Home › Home care staff requirements › Delaware

Home care staff requirements in Delaware

Delaware licenses three kinds of home care businesses: personal assistance services agencies (non-medical), aide-only home health agencies, and skilled home health agencies. Every worker goes through the state Background Check Center, which runs a fingerprint-based state and FBI check, and must have a drug test result before hire. Home health aides need 75 hours of training, 12 hours of yearly staff development and a yearly competency test, and personal assistance workers need an orientation and a competency test before their first client and every year after.

Get my price Try the sample portal

Keep every caregiver's Delaware file current. Pact tracks background and registry checks, training hours, TB and CPR for each person, reminds staff before anything runs out, and checks everyone against OIG's exclusion list monthly. $10 per active staff member a month, $250 minimum. How it works · Free OIG name check · 901-666-6970

Licenses

Delaware licenses personal assistance services agencies, which send direct care workers to help with daily living activities, companion, homemaker and transportation services, and medication reminders in the client's home (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-1.0).
Delaware licenses skilled home health agencies under a separate rule set (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350).
Delaware also licenses aide-only home health agencies under their own rule set (16 Del. Admin. Code 3351).
The background check and drug testing rule covers home care agencies licensed under the state's licensing law, and the state Division of Long Term Care Residents Protection runs those checks (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-3.0).

Background checks

Every person working for a covered agency must be on the agency's Master List in the state Background Check Center, and new applicants are processed through it (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-4.0).
The criminal background check uses the person's fingerprints for both a Delaware State Bureau of Identification check and a federal FBI check (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-3.0).
Every applicant must sign the Background Check Center consent form, and the agency must keep copies in a separate file ready for inspection (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-6.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-10.0).
Before hiring, the agency must get service letters from the applicant's prior employers (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-7.0).
No applicant may be hired until the agency has the result of the applicant's mandatory drug test (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-10.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-9.0).
The Background Check Center automatically watches for new Delaware arrests and convictions of listed employees (rap back), but an applicant needs a new criminal background check if the last one is three years old or older (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-5.0).
An agency may not employ anyone convicted within the past 15 years of abusing, neglecting or mistreating a facility resident or impaired adult, of a theft-related misdemeanor within the past 2 years, or of a theft-related felony within the past 10 years (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-8.0).

Training and competency

Personal assistance services workers must finish an agency orientation before serving any client, covering topics such as consumer rights, infection control, body mechanics, daily living activities, confidentiality and dementia care (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
Personal assistance services workers must pass a competency test before giving care and every year after (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
Personal assistance services agencies that serve people with Alzheimer's or other dementia must give all direct care workers dementia training every year (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
Personal assistance services staff must get infection control orientation at hire and in-service education on it every year (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-9.0).
New aides at skilled and aide-only home health agencies must complete or show at least 75 hours of training that includes instruction and a supervised practicum (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).
Home health aides with a break in service of more than two years must repeat the 75 hours or show competence in each required training area (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).
Home health aides must attend at least 12 hours of staff development each year (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).
All home health agency employees and contractors must pass a competency evaluation test before giving care and every year after (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).

Health screening

Personal assistance services workers need TB testing before starting and every year, following current CDC recommendations (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
Home health agency staff need baseline TB testing at hire and further testing as a TB risk assessment calls for, following current CDC recommendations (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).
Anyone with a positive TB skin test and a negative chest X-ray must sign a yearly statement that they have had no symptoms of active TB (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).
All new workers at personal assistance services agencies and home health agencies need a physical exam done within 12 months before hire, with a copy kept in their file (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0).
The personal assistance services rule still requires new staff to be tested for COVID-19 before their start date according to Division of Public Health guidance (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-9.0).

Also in the personnel file

Personal assistance services personnel files must hold proof of pre-employment requirements, documentation of competence, education and work history, yearly written evaluations, and a letter of appointment (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
Personal assistance services agencies must have written policies for pre-employment requirements, position descriptions, orientation, and yearly performance review and competency testing (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).
The personal assistance services agency director or a designee must make follow-up home visits at least every 90 days (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-5.0).
Home health agency records of orientation and continuing education must show the dates, hours, content, and the name and title of the trainer (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0).
Home health agency staff development must be supervised by a registered nurse with at least one year of home health and supervisory experience (16 Del. Admin. Code 3350-5.0; 16 Del. Admin. Code 3351-5.0).

Common questions

What background checks do home care aides need in Delaware?

Every person working for a covered agency must be on the agency's Master List in the state Background Check Center, and new applicants are processed through it (16 Del. Admin. Code 3110-4.0).

How much training do home care aides need in Delaware?

Personal assistance services workers must finish an agency orientation before serving any client, covering topics such as consumer rights, infection control, body mechanics, daily living activities, confidentiality and dementia care (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).

Do home care workers in Delaware need a TB test?

Personal assistance services workers need TB testing before starting and every year, following current CDC recommendations (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-4.0).

Which license does a home care agency need in Delaware?

Delaware licenses personal assistance services agencies, which send direct care workers to help with daily living activities, companion, homemaker and transportation services, and medication reminders in the client's home (16 Del. Admin. Code 3345-1.0).

Some rules for Delaware weren't confirmed from an official source. Check with the state before relying on this page.

Sources

This page summarizes state licensing rules in plain words, with links to the rules themselves. It is not legal advice, rules change, and your license type decides what applies: check the linked source and your licensing agency. Medicare-certified home health agencies also follow 42 CFR 484.80. Checked October 2026.

More for Delaware

Delaware background check laws · Delaware drug testing laws · Medicare home health aide rules · All states

Nearby states

Maryland home care staff requirements · New Jersey home care staff requirements · Pennsylvania home care staff requirements