50-State Regulatory Atlas Hawaii
State licensing summary
Hawaii: healthcare licensing and regulation
Hawaii: state license; branch rule not confirmed; certificate of need for medicare or medicaid agencies; not a compact state. Regulator: Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Care Assurance.
Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.
10 findings: 6 verified, 4 provisional. How findings are sourced and labelled.
At a glance
- License
- State license requiredVerified
- Regulator
- Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Care Assurance
- Branch offices
- State license; branch rule not confirmedProvisional
- Certificate of need
- Certificate of need for Medicare or Medicaid agenciesVerified
- Service area
- Confirm with the state agencyProvisional
- 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 are licensed under HAR ch. 11-97 for two years, and only for the agency named in the application. Non-medical home care agencies are licensed separately (HAR ch. 11-700).
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: HAR ch. 11-97
Certificate of need
VerifiedYes for an agency seeking federal certification; otherwise SHPDA issues a letter saying no certificate of need is needed.
In practice: Matters only if the agency will be certified for Medicare or Medicaid.
Source: HAR ch. 11-97Hawaii OHCA: Opening a home health agency
Branch offices
ProvisionalThe rule has no branch provisions. 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: HAR ch. 11-97Hawaii OHCA: Opening a home health agency
Service area
ProvisionalConfirm with the state agency Not established in this review.
In practice: Check the patient’s address against the approved service area before accepting a referral.
Source: HAR ch. 11-97Hawaii OHCA: Opening a home health agency
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: HAR ch. 11-97Hawaii OHCA: Opening a home health agency
Home infusion nursing
Home infusion nursing
ProvisionalThe definition covers skilled nursing “and other therapeutic services” to homebound patients. Whether a nursing-only infusion agency fits it is a question for the state. Confirm with the state agency
In practice: Confirm the license category before staffing infusion visits in this state.
Source: HAR ch. 11-97Hawaii OHCA: Opening a home health agency
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
Hawaii 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
Hawaii 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
VerifiedHawaii 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
Two-year term. The certificate of need depends on federal certification. Hawaii 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
- Hawaii Licensed Home Care Agencies VerifiedHawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Care Assurance, State Licensing Section
Licensed home care agencies with license number, address, phone, and effective and expiration dates; OHCA says unlisted agencies are not licensed.
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
- Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH)hospitals · broader healthcare association
A multi-provider healthcare association for Hawaii; it is not specific to home care.
- Kōkua Mau – A Movement to Improve Carehospice, palliative care
A coalition that advocates for palliative and hospice care in Hawaii’s medical and legislative communities, including advance care planning.
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.