50-State Regulatory Atlas Alaska
State licensing summary
Alaska: healthcare licensing and regulation
Alaska: one license, branches listed or approved; no certificate of need; not a compact state. Regulator: Alaska Department of Health, Health Facilities Licensing and Certification.
Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.
10 findings: 7 verified, 3 provisional. How findings are sourced and labelled.
At a glance
- License
- State license requiredVerified
- Regulator
- Alaska Department of Health, Health Facilities Licensing and Certification
- Branch offices
- One license, branches listed or approvedProvisional
- Certificate of need
- No certificate of needVerified
- Service area
- A branch serves a portion of the parent agency’s total service area.Verified
- In-state office
- See out-of-state rules below
- Medicare certification
- Separate federal step, only for agencies that bill MedicareVerified
Home health licensing
State license
VerifiedYes. Home health agencies must be licensed (AS 47.32; 7 AAC 12.500–590). The license renews every two years, before April 1 of even-numbered years, with fees set by staff size.
In practice: Hold the authority the state requires before the first patient is admitted there, and keep its number, category and expiry with the office it covers.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Certificate of need
VerifiedNo. Alaska’s certificate of need program does not list home health.
In practice: No certificate of need step for home health.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Branch offices
ProvisionalPer-branch fees are charged on the parent license at initial licensure, renewal and when a branch is added, which suggests branches are listed on the parent license. Confirm with the state agency
In practice: Track each office’s authority on its own where the state licenses offices separately, and with the parent where it lists them.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Service area
VerifiedA branch serves a portion of the parent agency’s total service area.
In practice: Check the patient’s address against the approved service area before accepting a referral.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Out-of-state agencies
ProvisionalConfirm with the state agency Not established in this review.
In practice: A license in one state does not authorize care in another; the patient’s state decides.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Home infusion nursing
Home infusion nursing
ProvisionalThe rule text and definition were not retrieved. Confirm with the state agency
In practice: Confirm the license category before staffing infusion visits in this state.
Source: Alaska DOH: Home health agencies
Staffing and nurse licensure
Nurse licensure (compact)
VerifiedNot a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact. Nurses caring for patients here need this state’s own license.
In practice: Check each nurse’s license against the patient’s state, not the agency’s.
Detailed state rules for staffing agencies in this state are being added.
Medicare, hospice and VA programs in this state
Alaska is not one of the six states in CMS’s Review Choice Demonstration for home health (Illinois, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma).
Source: CMS: Review Choice Demonstration for Home Health Services
Alaska is not one of the six states (Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, Ohio) where CMS applies its provisional period of enhanced oversight to newly enrolling hospices.
Source: CMS Medical Review: Hospice
VA Community Care Network region
VerifiedAlaska is in Community Care Network Region 5, administered by TriWest. Agencies join by contracting with the regional third-party administrator, not with VA. VA has re-procured the network as CCN Next Generation with two regions, East and West; which administrator serves which region from 2027 was not announced in the sources reviewed.
Time-sensitive. Region assignments change with CCN Next Generation; recheck VA’s announcements during 2027.
Source: VA: Community Care Network
Federal rules that apply in every state
Medicare certification
VerifiedMedicare certification under the home health Conditions of Participation (42 CFR Part 484) is a federal step for agencies that bill Medicare home health. It is separate from the state license. Where a state ties entry to certification, that state’s findings say so.
In practice: A branch serving a portion of the parent’s area is supervised and administered by the parent agency (42 CFR 484.2).
Source: 42 CFR 484.2
For a Medicare-certified agency, “its personnel must be qualified in all States in which they provide services” (State Operations Manual § 2184).
In practice: Nurse licensure follows the patient’s state.
Medicare’s home infusion therapy benefit is a separate Part B supplier benefit, not a home health benefit. It pays an accredited, qualified home infusion therapy supplier for professional services tied to specific parenteral drugs given through a pump that is durable medical equipment (42 CFR Part 486, Subpart I).
In practice: Most pharmacy-dispensed home infusion is not billable under this benefit; nursing for those patients is usually paid by other payers or under contract.
Compared with Texas
Biennial term instead of three years. Branches appear to be listed on the parent license rather than licensed separately. Alaska is not in the Nurse Licensure Compact.
Other service lines
State rules for these lines are being added to the guide: Medicare home health, Medicare home infusion therapy benefit, Infusion pharmacy, Hospice, Private duty nursing, Personal care and Medicaid HCBS, VA community care, Infusion suites.
Look up a licensed provider
- HFLC facility list (Excel) VerifiedAlaska Department of Health, Division of Health Care Services, Health Facilities Licensing & Certification
A downloadable Excel list of licensed facilities, including home health agencies and hospices.
National lookups
- Medicare Care Compare — Home health
Medicare-certified home health agencies with quality ratings and services offered.
- Medicare Care Compare — Hospice
Medicare-certified hospices with quality measures.
- CMS Provider Data Catalog — Home Health Care Agencies (6jpm-sxkc)
All Medicare-registered home health agencies with CCN, address, ownership, services, certification date and quality measures, as CSV and an unauthenticated API.
- CMS Provider Data Catalog — Hospice – General Information (yc9t-dgbk)
Medicare-certified hospices with CCN, address, county, ownership type and certification date, as CSV and an unauthenticated API.
- CMS QCOR — HHA 2567 Statements of Deficiencies
Federal survey statements of deficiencies for home health agencies, filterable by state, survey type, tag and CCN, with a full-dataset XLSX download.
- CMS QCOR — Hospice 2567s
Federal survey statements of deficiencies for hospices.
- NPPES NPI Registry
National Provider Identifier records with addresses, authorized official and taxonomies, with a public API.
- HHS-OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE)
Individuals and entities excluded from federal health care programs, with a monthly downloadable database.
- SAM.gov Exclusions
Federal exclusion records across agencies.
- Nursys QuickConfirm
Nurse license status, discipline / board-issued alerts and expiry, free to employers and the public.
Associations
No dedicated state association found; the associations below are broader healthcare associations. See also national associations.
- Alaska Hospital & Healthcare Association (AHHA)hospitals, long-term care · broader healthcare association
Alaska’s statewide association of hospitals, nursing homes and healthcare partners; it is not specific to home care.
Official sources
About this guide. Published and maintained by Paloma Health Technologies; Findings are cited to official sources, dated and status-labelled; see the editorial policy. Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.