Minnesota DSP Training Requirements: 245D Orientation & Annual Rules

Minnesota's main training statute for direct support professionals (DSPs) doesn't name a state curriculum or set a number of training hours. Instead, the 245D home and community-based services (HCBS) licensing law lists the topics DSPs must learn, the deadlines for learning them and the proof a provider has to keep. If your agency holds a 245D license, those deadlines start the day you hire someone.

This guide walks through each layer of Minn. Stat. § 245D.09: the 60-day orientation, the 72-hour maltreatment reporting orientation, person-specific training before unsupervised contact, annual retraining (including a new 90-day grace period that took effect August 1, 2026) and the personnel records that tie it all together.

Who the 245D training rules apply to

Chapter 245D sets the licensing standards that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) applies to home and community-based services for people with disabilities and people age 65 and older. It covers two groups of services:

• Basic support services, such as respite, homemaker services, night supervision and individualized home supports without training
• Intensive support services, such as community residential services, family residential services, day services, positive support services, individualized home supports with training, and employment exploration, development and support services

Most of these are defined under the brain injury (BI), community alternative care (CAC), community access for disability inclusion (CADI) and developmental disabilities (DD) waiver plans.

The statute defines "direct support staff" as employees who have direct contact with the people served, and that includes temporary staff and subcontractors working under the license holder's control. Section 245D.09 also requires the license holder to make sure subcontractors, temporary staff and volunteers get the training, orientation and supervision their roles require.

Step 1: Maltreatment reporting orientation within 72 hours

One topic can't wait 60 days. Orientation on Minnesota's maltreatment reporting laws for vulnerable adults and children, and on staff responsibilities for protecting people from maltreatment and reporting it, must be provided within 72 hours of first providing direct contact services and annually after that.

Section 245A.65, subdivision 3, spells out what that orientation covers for each new mandated reporter:

• the reporting requirements and definitions in sections 626.557 and 626.5572
• the requirements of section 245A.65 itself
• the license holder's program abuse prevention plan
• all internal policies and procedures related to preventing and reporting maltreatment

Step 2: The 11-topic orientation within 60 days of hire

Within 60 calendar days of hire, unless the statute says otherwise, the license holder must provide and ensure completion of an orientation that combines supervised on-the-job training with review of and instruction in these areas (245D.09, subd. 4):

1. The job description and how to do specific job functions, including responding to and reporting incidents and following the license holder's safety practices
2. The license holder's current policies and procedures, where to find them and staff responsibilities for carrying them out
3. Data privacy requirements under Minnesota law and HIPAA
4. Service recipient rights and staff responsibilities for protecting them
5. Maltreatment reporting and service planning for children and vulnerable adults (the 72-hour topic above)
6. The principles of person-centered service planning and delivery, and how they apply to the staff person's work
7. The safe and correct use of manual restraint on an emergency basis, and what counts as restraint, time out and seclusion, including chemical restraint
8. Staff responsibilities related to prohibited procedures, and why those procedures are neither effective nor safe
9. Basic first aid
10. Strategies to minimize the risk of sexual violence, including healthy relationships, consent and the bodily autonomy of people with disabilities
11. Other topics the case manager identifies in the person's support plan, or that the license holder identifies

The statute says the orientation must be "sufficient to create staff competency," so a signed attendance sheet alone isn't the goal. A license holder who doesn't supervise any direct support staff is exempt from this subdivision, but license holders who provide direct support themselves must complete topics 3 through 11.

Step 3: Person-specific training before unsupervised contact

Subdivision 4a adds a second layer that's tied to each person served, not to the job in general. Before a staff person has unsupervised direct contact with someone, before they support someone they haven't supported before, and any time the relevant plans or procedures change, they must review and receive instruction on:

• The person's support plan or support plan addendum, and their individual abuse prevention plan when applicable, so the staff person understands the person as a unique individual and how to carry out those plans
• For community residential services, if identified in the support plan: safe techniques for hygiene, grooming and other activities of daily living (ADLs), what makes a healthy diet and how to prepare it, and support with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)
• Medication procedures established for that person, when the license holder is responsible for medication setup, assistance or administration
• Life-sustaining or monitoring medical equipment, such as ventilators or feeding tubes, which must be taught by a licensed health care professional or a manufacturer's representative and include an observed skill assessment
• Mental health crisis response, de-escalation and suicide intervention, when supporting a person with a serious mental illness

If services start on an emergency basis, the license holder must make sure this training happens within 72 hours of the staff person's first unsupervised contact with the person and document why the start was unplanned.

Medication setup and administration

Unlicensed staff may set up or administer medications only after successfully completing training from a curriculum developed by a registered nurse or appropriate licensed health professional. The curriculum must include an observed skill assessment by the trainer.

