50-State Regulatory Atlas Colorado
State licensing summary
Colorado: healthcare licensing and regulation
Colorado: one license, branches listed or approved; no certificate of need; compact member. Regulator: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.
10 findings: 10 verified. How findings are sourced and labelled.
At a glance
- License
- State license requiredVerified
- Regulator
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
- Branch offices
- One license, branches listed or approvedVerified
- Certificate of need
- No certificate of needVerified
- Service area
- Inside the parent agency’s geographic service area, close enough to share administration and supervision.Verified
- In-state office
- Required: an in-state office or licensed parentVerified
- Medicare certification
- Separate federal step, only for agencies that bill MedicareVerified
Home health licensing
State license
VerifiedYes. Home care agencies hold a Class A license (any skilled service, and personal care) or a Class B license (personal care only); placement agencies register separately (6 CCR 1011-1 Ch. 26, effective July 1, 2025).
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: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Certificate of need
VerifiedNo.
In practice: No certificate of need step for home health.
Source: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Branch offices
VerifiedThe agency notifies the department in advance with the branch’s services, its area inside the parent’s area and a daily supervision plan. A branch may not offer services that differ from the parent’s.
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: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Service area
VerifiedInside the parent agency’s geographic service area, close enough to share administration and supervision.
In practice: Check the patient’s address against the approved service area before accepting a referral.
Source: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Out-of-state agencies
VerifiedEvery agency serving Colorado must have a physical business office in Colorado.
In practice: A license in one state does not authorize care in another; the patient’s state decides.
Source: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Home infusion nursing
Home infusion nursing
VerifiedSkilled home health services expressly include “in-home infusion services”, so a Class A license applies. Infusion pumps need basic safety and accuracy checks between uses.
In practice: Confirm the license category before staffing infusion visits in this state.
Source: 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 26
Staffing and nurse licensure
Nurse licensure (compact)
VerifiedMember of the Nurse Licensure Compact, implemented. A nurse with a multistate license from another compact state may practice here; the agency still needs this state’s own authority to operate.
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
Colorado 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
Colorado 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
VerifiedColorado is in Community Care Network Region 4, 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
Branches are added by notice, not separately licensed. Records are kept 5 years; aide supervision every two weeks with skilled care. Minimum liability insurance applies by class.
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
- Find and compare facilities ProvisionalColorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Health Facilities & EMS Division
Licensed health facilities, including home care agencies, with a dashboard of inspection results for the past three years.
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
- Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado (HHAC)home health, home care (private duty and personal care), hospice
Formed in 2020 from two state associations; runs state advocacy with a lobbying team, a PAC and a legislative ambassador program, plus conferences and webinars.
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.