50-State Regulatory Atlas Minnesota
State licensing summary
Minnesota: healthcare licensing and regulation
Minnesota: state license; branch rule not confirmed; no certificate of need; not a compact state. Regulator: Minnesota Department of Health.
Educational summary, last reviewed October 17, 2026. Not legal advice — confirm with the state licensing agency or counsel.
12 findings: 8 verified, 4 provisional. How findings are sourced and labelled.
At a glance
- License
- State license requiredVerified
- Regulator
- Minnesota Department of Health
- Branch offices
- State license; branch rule not confirmedProvisional
- Certificate of need
- No certificate of needVerified
- 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. A home care provider license from the Department of Health is required (Minn. Stat. 144A.471), at two levels: basic (assistive tasks) and comprehensive (adds nursing, therapy and other licensed professional services).
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: Minn. Stat. 144A.471
Branch offices
ProvisionalThe per-location rule was not retrieved. 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.
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.
Out-of-state agencies
ProvisionalFor Medicare-certified agencies serving across state lines, the department requires a written reciprocal agreement with the other state’s agency. Other out-of-state rules: Confirm with the state agency
In practice: A license in one state does not authorize care in another; the patient’s state decides.
Home infusion nursing
Home infusion nursing
ProvisionalNursing falls under the comprehensive license. Supply providers are excluded unless a home care service accompanies the supplies. Confirm with the state agency
In practice: Confirm the license category before staffing infusion visits in this state.
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.
A supplemental nursing services agency, which provides temporary nurses and aides to health care facilities, registers with the Minnesota Department of Health, which surveys agencies unannounced twice a year (Minn. Stat. 144A.70). A licensed home care agency that only staffs other home care providers is excluded.
In practice: Nursing delivered in the patient’s home needs the home care provider license (144A.471) instead.
Source: Minn. Stat. 144A.70
Rate cap for nursing homes
VerifiedWhat an agency may charge a nursing home is capped at 150% of the weighted average wage rate for the employee classification and area, plus a payroll-tax factor, all fees included (Minn. Stat. 144A.74).
In practice: The wage averages are reset each year.
Source: Minn. Stat. 144A.74
State coverage for healthcare staffing is partial; more states are being reviewed.
Medicare, hospice and VA programs in this state
Minnesota 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
Minnesota 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
VerifiedMinnesota 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
License levels instead of service categories; owners and the named RN pass background studies before licensure. Minnesota 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
- MDH Health Care Provider Directory VerifiedMinnesota Department of Health, Health Regulation Division
Home care providers, home health agencies, hospices and supplemental nursing services agencies, with license status and federal certification.
- MDH survey and complaint findings VerifiedMinnesota Department of Health, Health Regulation Division
Published survey and complaint findings for regulated providers.
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
- Minnesota Home Care Association (MHCA)home health
Gives members regulatory and legislative updates, free web-based training, conference discounts, a start-an-agency resource and a newsletter.
- Minnesota Network of Hospice & Palliative Care (MNHPC)hospice, palliative care
Works through education and advocacy on serious illness and end-of-life care.
- ARRMMedicaid HCBS
An association of disability services providers offering advocacy and an HCBS openings portal.
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.