Indiana DSP Training Requirements: HCSP Certification Explained

If you hire direct support professionals in Indiana, a major change is already in force. Since January 1, 2026, anyone who provides services under the Family Supports or Community Integration and Habilitation (CIH) waivers needs a state Home and Community Support Professional (HCSP) certification before they can work.

This guide covers what HCSP certification is, who needs it, how the state training works, what Indiana's provider rules still require on top of it (including Core A and Core B medication training), and what your training records should show.

What is HCSP certification?

HCSP certification is Indiana's state credential for direct support staff. It comes from Indiana Code 12-11-16, and the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) runs it through its disability services division.

FSSA describes the HCSP training as "a comprehensive minimum curriculum" in providing direct support to people with disabilities. A worker who completes it gets an HCSP certificate and is listed as credentialed in the public HCSP Registry.

The state delivers the training on its own online platform. Providers don't buy it: FSSA's HCSP FAQ says there's no cost to the worker or the provider when the worker provides services under the CIH or Family Supports waiver.

Who needs HCSP certification?

FSSA uses "home and community support professional" for anyone who supports an older adult or a person with a disability across home and community settings. That includes DSPs and personal care assistants.

What counts is the work, not the job title. According to the FAQ, if someone provides, or will provide, the applicable services under the CIH or Family Supports waiver, they must complete the training and become certified. Every HCSP in those roles had to take the initial training, however long they'd been doing the work.

Key dates

The FAQ set out the rollout:

After January 1, 2026, an HCSP who hasn't completed the training and been certified can't provide services until they do. For new hires, that makes certification part of onboarding. Plan for it before a new DSP's first shift.

What the HCSP training covers

The training has two curricula, both delivered as online e-learning modules with online competency exams:

• Foundations covers the values and principles behind home and community-based support work.
• Fundamentals builds the skills HCSPs use in their regular responsibilities.

FSSA's FAQ says each curriculum is designed to take no more than 8 hours. Together they cover 12 core competencies:

• Community inclusion and networking
• Communication
• Community living skills and supports
• Crisis prevention and intervention
• Cultural competency
• Education, training and self-development
• Empowerment and advocacy
• Evaluation and observation
• Health and wellness
• Person-centered practices
• Professionalism and ethics
• Safety

To pass, a worker must score at least 80% on each module assessment. They get up to three attempts per module, and the provider's administrator on the platform can reset attempts if more are needed.

The FAQ also answers a common question: yes, the HCSP curricula meet the requirements for DSP training in 460 IAC 6, Indiana's rules for providers of supported living services and supports.

Can you use your own training platform for HCSP?

No. The HCSP certification has to be earned on the state platform. The FAQ says workers hired in July 2025 who were trained on a provider's own platform had to be retrained on the HCSP platform before January 1, 2026. It also says the HCSP training can't currently be built into other programs, and there's no way to transfer records from another learning management system.

Your own training still matters for everything the state core doesn't cover: individual-specific training, annual in-service, medication administration, CPR and first aid, and your agency's own policies.

Is HCSP certification portable?

Yes. FSSA says the certification is recognized by all enrolled providers of CIH and Family Supports waiver services. Employers can check a worker's status and completion dates on the public HCSP Training Registry. The registry shows credential status, not contact information, and it isn't a hiring platform.

How long HCSP certification lasts and how recertification works

FSSA's June 2025 FAQ said recertification details would come later. Its November 2025 HCSP FAQ for people who self-direct fills them in:

• The initial certification lasts one year.
• Between 9 months and 1 year after first completing the curricula, an HCSP must complete two Foundations courses, two Fundamentals courses and, if applicable, all courses in the Specialized Medication Administration curriculum to keep providing services.
• After that, the same set (two Foundations courses, two Fundamentals courses and any applicable medication courses) is due every 18 months to 2 years after the previous completion, for as long as the person works in the role.

That means your first recertification wave arrives within a year of each worker's initial certificate. Put each HCSP's completion date on your calendar now, and check FSSA's HCSP page for any updates.

What Indiana's provider rules still require

HCSP certification sits on top of Indiana's long-standing provider training rules. Three sources matter most.

