How to start a hospice in Idaho

Idaho does not require a state license for a hospice. Hospice — no Idaho state license for Medicare-certified hospice agencies.

License required

No

Accreditation

A Medicare-certified hospice agency that owns/operates a hospice house must have and keep deemed status through a CMS-recognized accrediting organization.

Medicare certification

Medicare certification is separate from the state license (state survey or CMS-approved accreditor). CMS imposed a nationwide 6-month moratorium on new Medicare hospice enrollments (including new practice locations) effective 2026-05-13, extendable in 6-month increments; applications received by the Medicare contractor before that date are still processed, accreditation cannot be used for deemed-status entry during the moratorium, and a hospice undergoing a non-exempt ownership change within 36 months of enrollment must re-enroll as new and is therefore blocked. The federal notice leaves Medicaid/CHIP hospice moratoria to each state.

Regulation

Idaho Code § 39-1301C

1. Obtain Medicare certification with deemed status through a CMS-recognized accrediting organization (required for a hospice agency that operates a hospice home)
2. Maintain deemed status; no separate Idaho license or state certification is required

Program

Idaho Medicaid (Department of Health and Welfare)

Enrollment portal

Idaho Medicaid Health PAS OnLine (www.idmedicaid.com) — Trading Partner Account and Provider Enrollment Application

Fiscal agent

Gainwell Technologies

Application fee

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.460): the state must collect the CMS application fee from institutional providers that are newly enrolling or re-enrolling; individual physicians and non-physician practitioners are exempt, as are providers already enrolled in (or that already paid the fee to) Medicare or another state's Medicaid/CHIP. CMS set the fee at $750 for calendar year 2026.

Fingerprinting

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.434, 455.450(c)): providers the state places in the 'high' categorical risk level, and anyone owning 5% or more of such a provider, must submit fingerprints for a criminal background check.

Site visit

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.432, 455.450(b)-(c)): the state must do site visits before and after enrollment for providers in the 'moderate' or 'high' risk levels, and any enrolled provider must allow unannounced on-site inspections.

Revalidation

Idaho is moving its high-risk provider types to revalidation every three years, more often than the federal five-year minimum, and posts its 2026 revalidation correspondence with CMS on its enrollment page. Federal rule (42 CFR 455.414): every enrolled provider must be revalidated at least once every 5 years.

Full Idaho Medicaid enrollment guide →

CON program

No

Idaho certificate of need details →

State minimum wage

$7.25 an hour

Effective

2009-07-24

Scheduled increases

No scheduled change found in the official sources reviewed.

HCBS 80/20 rule

Federal baseline: 42 CFR 441.302(k) requires the state to show that each provider spends at least 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide and personal care services under 1915(c) waivers on direct care worker pay and benefits. Compliance starts 2030-07-09 (for managed care, the first rating period starting on or after that date); annual payment-adequacy reporting under 441.311(e) starts 2028-07-09. A state may set a lower share for state-defined small providers and exempt providers facing hardship, each only through a public notice-and-comment process. The eCFR text has not changed since 2024-07-09. No state-published 80/20 implementation step (small-provider criteria, hardship exemption or reporting guidance) was found for this state in the official sources reviewed.

Hospice agencies (community based) — active organization NPIs (NPPES)

148 (as of Sep 13, 2026)

Medicare-certified hospices (CMS Care Compare)

56 (as of Aug 19, 2026)

Total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment (latest reported month)

307,060 (as of Jun 1, 2026)

All Idaho Hospice Medicaid rates, ranked →