Connecticut homemaker-companion agency registration: opening a non-medical home care business

Consumer Protection, not Public Health, runs this registration

Connecticut splits in-home care between two agencies. Agencies that provide nursing or nurse-supervised aide services are licensed by the Department of Public Health (DPH). Agencies that provide only non-medical help register with the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) under Chapter 400o of the General Statutes. Section 20-671 bars anyone from establishing, operating or maintaining a homemaker-companion agency “without first obtaining a certificate of registration from the Commissioner of Consumer Protection” ⁠¹.

DCP regulates these businesses through consumer-protection tools: written contracts, advertising rules, hiring checks and records audits. It does not inspect or survey care quality the way DPH does. As of October 2024, DCP had 1,048 active registrations employing more than 30,800 people, up from 380 in 2012. Of those, 343 were registries and 705 provided services directly ⁠¹¹. In 2023, the state’s two DCP special investigators completed 208 audits, which covered contracts, ownership and employee background checks ⁠¹¹.

The legislature has considered moving oversight to DPH. Public Act 23-48 ordered the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to plan the move. OPM’s December 30, 2024 plan laid out a four-year timeline, but its conclusion was that any transfer “would require legislative action from the General Assembly” ⁠¹¹. As of October 12, 2026, the registration still sits with DCP ⁠².

Who must register

The statute defines a homemaker-companion agency broadly. It covers any public or private organization “that employs one or more persons” and provides companion or homemaker services, and it covers any registry ⁠¹. The term “employee” includes pool and temporary workers and “persons the homemaker-companion agency treats as independent contractors” ⁠¹. Calling your caregivers 1099 contractors therefore does not take you outside the law.

The two services are defined in section 20-670:

• Companion services: “nonmedical, basic supervision services to ensure the safety and well-being of a person in the person’s home” ⁠¹.
• Homemaker services: “nonmedical and supportive services, including assistance with cooking, household cleaning, laundry, personal hygiene and other household chores” ⁠¹.

DCP’s examples of allowed work are cooking, laundry, light cleaning, organizing, grocery shopping, personal hygiene, walks, cards, conversation, watching television and going to a movie ⁠². DCP lists what the registration does not cover: any medical services, directing physical therapy or creating special diets, giving medications or shots, and nursing tasks such as taking blood pressure or caring for wounds ⁠².

Registries count. A registry is any business that supplies, refers or places a caregiver with a consumer when the caregiver is paid directly by the consumer (in whole or in part) or is treated as an independent contractor ⁠¹. On the application you choose whether you employ workers, run a registry, or both ⁠³.

Where DPH licensing starts instead

Two DPH license types are excluded from the registration, and you need to know where their definitions overlap with yours:

Both lists include personal hygiene. The difference is in the model. A DPH home health aide agency works under registered nurse supervision and can add therapy or social work, while a DCP registrant may not deliver anything medical ⁠²⁠⁷. If your plan includes medication administration, wound care, vital signs or nurse oversight of aides, read the DPH home health care agency licensing rules first; this site’s Connecticut guide for that license is not yet published.

A DPH-licensed agency cannot simply add companion work under its license. DCP says a home health care agency or home health aide agency performing non-medical homemaker-companion services “should form a separate entity and register that entity as an HCA” ⁠². Assisted living services in Connecticut are licensed separately as well; see the assisted living services agency guide.

Set up the business entity and name first

DCP asks you to decide before applying whether you will register as an individual (sole proprietor) or a legal entity. Legal entities (LLCs and corporations, in-state or out-of-state) must register with the Connecticut Secretary of the State first ⁠². Corporations, LLCs and LLPs also need an active Certificate of Good Standing ⁠³. Changing structure later, for example from sole proprietor to LLC, requires a new registration, not an amendment ⁠⁶.

Name restrictions. DCP says your legal entity name should not include “nurse,” “nursing,” “healthcare,” “health” or “medical” ⁠². An entity that already has one of those words in its name can keep it only by getting a trade name certificate (DBA) from its municipality with a compliant name ⁠². You may use the word “care” in your name and ads when it refers to homemaker services, but only with the nonmedical disclaimer described below ⁠¹.

One registration, all locations. A single registration covers every location where you offer services ⁠².

The $10,000 bond or insurance policy

Section 20-672(a)(3) requires you to certify that the agency “maintains a surety bond or an insurance policy in an amount of not less than ten thousand dollars coverage,” and that coverage must include “theft by an employee of such agency from a person for whom homemaker or companion services are provided” ⁠¹. The insurance-policy option was added by Public Act 21-37, effective June 4, 2021. Before that, the 2017 version required a surety bond ⁠¹. DCP calls $10,000 the minimum and leaves the right amount for your agency’s size, staff and client count to you and your insurer ⁠²⁠³. You must also show proof of this coverage to reinstate a lapsed registration ⁠⁶.

