What should a prospective Brightstar Care franchisee consider before acquiring the franchise regarding required licenses?
Brightstar_Care Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
up to three people.
NOTE 8. Business Licenses and Other Required Licenses. State rules vary on medical and staffing licensure and other associated licenses, e.g., CLIA waiver. As noted in Item 1, you are responsible for investigating the availability of and requirements for obtaining all necessary licenses in your state. You should conduct this investigation before acquiring our franchise because you cannot operate as a franchisee without all required licenses. A Home Health Agency License ("HHA") to perform skilled services is not required until you achieve $15,000 in weekly revenue. Some states will still require personal care or staffing licenses and costs will vary depending on your state. The high end of this range ($8,603) is for California, which requires a $3,000 surety bond for Nurse Registry application and $5,165 for the HCO license. The HCO license in California enables you to perform companion and personal care services. If you are not able to obtain a newly-issued home health agency or other required license in your state because of a state-imposed or other moratorium or because of a requirement to show a certificate of need, you might be able to acquire
a previously-issued license from an existing provider in the state that no longer needs its license and is interested in selling its license to a third party. However, the cost of buying a previously issued license from an existing provider might be significantly greater than the estimate provided in the table above for a newly-issued license. We do not control that cost. You should consider the availability and cost of required licenses before acquiring our franchise.
NOTE 9. Local Consumer Marketing.
Source: Item 7 — ESTIMATED INITIAL INVESTMENT (FDD pages 34–41)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Brightstar Care's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, a prospective franchisee must investigate the availability of and requirements for obtaining all necessary licenses in their state before acquiring the franchise. Brightstar Care emphasizes that a franchisee cannot operate without all required licenses.
Notably, a Home Health Agency License (HHA) to perform skilled services is not required until the franchisee achieves $15,000 in weekly revenue. However, some states may still require personal care or staffing licenses, and the costs associated with these licenses can vary depending on the state. For example, California requires a $3,000 surety bond for Nurse Registry application and $5,165 for the HCO license, which enables the franchisee to perform companion and personal care services.
If a franchisee is unable to obtain a newly-issued home health agency or other required license due to a state-imposed moratorium or a certificate of need requirement, they might be able to acquire a previously-issued license from an existing provider. However, Brightstar Care cautions that the cost of buying a previously issued license could be significantly greater than the estimated cost for a newly-issued license, and the franchisor does not control that cost. Therefore, a prospective franchisee should carefully consider the availability and cost of all required licenses before acquiring a Brightstar Care franchise.