Training before working with anyone. Under 460 IAC 6-14-4, providers must train staff in protecting individuals' rights, including how to respect dignity, protect people from abuse, neglect and exploitation, carry out person-centered planning and each person's individualized support plan (ISP), and communicate successfully. Direct care staff must also be trained to:

• administer medication, monitor side effects and prevent dangerous interactions
• give first aid and CPR
• practice infection control and universal precautions
• manage individual-specific treatments, including seizures, behavior, diet and nutrition, swallowing difficulties, emotional and physical crises and significant health concerns
• take part in emergency drills and evacuations

The rule says this training must be finished before a person works with an individual.

Individual-specific competency. The state's DSP training policy requires DSPs to be trained to competency in each person's specific needs before supporting them. That includes health and risk needs, behavioral supports, diet, swallowing, medications and side effects, mobility, communication, and the outcomes and strategies in the ISP. The policy also requires DSPs to show continuing competency over time.

Annual in-service training. Under 460 IAC 6-16-3, every provider needs a written training procedure that includes orientation for new staff and annual in-service training in:

• protecting individual rights, including protection against abuse, neglect and exploitation
• incident reporting
• medication administration, if the provider administers medication

Core A and Core B: Indiana's medication training

The core HCSP certification doesn't qualify a DSP to give medications. FSSA's June 2025 FAQ says the Foundations and Fundamentals curricula include only "high-level medication-related concepts" and told providers to keep using their existing medication administration training. The November 2025 FAQ adds that medication administration training on the HCSP platform is required if an HCSP will be giving medications, and the Specialized Medication Administration courses are part of recertification for those workers.

For group homes, Indiana's long-standing medication curriculum is still the one known as Core A and Core B. According to a 2024 Bureau of Disabilities Services memo, the 2020 Core A and Core B curriculum is required for DSPs in group homes under 460 IAC 9-3-6(b), and it may be used to meet medication training requirements in waiver-funded settings. DSPs certified under the previous curriculum don't have to recertify. The bureau still runs train-the-trainer sessions for agency nurses, with four virtual dates scheduled in 2026.

The state's Core A and Core B summary for nurse trainers sets the standard:

• The curriculum must be taught in person by a licensed nurse.
• DSPs must score at least 85% on both the Core A and Core B tests.
• They must demonstrate every step of giving tablets and liquids with 100% accuracy, in person with the nurse, before giving medications or observing self-administration.
• Any other form of medication requires its own training and observed demonstration first.
• When people are present in a group home, a DSP certified to pass medications must be present too.

The summary notes there's no specific state requirement for keeping medication skills current after initial training, but says best practice is at least annual retraining.

What your training records should show

Indiana surveyors will want evidence for each layer. Under 460 IAC 6-16-3, your documentation system must record, for each employee:

• the type of training
• the trainer's name and qualifications
• how long the training lasted
• the date or dates
• the trainer's signature verifying satisfactory completion
• the employee's signature

On top of that, keep each worker's HCSP certificate (the state platform lets administrators download certificates and training records), Core A and Core B results, CPR and first aid cards, individual-specific competency checks and annual in-service records. FSSA says the HCSP platform also lets providers upload extra documents, such as a CPR certification, to a worker's profile.

How TES fits in

Indiana's HCSP core belongs on the state platform, and that's by law. What we help with is everything around it. Our Indiana DSP requirements page summarizes the rules, and our DSP course library covers the annual and supplemental topics Indiana's rules name, such as Human Rights and Recognizing Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation, Incident Management, Person Centered Planning for DSPs, Infection Control, Universal Precautions and Basic Safety and Seizure Disorders.

For Indiana agencies, we set up compliance pathways just in time: tell us your service type and the training your licensing and waiver rules expect, and we'll build a pathway around those requirements for your organization. Pathways can also track training completed outside TES, like HCSP certificates, Core A and Core B, CPR and first aid, as external evidence. Contact us to get started. For more on keeping all of this organized, see our guide to tracking employee training in a care agency.

To see how pathways work in other states, browse our compliance pathways library.

This article summarizes Indiana Code 12-11-16 as explained in FSSA's June 2025 and November 2025 HCSP FAQs, 460 IAC 6-14-4 and 6-16-3, and Indiana's Core A and Core B guidance. It is not legal advice. Check the current rules and FSSA guidance before making compliance decisions.