Filing the application

DCP accepts the paper application (form HCA Appl, revision 10/18) by mail to the License Services Division at 450 Columbus Blvd, Hartford, and the form also points to online filing at ct.gov/dcp/apply ⁠³. The order that works:

1. Form and register the entity

   File with the Secretary of the State and confirm good standing ⁠²⁠³.

2. Bind the bond or insurance

   Get at least $10,000 of coverage that includes employee theft, since you will swear that you have it ⁠¹⁠³.

3. Complete the application

   It asks for your entity type, trade name, business address, SSN or FEIN, whether you employ workers, run a registry or both, how many people you will employ or list, and where business records are kept ⁠³. It also asks whether any court judgment or administrative order has been issued against you or an affiliate over homemaker-companion services in any state, and whether any owner, partner, officer or member has a felony conviction ⁠³.

4. List every owner

   For each person with ownership, give their residence address, SSN, date of birth and driver’s license ⁠³.

5. Affirm four statements under oath

   You affirm that you run comprehensive background checks under section 20-678, give each client an individualized contract or service plan, keep the bond, and keep records open to DCP for inspection, copying or audit ⁠¹⁠³. The signature must be notarized or sworn before a justice of the peace or commissioner of the Superior Court. A knowingly false statement violates CGS 53a-157b ⁠³.

6. Pay $375

   On a paper application, pay by check or money order payable to “Treasurer, State of Connecticut.” The fee is nonrefundable ⁠³.

7. Criminal history checks

   All applicants, “including all members and/or officers of legal entities,” undergo state and national criminal history records checks conducted by DCP ⁠¹⁠³.

The statute gives DCP no deadline. When it receives a completed application and fee, the commissioner either issues the certificate or refuses it ⁠¹. Neither the DCP page nor the application instructions state a processing time. If you are denied, you have ten days from receiving the notice to request a hearing. If the denial is upheld, you must wait one year before reapplying ⁠¹.

The October 31 cycle. Every registration expires on October 31 each year ⁠²⁠³. DCP’s instructions say that if your application is approved within 90 days of the expiration date, you are “bumped to the next renewal cycle” ⁠³. An agency approved within 90 days before October 31 (from about August 2) therefore does not have to renew a few weeks after it opens.

Hiring: the comprehensive background check

Section 20-678 requires a comprehensive background check before you extend an offer or sign a contract with anyone who may provide homemaker or companion services ⁠¹. As defined in section 20-670(5) (text as posted on 2026-10-12), the check must include ⁠¹:

• a review of the application materials;
• an in-person or video-conference interview;
• Social Security number verification;
• license verification if the position requires a license;
• a check of the state sex offender registry under section 54-257;
• a criminal background check, including a multistate records database search and the U.S. Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Website, run by a screening company that is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association and complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act;
• if the candidate has lived in Connecticut less than three years, criminal conviction information from the states where they lived during that period.

Public Act 26-100, section 9, effective on passage in 2026, changed the required records check for employees to “state and national, rather than local and national” ⁠⁹. The posted statute did not yet show the new wording on October 12, 2026.

Who you cannot hire. You may not hire or contract with anyone on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list for a conviction in the past five years. You also may not hire anyone who, in the past five years, was convicted or released from incarceration for a state health-program offense, patient abuse or neglect, a health-care-related fraud or theft felony, or a controlled-substance felony, or who has a substantiated agency finding of neglect, abuse, physical harm or misappropriation of property worth more than $2,000 ⁠¹.

Paperwork. Each candidate signs a form about convictions for crimes of violence or dishonesty and any professional discipline. A false answer is a class A misdemeanor ⁠¹. The form must carry the certification wording set out in regulation section 20-670-2(a) ⁠⁴. New hires complete a Form I-9 ⁠¹. Keep the form and background check records for the whole employment period and three years after it ends ⁠⁴. You must also tell every client in writing about your background check policy, citing section 20-678 ⁠¹.

Photo badges. Since July 1, 2025, every employee must wear an identification badge with their name and photograph at each client appointment. Failing to require it is a ground for discipline ⁠¹.

State home care provider registry. Section 20-685 requires agencies to send DCP employee information for the Department of Social Services home care provider registry. That information is name, job title, hire date, employer, the training programs the employer offers and the dates employees completed them ⁠¹⁠¹³.

