50-State Regulatory Atlas Illinois
State licensing summary
Illinois: healthcare licensing and regulation
Illinois: one license, branches listed or approved; no certificate of need; not a compact state. Regulator: Illinois Department of Public Health.
Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.
12 findings: 9 verified, 2 provisional, 1 disputed. How findings are sourced and labelled.
At a glance
- License
- State license requiredVerified
- Regulator
- Illinois Department of Public Health
- Branch offices
- One license, branches listed or approvedVerified
- Certificate of need
- No certificate of needVerified
- Service area
- A geographic service area of contiguous counties approved by the department.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. The Department of Public Health issues Home Health, Home Nursing, Home Services and Placement agency licenses, each with its own application and fee. A provisional license lasts 240 days and is surveyed on site before it expires.
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: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
Certificate of need
VerifiedNo.
In practice: No certificate of need step for home health.
Source: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
Branch offices
VerifiedBranches are requested through the department’s branch questionnaire and operate under the parent license. Drop sites render no services.
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: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
Service area
VerifiedA geographic service area of contiguous counties approved by the department. Approval is needed before caring for clients in a new county.
In practice: Check the patient’s address against the approved service area before accepting a referral.
Source: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
Out-of-state agencies
VerifiedAn agency caring for patients in Illinois must be licensed in Illinois and have an office there, and its staff must hold the licensure Illinois requires.
In practice: A license in one state does not authorize care in another; the patient’s state decides.
Source: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
Home infusion nursing
Home infusion nursing
ProvisionalThe home nursing agency license is often named as the fit for RN-visit infusion work, but no rule expressly classifies pharmacy-contracted infusion nursing. Confirm with the state agency
In practice: Confirm the license category before staffing infusion visits in this state.
Source: 77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.2077 Ill. Adm. Code 245.80IDPH Home Health FAQ
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.
Nurse agency license
DisputedNurse agencies are licensed by the Illinois Department of Labor under the Nurse Agency Licensing Act (225 ILCS 510). Whether a licensed home health agency that also supplies nurses needs a separate nurse agency license is stated differently in different versions of the definition.
In practice: Supplying nurses to facilities falls under this Act; nursing in a patient’s home falls under the home nursing or home health license.
Non-compete and conversion fees
ProvisionalNurse agencies may not bind nurses and nursing assistants with non-compete covenants in agreements executed on or after July 1, 2022 (HB 4666).
In practice: Review placement and staff contracts for non-compete and conversion-fee terms.
Source: IDOL press release
State coverage for healthcare staffing is partial; more states are being reviewed.
Medicare, hospice and VA programs in this state
Illinois is one of the six states in CMS’s Review Choice Demonstration for home health (Illinois, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma). Medicare home health agencies here choose pre-claim review or postpayment review; an agency that reaches a 90% provisional affirmation rate may move to lighter review options. The earlier minimal-review choice with a 25% payment reduction was removed. The demonstration was extended five years from June 1, 2024.
Source: CMS: Review Choice Demonstration for Home Health Services
Illinois 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
VerifiedIllinois is in Community Care Network Region 2, administered by Optum. 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
Up to three concurrent license types per agency. County approvals instead of a nested branch area. Illinois 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
- IDPH agency directories (data.illinois.gov) VerifiedIllinois Department of Public Health, Office of Health Care Regulation
Open-data directories of home health, hospice, home services (non-medical), home nursing and placement agencies, with license number and expiration date.
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
- Illinois HomeCare & Hospice Council (IHHC)home health, hospice, home care (private duty and personal care)
The Springfield-based Illinois association for home health, hospice and home services providers, listed in the Alliance’s Assembly of State Associations.
- Illinois Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (IL-HPCO)hospice, palliative care
Provides education, advocacy, public policy work, webinars, conferences, compliance support and a hospice locator.
- Home Care Association of America (HCAOA), Illinois chapterhome care (private duty and personal care)
The state chapter of the national home care association; HCAOA chapters handle state advocacy, networking and legislative tracking.
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.