sideways to read the fee and the source.
| Credential | Cadence | Form | Fee | Citation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HCSSA License, Personal Assistance ServicesOFTEN CITEDTexas Health and Human Services CommissionApplications and renewals go through the TULIP portal. A renewal filed fewer than 45 days before expiry carries a late fee of $875 on a 2-year term or $1,312.50 on a 3-year term. | 2 years, phasing to 3 years | Form 2021, parent agency | $2,625 initial, 3-year term. Renewal $1,750 on a 2-year term, $2,625 on a 3-year term | 26 TAC Chapter 558 | hhs.texas.gov |
| Alternate delivery site licenseTexas Health and Human Services CommissionApplies to: Each alternate delivery site you operate. | Same term as the parent license | Form 2024 | $1,500 initial. Renewal $600 on a 2-year term, $900 on a 3-year term. Late fee $300 or $450 | 26 TAC §558.29 | hhs.texas.gov |
| Branch licenseTexas Health and Human Services CommissionApplies to: Each branch you operate. | Same term as the parent license | Form 2025 | $2,625 initial, 3-year term | 26 TAC Chapter 558 | hhs.texas.gov |
| Notification of readiness for initial surveyTexas Health and Human Services CommissionFiled on enrolling your first client. | Once, within 6 months of the license being issued | Form 2020 | Not stated | — | fhb.hhs.texas.gov |
| Change of information filingOFTEN CITEDTexas Health and Human Services Commission | On any change to the licensed information | TULIP change of information | $30, plus $100 if filed late. A late change of ownership is $250 per license | 26 TAC Chapter 558 | apps.hhs.texas.gov |
| Good standing with the Comptroller and Secretary of StateTexas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Secretary of StateA lapsed franchise tax standing will stop a license renewal. | Ongoing | None | Not stated | — | hhs.texas.gov |
| Administrator and alternate administrator trainingTexas Health and Human Services CommissionThe official page confirms the requirement. We could not confirm the exact hour breakdown against the rule text, so we track the dates and not a number we cannot cite. | Before designation, then continuing | None | Not stated | 26 TAC Chapter 558 | hhs.texas.gov |
What every caregiver must hold
Each row below repeats for every caregiver on your roster, on that caregiver’s own dates. This is where a spreadsheet stops being enough.
§ 2 · TEXAS — PER-CAREGIVER CREDENTIALS
Scroll the table sideways to read the fee and the source.
| Credential | Cadence | Form | Fee | Citation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee Misconduct Registry checkOFTEN CITEDTexas Health and Human Services CommissionThe annual recheck is the part that gets missed. The pre-hire search is usually on file; the one a year later usually is not. | Before hire, and at least annually after that | Search through TULIP | No fee | 26 TAC §558.245(5) | hhs.texas.gov |
| Nurse Aide Registry checkOFTEN CITEDTexas Health and Human Services Commission | Before hire, and at least annually after that | Search through TULIP | No fee | 26 TAC §558.247 | hhs.texas.gov |
| Criminal history checkTexas Department of Public Safety and FBI, fingerprint based, required of the agencyApplies to every unlicensed person with direct client contact. We could not confirm a fixed recheck interval in the sources we read, so we do not state one. | Before hire | None | Not stated | Health and Safety Code Chapter 250 | hhs.texas.gov |
| Competency based trainingTexas Health and Human Services CommissionThe rule requires competency by topic and an ongoing program. It does not set a fixed hour count for attendants, and we do not publish one. | Continuing, under the agency's written staffing policy | None | Not stated | 26 TAC §558.245(b)(2) | law.cornell.edu |
What we could not confirm
Every one of these is on somebody’s list of Texas requirements. We could not find it in the state’s own text, so it is not on ours as a requirement. We hold the dates if you hold the document, and we tell you who is actually asking for it.
- Surety bond and liability insurance
- We found no bond or insurance mandate in the Chapter 558 licensing standards we read. Broker sites assert one and disagree on the amount, which is a reason to distrust all of them. We will not print a bond figure without a state citation.
- TB screening
- Chapter 558 sets infection control policy duties but we found no employee TB test mandate for HCSSA attendants. The TB rule people cite belongs to childcare facilities, a different program. Many payers require it contractually; we track it as your policy, not the state's rule.
- CPR and first aid certification
- Not a Texas HCSSA credential that we could find. Federal workplace first aid rules and managed care contracts are the usual real source of the requirement.
- Driving record and auto insurance
- Not located in Chapter 558. If your attendants transport clients, this is almost certainly in your own policy or your payer's contract, and we hold the dates either way.
What Texas cites
- 01
Personnel file gaps at survey
The annual registry rechecks, the training record and the criminal history documentation are the paperwork a surveyor opens first, because they are per person and they recur.
26 TAC §558.245, §558.247law.cornell.edu
- 02
Plan of care missing required content
The state's own annual regulatory report format lists plan of care content as a cited item for home health agencies, with the federal citation attached.
42 CFR 484.60(a)(2)hhs.texas.gov
- 03
Late license renewal
A renewal filed fewer than 45 days before expiry carries a late fee of $875 or $1,312.50 depending on the term. This is a self-inflicted cost, and it is the one this product exists to remove.
Texas does publish a ranked list of the 10 most frequently cited HCSSA violations each year. The current year's page would not render for us, and we will not guess at a ranking. This section will be replaced with the ranked list, with the citation numbers, as soon as we can read it. What is above is the shape of the paperwork, not a ranking.
This is the general list. See which of these your agency is missing.
Two fields: Texas and how many caregivers you have. The Gap Report comes back on screen, counted for your size, ordered by what surveyors cite most. No email, no account, no card.