Texas DSP Training Requirements for HCS & TxHmL Providers

Texas doesn't set a statewide hour count for direct support professional (DSP) training. Instead, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) builds its requirements for Home and Community-based Services (HCS) and Texas Home Living (TxHmL) providers around specific topics, timing and proof of competency.

That makes Texas training less about logging hours and more about showing that each staff member was trained on the right things, at the right time, for the specific people they support. This guide walks through what the HCS certification standards require, how TxHmL compares, and what your training records need to show.

Who sets DSP training rules in Texas?

HHSC certifies HCS and TxHmL program providers. For HCS, the certification standards are in Chapter 565 of Title 26 of the Texas Administrative Code (26 TAC). TxHmL has its own certification standards in Chapter 566 of 26 TAC. Its staff training rule, 26 TAC §566.9, moved there from 40 TAC §9.579 in June 2023 and was last amended effective July 30, 2026. Both programs serve people with intellectual disabilities or related conditions in community settings.

Training on each person, before service and every 12 months

The core HCS requirement is in 26 TAC §565.7. It applies to staff who provide individualized skills and socialization, supported home living, host home/companion care, supervised living, residential support, respite, supported employment and employment assistance.

Those staff must meet the employment criteria in the HCS Billing Requirements and the HCS waiver application. They must also be qualified to deliver what's in each person's person-directed plan, plan of care and implementation plan, as shown by:

• Documented, person-specific training, done before they provide services and at least every 12 months after that
• Observed competency, not just a signed attendance sheet
• HHSC's Online Introductory Course to Person Centered Planning within 90 days of hire, if the staff member helps develop an implementation plan for Community First Choice personal assistance services/habilitation (CFC PAS/HAB)

In practice, the 12-month cycle runs per person and per staff member. If a DSP supports three people, you need records showing they were trained on each person's needs and that someone observed them doing it competently.

For TxHmL, 26 TAC §566.9 requires providers to conduct "initial and periodic training" so staff are trained and qualified to deliver services based on each person's current needs and characteristics. It also requires HHSC-approved person-centered service planning training, within two years after hire, for staff who help develop CFC PAS/HAB implementation plans.

Abuse, neglect and exploitation training

26 TAC §565.31 sets the HCS requirements for abuse, neglect and exploitation (ANE). Every staff member, service provider and volunteer must be:

• trained and knowledgeable about the acts that count as abuse, neglect and exploitation, their signs and symptoms, and ways to prevent them
• told to report to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) immediately, and no later than one hour after they know or suspect that someone is being abused, neglected or exploited, by calling the DFPS Abuse Hotline at 1-800-647-7418 or using its website
• given those reporting instructions in writing
• asked to sign an acknowledgment that every individual must live free of abuse, neglect and exploitation

All of this must happen before the person starts work and at least once a year after that.

Note the one-hour rule: it's a reporting deadline, not a training length. Staff need to know they have one hour to report once they know or suspect ANE.

HHSC's free ANE course

Providers can use HHSC's own training to meet the knowledge part of the rule. HHSC's HCS handbook, Appendix XII, says completing HHSC's ANE Competency Training meets the training requirement. Staff who take HHSC's ANE Competency Final Test must score at least 80%.

The course is free on the HHS Learning Portal. HHSC's web-based training page says it covers which acts are ANE, how to recognize it, risk factors and ways to address it, plus an introduction to trauma. Staff can print a certificate at the end for their personnel file.

Using HHSC's course is optional. The rule sets out what staff must know, and your agency can meet it with its own training. Either way, keep records: the handbook says providers must keep documentation that every staff member, service provider and volunteer got ANE training. If you use HHSC's course as evidence, keep a copy of each person's certificate.

Fire drills, emergency plans and medications in HCS residences

26 TAC §565.23 adds requirements for HCS residences. Among them:

• Fire drills. Each staff member must take part in a fire drill within 90 days of hire and at least once a year after that, and must be able to explain the residence's emergency plans. Anyone who doesn't follow the emergency plan during a drill must get training.
• Emergency plans. Before providing services, a staff member must review the emergency plans for each person at the residence.
• Infection control. Providers must use standard precautions, including hand hygiene, and have written policies to prevent and control communicable disease.
• Medications. Staff must be trained and knowledgeable about the medications of the people they support, and staff who give medications must be trained and delegated by a registered nurse.

That last point is worth stressing for new HCS providers. Medication administration by DSPs in HCS residences runs through RN training and delegation, so build your onboarding around your nurse's delegation process and keep the delegation records with each staff member's file.

Behavioral support providers

Behavioral support in HCS is a professional service, and it has its own training cycle. Under §565.7, anyone providing behavioral support services must complete HHSC's web-based HCS and TxHmL Behavioral Support Services Provider Policy Training:

• before providing behavioral support services
• within 90 days after HHSC notifies providers that it revised the training
• within three years of their most recent completion

TxHmL's §566.9 sets the same three timing rules for its behavioral support providers.

What your Texas training records should show

Because Texas rules are built on timing and competency, your records need to prove both. For each staff member, keep:

• person-specific training for each individual they support, with dates showing it happened before services began and at least every 12 months since
• documentation of observed competency
• ANE training and the signed acknowledgment, before job duties and every year, plus HHSC certificates if you use HHSC's course
• the PCP course completion within 90 days of hire, if they help develop CFC PAS/HAB implementation plans
• fire drill participation within 90 days of hire and every year, for staff in HCS residences
• RN training and delegation records for anyone who gives medications

The HCS handbook says to keep training records according to 26 TAC §52.113, HHSC's record retention rule.

How TES helps Texas providers

Our Texas HCS/TxHmL compliance pathway maps these requirements, with their renewal cycles, into one checklist per staff member. It includes training such as Human Rights and Recognizing Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation, Incident Management in Cases of Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation, Fire Safety for Direct Support Professionals and Infection Control, Universal Precautions and Basic Safety, and it tracks person-specific training, HHSC's own courses and RN delegation as external evidence. For more on keeping those records organized, see our guide to tracking employee training in a care agency.

For a full summary of the state's rules, see our Texas DSP requirements page, or visit our Texas page to see how we work with Texas providers.

This article summarizes 26 TAC Chapters 565 and 566 and HHSC's HCS Handbook as of October 2026. It is not legal advice. Check the current rules and HHSC guidance before making compliance decisions.