The short answer Kansas licenses home health agencies under a definition broad enough to cover supportive (non-medical) care, so most personal care agencies license as home health agencies with KDHE.
What Kansas requires
Kansas
Licensing agency. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Health Facilities Program, administers home health agency licensure under K.S.A. 65-5101 et seq. and K.A.R. 28-51 (regulations updated in 2025).
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Broad license scope. Kansas defines a home health agency to include providers of home health services, supportive care services, or HCBS attendant care services, so agencies offering only personal care/homemaker (supportive care) services generally still need a home health agency license — nursing services are prohibited under a supportive-care-only license.
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Renewal. Licenses renew annually with modest statutory fees; agencies must designate a qualified administrator and meet staffing and supervision standards in the licensure regulations.
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Surveys. KDHE conducts initial and periodic licensure surveys and complaint investigations with plan-of-correction requirements, and performs Medicare certification surveys as the CMS state agency; unlicensed agencies can be offered a 60-day temporary license and fined if they fail to obtain licensure.
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The federal baseline (applies in every state)
Federal
No federal home care license. There is no federal license for home care or home health agencies. Licensure is a state function: each state (and DC) decides whether and how to license home health agencies and non-medical personal care/companion agencies, so requirements vary dramatically by jurisdiction.
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Medicare certification (42 CFR Part 484). Agencies that bill Medicare for skilled home health must be certified as meeting the Medicare Conditions of Participation at 42 CFR Part 484 (patient rights, comprehensive assessment, QAPI, skilled professional services, home health aide standards, and more), on top of any state license.
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Accreditation with deemed status. Most new Medicare home health agencies obtain certification through a CMS-approved accrediting organization with deeming authority — ACHC, CHAP, or The Joint Commission — whose surveys substitute for the state agency's Medicare certification survey.
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State survey agencies enforce both. State survey agencies (usually the state health department) operate under agreements with CMS to survey Medicare-certified agencies, and most also run the state licensure survey program — initial surveys, renewal/recertification surveys, complaint investigations, and plan-of-correction enforcement per the CMS State Operations Manual.
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