New Mexico · Checked October 22, 2026
Non-medical home care is not state-licensed in New Mexico — but the lanes around it are regulated, and the skilled door is a different license.
Checked in part. No-license finding is by absence: HCA/DHI's facility-type list and fee rule (8.370.3 NMAC) contain no personal care / home care agency category, and 8.370.22 NMAC licenses only 'home health agencies.' No primary source states in so many words 'non-medical agencies need no license,' so this is marked partial. The home health fee, renewal and administrator facts are primary-verified. Anything the state does not publish is printed as "Not published" below — never filled from blogs or consultancy tables. Confirm on the agency page before you budget.
| Item | New Mexico |
|---|---|
| License / registration | No state license for a standalone non-medical (personal care / homemaker / companion) agency found in primary sources. The licensed category is the Home Health Agency license, 8.370.22 NMAC, issued by the Health Care Authority, Division of Health Improvement (DHI). |
| Issued by | New Mexico Health Care Authority (HCA), Division of Health Improvement (DHI) — health facility licensing (successor to Department of Health DHI for licensing) — official page |
| Application / initial fee | Not published — No license (and therefore no state license fee) for a standalone non-medical agency. For comparison, the licensed Home Health Agency fee is $300 per license under 8.370.3 NMAC (Health Facility Licensing Fees). Do not present the $300 as a non-medical agency fee. |
| Renewal | No non-medical license to renew. Home Health Agency licenses are annual; renewal application and the $300 fee are due at least 30 days before expiration (8.370.22.12 NMAC). |
| Surety bond | No state bond minimum found in the published rules |
| Liability insurance | State sets no minimum |
| Timeline | State does not publish a processing time for non-medical agencies (no license). For home health licensure, HCA states the application, policy-and-procedure review and plan review are good for one year from receipt of the application fee; if no license issues within that year the applicant may have to restart. |
| Administrator | No state administrator standard for a standalone non-medical agency. For a licensed home health agency, the administrator must be a licensed physician, a registered nurse, or a person with at least a high school diploma/GED, training and experience in health services administration, and at least one year of supervisory or administrative experience in home health care (home health agency requirements, formerly 7.28.2.26 NMAC, carried into 8.370.22 NMAC). |
| State extras | For the home health route: Board of Pharmacy approval if the facility will handle drugs (required before licensure per HCA), background checks, and the $300 license / $300 amended-license fees. For private-pay non-medical: ordinary business registration, insurance and background-check costs only — no state agency fee found. |
| Service | Under this license |
|---|---|
| Companionship & supervision | Covered |
| Homemaker help | Covered |
| Hands-on personal care | Covered |
| Live-in / 24-hour care | Not covered by this license |
| Transportation | Not covered by this license |
| Skilled nursing or therapy | Home health license required |
Coverage shown is what a private-pay non-medical agency may offer without a state facility license — it is not a licensed scope. A licensed home health agency's rule expressly contemplates both medically directed care and 'nonmedically directed care' under a written plan of care reviewed at least annually (8.370.22.33 NMAC), and initial-licensure filings list contracted services such as homemaker services, so personal/homemaker help is normally delivered inside the home health license or through Medicaid Community Benefit enrollment, not under a separate non-medical license. Live-in and transport are not addressed in the home health rule text reviewed.
Skilled care requires the Home Health Agency license (8.370.22 NMAC): letter of intent to facility.license@hca.nm.gov, approved program narrative and application packet, annotated policies crosswalked to the rule, temporary license (max 120 days, no more than two consecutive), initial survey, then an annual license. Fee $300 (8.370.3 NMAC). Life safety code does not apply to home health agencies per HCA's licensing page.
Personal care is a Turquoise Care (Medicaid managed care) Community Benefit service: agencies contract/enroll as Community Benefit personal care providers through the Medicaid MCOs / HCA Medical Assistance Division rather than obtaining a DHI facility license for the personal care itself. HCA licensing is only for the home health agency category.
EVV is required for Medicaid personal care services under the federal 21st Century Cures Act as implemented in New Mexico Medicaid Community Benefit.
The state fee above is one line of the real total. Run the true-cost calculator with New Mexico selected — it adds the bond premium, insurance class, screening and the payroll runway your first hires create.
This page is information, not legal advice. Confirm before you file: the agency — not this page — decides your application.
The free checkers give you the verdict and the number. The Kit gives you the working papers: your state's application packet walked through in filing order, the policies-and-procedures binder spec (what your binder must contain — never a boilerplate binder), the administrator self-audit, the insurance & bond spec sheet, the Medicaid gate map, the franchise-vs-independent 10-year worksheets, and the payroll-runway planner.
$49 one-time payment
Included in the $49 HomeCareLicenseCheck Kit
