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Home care staff requirements in District of Columbia

The District of Columbia licenses home care agencies, which may offer skilled services and home health or personal care aide services, and requires an operating office inside the District. Unlicensed staff need a criminal background check before they can be hired, with a 7-year look-back for listed crimes and a bar for anyone on the Nurse Aide Abuse Registry. Aides need 75 hours of training plus a competency evaluation, 12 hours of continuing education each year after the first year, and yearly screening for communicable disease.

Licenses

• Every home care agency serving one or more patients in the District must be licensed and follow 22-B DCMR Chapter 39 and Chapter 31 (22-B DCMR 3900.2).
• A licensed home care agency must offer at least one of: skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, intravenous therapy, medical social services, or home health aide or personal care aide services (22-B DCMR 3900.4).
• Each licensed home care agency must keep an operating office inside the District, staffed at least eight hours a day on weekdays (22-B DCMR 3900.5).

Background checks

• Home care agencies must follow the Health-Care Facility Unlicensed Personnel Criminal Background Check Act (22-B DCMR 3907.3).
• The Act covers every licensed facility and covers unlicensed workers who give direct patient care, plus housekeeping, maintenance and office staff who are likely to have direct patient contact (D.C. Code § 44-551).
• No facility may employ or contract with an unlicensed person until a criminal background check has been done, and applicants must be told the check is required (D.C. Code § 44-552).
• An unlicensed person may not be hired if, in the 7 years before the check, they were convicted of listed crimes such as murder, assault, burglary, robbery, theft, fraud, sexual offenses, child abuse, or drug distribution (D.C. Code § 44-552).
• An unlicensed person whose name is on the Nurse Aide Abuse Registry may not be hired (D.C. Code § 44-552).
• The check may come from the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, or a private agency (D.C. Code § 44-552).
• Criminal records must be kept confidential and destroyed one year after the person's employment ends (D.C. Code § 44-552).

Training and competency

• Home health aides and personal care aides must complete 75 hours of classroom and supervised practical training, with at least 16 hours of supervised practical training, and pass a competency evaluation (22-B DCMR 3915.2).
• Sixteen hours of classroom training must be finished before the aide starts supervised practical training (22-B DCMR 3915.3).
• A certified nurse aide can qualify as a home health aide by completing at least 12 hours of supplemental home health training on listed topics (22-B DCMR 3915.4).
• After the first year, each aide needs at least 12 hours of continuing education or in-service training every year, including a part on caring for people with disabilities (22-B DCMR 3915.6).
• Agency personnel policies must provide for orientation, periodic training or continuing education, and periodic competency evaluation (22-B DCMR 3907.1).

Health screening

• At hire, the agency must confirm the employee was screened for and found free of communicable disease within the prior six months (22-B DCMR 3907.6).
• Each employee must be screened for communicable disease every year following CDC guidelines and certified free of communicable disease (22-B DCMR 3907.7).
• Personnel records must show that the employee accepted or declined the hepatitis vaccine (22-B DCMR 3907.2).
• No employee may give home care while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or while having a communicable disease that is a confirmed risk to patients (22-B DCMR 3907.8).

Also in the personnel file

• Personnel records must include license or registration numbers, training certificates and skills checklist, orientation and in-service attendance, current CPR certification if required, health certification, verification of previous employment, reference checks, annual evaluations, background check documentation, a position description and competency test results (22-B DCMR 3907.2).
• Aides must be supervised on site by a registered nurse or other health professional at least every two weeks for skilled services and at least every 62 days for all other services (22-B DCMR 3915.7).
• Each employee or contract worker must show a valid agency ID before entering a patient's home (22-B DCMR 3907.11).
• Personnel records for staff serving District patients must be kept in the District office or produced within 24 hours when the Department of Health asks (22-B DCMR 3907.4).

Common questions

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

Sources

• 22-B DCMR 3900 General Provisions (Home Care Agencies), DC Office of Documents
• 22-B DCMR 3907 Personnel (Home Care Agencies), DC Office of Documents
• 22-B DCMR 3915 Home Health and Personal Care Aide Services, DC Office of Documents
• D.C. Code § 44-551 Definitions (Unlicensed Personnel Criminal Background Check)
• D.C. Code § 44-552 Criminal background checks

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 District of Columbia

District of Columbia background check laws · District of Columbia drug testing laws · Medicare home health aide rules · All states

Nearby states

Maryland home care staff requirements · Virginia home care staff requirements