Medication administration must be taught by a registered nurse, clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse practitioner, physician assistant or physician when the person has or develops a health condition that requires specialized or intensive medical or nursing supervision and requires nonmedical providers to adapt their services. Section 245D.05 ties the license holder's medication procedures back to this training requirement.

Step 4: Annual retraining, with a new 90-day grace period

Every year, the license holder must provide training to direct support staff on orientation topics 3 through 11: data privacy, rights, maltreatment reporting, person-centered planning, emergency manual restraint, prohibited procedures, first aid, sexual violence prevention, and other topics from the support plan or identified by the license holder (245D.09, subd. 5). Two details matter for scheduling:

• First aid: If a DSP holds a first aid certification, annual first aid training isn't required as long as the certification stays current.
• The 90-day delay: Since August 1, 2026, a license holder may delay annual training up to 90 calendar days after the date the staff person would otherwise be due. The Legislature added that language in 2026 Minnesota Laws, chapter 95, article 4, section 8.

The grace period is a cushion, not a new due date. If you rely on it, your records should still show the original due date and when training was actually completed.

Training from other sources

Orientation or training a staff person received somewhere other than your agency can count toward the orientation and annual requirements if it covered the same subjects and was received in the 12 months before the date of hire (245D.09, subd. 5a). You still have to document that training and the person's competency in each area.

How competency has to be shown

Section 245D.09, subdivision 3, requires license holders to verify and keep evidence that direct support staff, and staff who supervise or manage direct support, are competent. That evidence includes:

• education and experience relevant to the job and to the primary disability of the people served, including any required degree, license, registration or certification
• demonstrated competency in the required orientation and training areas, determined through knowledge testing or observed skill assessment by the trainer or by someone the trainer previously deemed competent in that area
• periodic performance evaluations based on direct observation, unless the license holder is the sole direct support staff

The same subdivision says staff under 18 may not work overnight shifts. And under subdivision 8, every license holder needs a written staff orientation and training plan that documents when and how it will meet the orientation, person-specific and annual training requirements.

Coordinators and managers

Section 245D.081 requires a designated coordinator to oversee service delivery for each person, including instructing direct support staff and directly observing their work to assess competency. At minimum, the designated coordinator needs one of these combinations:

• a bachelor's degree in a field related to human services, education or health, plus one year of full-time direct care experience
• an associate degree in a related field, plus two years of full-time direct care experience
• a diploma in a related field from an accredited postsecondary institution, plus three years of full-time direct care experience
• at least 50 hours of education and training related to human services and disabilities, plus four years of full-time direct care experience under the supervision of a qualified staff person

The designated manager must meet those same education and training requirements, have at least three years of supervisory experience in a program serving vulnerable adults or children, and is responsible for making sure staff orientation and training happen as required.

What each personnel record should show

Section 245D.095, subdivision 5, lists what the license holder must keep in each employee's personnel record:

• date of hire and a completed application
• a signed acknowledgment that job duties were reviewed with the employee and that they understand them
• documentation that the employee meets the position requirements
• documentation of qualifications, orientation, training and performance evaluations, including the date each training was completed, the number of hours per subject area and the name of the trainer or instructor
• a completed background study under chapter 245C
• for employees hired after January 1, 2014, enough documentation to determine the dates of the employee's first supervised and first unsupervised direct contact with a person served

Those dates matter because the deadlines run from them: the 60-day orientation from the date of hire, the 72-hour maltreatment orientation from first direct contact, and person-specific training before first unsupervised contact. For more on keeping records organized, see our guide to tracking employee training in a care agency. You can also use our Minnesota DSP training audit checklist to check staff files topic by topic.

How TES helps Minnesota providers

Our Minnesota DSP compliance pathway is built around Minn. Stat. § 245D.09. It tracks the 60-day orientation window and the annual cycle for each hire, and it tracks agency-delivered items, such as job-function and policy orientation, person-specific competency, life-sustaining equipment training and medication instruction, as external evidence. Courses mapped in the pathway include:

• Human Rights and Recognizing Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation
• Person Centered Planning for Direct Support Professionals
• Verbal De-escalation and Crisis Prevention for Direct Support Professionals
• Basic First Aid
• Sexual Abuse Prevention for Disability Providers

For data privacy, our HIPAA course for DSPs is also in the catalog.

Training & eTracking Solutions has trained more than 200,000 professionals since 2010, and our catalog includes 400+ courses and programs. As an NADSP Accredited Education provider, our courses count toward the DSP-I and DSP-II credentials. For a full summary of Minnesota's rules, see our Minnesota DSP requirements page, or contact us to set up the pathway for your team.

This article summarizes Minnesota Statutes sections 245D.09, 245D.081, 245D.095 and 245A.65 as published by the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes (2026 edition), including the 2026 amendment to section 245D.09, subdivision 5. It is not legal advice. Your support plans, case managers, waiver plans and DHS licensing may add requirements, and statutes change, so check the current text before making compliance decisions.