Training rules starting January 1, 2027

Until now, Chapter 400o has had no general training requirement. Public Act 26-50, signed May 20, 2026, adds one ⁠⁸:

• Initial training: on and after January 1, 2027, at least eight paid hours within 90 days of a new employee’s start date. The training must include programs on maintaining a clean and safe environment (including dressing, bathing and toileting assistance), identifying and reporting abuse and neglect, and reporting changes in a client’s condition and service needs, and may include more. Employees who will serve people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia also need training on that topic ⁠⁸.
• Annual continuing education: at least eight paid hours a year, drawn from DCP’s list of approved programs. Each employee must complete every program on that list at least once every two calendar years ⁠⁸.
• Approved list: DCP was required to publish the list by October 1, 2026, in consultation with DPH, Social Services, Developmental Services and Mental Health and Addiction Services ⁠⁸. The DCP registration page I reviewed on October 12, 2026 did not link to the list. Ask DCP’s License Services Division where the list is posted and which programs qualify before you buy training. The act’s list may also cover differentiating medical from nonmedical care and any other topic DCP adds ⁠⁸.
• Portability: initial training completed at another Connecticut agency within the previous three years counts if the employee provides the completion form ⁠⁸.
• Exemptions: registered nurse’s aides, home health aides employed by a DPH home health aide agency, personal care attendants, and staff who do not provide homemaker or companion services ⁠⁸.
• Records and attestation: after each training, the agency and employee sign a completion form. By January 1, 2027, and every year after, the agency submits an attestation to DCP. The agency keeps a list of the programs it uses with content summaries ⁠⁸.
• Registries: a registry must make sure each caregiver it places meets the training requirements before placement ⁠⁸.

Section 2 of the act, effective January 1, 2027, also lets agencies advertise that they comply with state training requirements ⁠⁸. Separately, Public Act 26-43 makes technical changes to the homemaker-companion statutes effective October 1, 2026 ⁠¹⁰.

What every client file must contain

DCP’s routine audits include a review of service contracts ⁠¹¹. These are the documents it expects to find.

1. Before services start

   get the client’s signature on a written notice that your agency provides nonmedical care, and keep it for as long as the client is served ⁠¹. Disclose in writing the full legal name of the worker before that worker enters the home. DCP says email, text or a delivered note is acceptable ⁠¹⁠⁵. Registries must also get a signed boldface notice stating whether the registry is the employer, a joint employer, a leasing employer or not an employer, and warning that the consumer may owe payroll taxes, overtime, minimum wage and workers’ compensation. Services cannot start until the signed notice is returned, except in a documented emergency, when the notice is due within four calendar days ⁠¹.

2. Within seven calendar days of the first visit

   deliver a written contract or service plan, developed with the client. It must include a person-centered plan setting the scope, type, frequency, duration and cost of services, how you will oversee the assigned worker, and how often the supervisor will meet the client ⁠¹. Boldface notices must cover seven items, including the client’s right to request changes, 60 days’ advance notice of rate changes, your background check duty, DCP’s right to audit your records, the lack of any insurance coverage guarantee, and cancellation rights ⁠¹. Give the client a printed copy of DCP’s complaint guide on the same day ⁠¹⁠⁵. The contract is not valid against the client unless both sides sign it ⁠¹.

3. Under DCP’s regulations,

   the contract must also define the employment relationship and list job categories such as “live-in” or “daily call,” job duties, privacy safeguards, your policy on gifts and gratuities, and a complaint process ⁠⁴. Give the client a contact phone number, an address and an authorized representative. Keep narrative notes of observations, problems, complaints, plans of action, phone contacts, supervisor home visits and investigation findings ⁠⁴.

Several common contract terms are void in Connecticut. Covenants not to compete for companion, homemaker or home health workers are unenforceable ⁠¹. “No-hire” clauses that penalize a client for hiring your worker directly are void ⁠¹. A client may cancel any contract with no stated duration at any time and pays only for services actually delivered. You cannot bill for a higher-skilled worker than the client needs ⁠¹. No agent, corporate officer, employee or owner of the agency, other than an immediate family member, may act under a power of attorney for a client unless the client petitions DCP and DCP grants an exemption for good cause ⁠¹.

Advertising and the nonmedical disclaimer

Every ad must state that the agency is registered and include its registration number ⁠¹. Since January 1, 2024, you must keep a printed consumer brochure and a website describing your services ⁠¹.

If you use the word “care,” every ad, including each page of your website, social media posts, print and audio-visual ads, must show at the top, in plain font and contrasting colors: “(Agency name) solely provides nonmedical care.” ⁠¹. Audio ads must speak those words at normal speed ⁠¹. DCP’s 2023 summary adds that you may not refer to specific diagnoses or to medical credentials held by your staff in ads, including in email ⁠⁵. You may say your staff are trained to help people with memory difficulties only if you state the type of training and the number of hours ⁠¹. Breaking these rules counts as misleading advertising, a ground for discipline ⁠¹.

Renewal, ownership changes and closing

Renew by October 31 each year. The renewal fee equals the application fee, $375 as published on 2026-10-12 ⁠¹⁠². Not receiving a renewal notice does not excuse a late renewal ⁠¹. A lapsed registration can be reinstated within three years of expiration with the reinstatement form, fees, good standing for entities and proof of the $10,000 bond ⁠⁶.

Certificates cannot be transferred. Before a sale or change of ownership, each new individual owner, or each individual owner of an entity buyer, must submit to state and national criminal history checks. The exceptions are passive investors holding under 10% of a publicly traded agency or under 5% of a private one, or a DCP waiver ⁠¹.

Give DCP written notice at least ten days before you stop all services in Connecticut ⁠¹. Before dropping an individual client on your own initiative, give them ten days’ written notice explaining how to move to other care and how prepaid services will be refunded. You may skip the notice if the client or household abused or threatened your worker, if continuing would put you in breach of law, or if the client has not paid ⁠¹.

Enforcement

DCP may inspect, copy or audit your records at reasonable hours, subpoena documents and hold hearings ⁠¹. It may revoke, suspend or refuse to renew a registration, place an agency on probation or issue a reprimand. Grounds include deceptive conduct, misleading advertising, registry notice failures, skipped background checks, missing nonmedical notices and missing badges ⁠¹. Revocation is mandatory if an agency is found, after a hearing, to have committed those violations three times in one calendar year ⁠¹. After a revocation, DCP will not accept a reinstatement application for one year ⁠¹.

Operating without a current registration, using an expired or suspended certificate, or claiming that registration means DCP endorses your quality is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in prison, or both ⁠¹. The Attorney General can also seek a court order shutting down an unregistered agency ⁠¹.

Getting paid through the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders

Public payment for companion and homemaker services runs mainly through the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE), administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS). The program serves people 65 and older who would otherwise need nursing home care ⁠¹². Under DSS’s posted operating policy for the program (section 17b-342-6 as drafted in the posted regulation text), a homemaker-companion agency serving CHCPE clients must:

• enroll as a provider in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program and sign the Medicaid provider enrollment agreement;
• keep its DCP registration;
• deliver and bill only the services in the client’s plan of care;
• submit claims through DSS’s electronic visit verification system ⁠¹².

Companions and homemakers paid by the program must be at least 18, be in good health, be able to read, write and follow instructions, and be able to report changes in a client’s condition ⁠¹². The posted document is the proposed regulation text, and the official sources I reviewed do not show whether section 17b-342-6 has been adopted in final form. Before you enroll, ask DSS which version governs homemaker-companion providers and what its current Medicaid provider enrollment steps are.

The section 20-679 contract and service plan requirements do not apply to services provided under the CHCPE ⁠¹.

Sources

1. 1
   Connecticut General Assembly, Chapter 400o, Connecticut General Statutes: Homemaker-Companion Agencies (secs. 20-670 to 20-686) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Homemaker Companion Agency (HCA) Registration Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, License Services Division, Instructions and Application for Homemaker-Companion Agency Registration (Rev 10/18) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Connecticut eRegulations System, Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, secs. 20-670-1 to 20-670-4: Registration of Homemaker-Companion Agencies Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Homemaker-Companion Agency 2023 Legislative Updates Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Homemaker Companion Agency Reinstatement Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Connecticut General Assembly, Section 19a-490, Connecticut General Statutes: licensing of institutions, definitions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Connecticut General Assembly, Public Act 26-50: An Act Requiring Training for Homemaker-Companion Agency Employees Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Public Act Summary, PA 26-100 (sHB 5222) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Public Act Summary, PA 26-43 (HB 5126) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, Plan and Timeline for the Transition of Oversight from the Department of Consumer Protection to the Department of Public Health (December 30, 2024) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Connecticut Department of Social Services, Regulation concerning the Connecticut Homecare Program for Elders (operating policy, secs. 17b-342-1 to 17b-342-7) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Connecticut General Assembly, Section 17b-374, Connecticut General Statutes: home care provider registry Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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