If you are about to start a home care agency in Texas, the website usually lands on the to-do list somewhere between "form the LLC" and "hire an administrator," and then gets built in a rush the week the license arrives. That is backwards. The website has a different job at each stage of licensing, and a couple of the rules that matter most apply before you have served a single client.
The short version: reserve a name that works as an entity name, an assumed name and a domain at the same time; keep any pre-license page strictly informational; launch the full site only once you hold a license, worded to match the exact categories on it; and hold back the expensive extras until you have passed your initial survey. I work as Solutions Architect at Lonestar Home Healthcare in Dallas and built its website, so this is the sequence I would follow if I were starting an agency from zero today.
Start a home care agency in Texas: where the website fits
In Texas, home health, hospice and personal assistance services are licensed as a Home and Community Support Services Agency (HCSSA). The HHSC HCSSA FAQs (July 2026 version) list the categories you can be licensed for: Personal Assistance Services (PAS), Licensed Home Health Services (LHHS), Licensed and Certified Home Health Services (L&CHHS), each home health category with or without a home dialysis designation, Hospice Services, and Hospice Services with an Inpatient Unit. Applications go through the state's TULIP portal.
Those categories decide what your website is allowed to say. Everything below follows from that, so it helps to see the whole timeline in one place first.
| Stage | What the website should do | The rule to respect |
|---|---|---|
| Before you file | Nothing public yet. Secure the name, domain and social handles. | Your name must be distinguishable in SOS records; an assumed name gives no exclusive rights. |
| Application pending | Optional one-page holding site: who you are, where you plan to operate, a way to stay in touch. | Do not indicate or imply you are licensed. |
| Initial license issued | Full launch: services, careers, referral page, contact. | Describe only the categories on your license. Admit clients and request a survey within six months. |
| After the initial survey | Add proof, local pages, content and measured advertising. | Do not claim Medicare certification until CMS has certified you. |
Before you file: pick a name that survives three registries
The name is the first website decision, even though it looks like a legal one. You need it to work as your entity name (or an assumed name), as a domain you can actually buy, and as a Google Business Profile name later on.
On the state side, the Texas Secretary of State's name filings FAQs say a new entity name must be distinguishable in its records, and that a final determination is not made until the filing is processed. If you form an LLC with one legal name and trade under another, the Form 503 instructions explain that LLCs, corporations and limited partnerships file an assumed name certificate with the Secretary of State, and the filing fee is $25. The name filings FAQs add that sole proprietors and general partnerships file with the county clerk instead.
The part people miss: the same FAQs say an assumed name filing does not stop anyone else from filing the same assumed name, and that more than one person can hold the same assumed name on file. Filing is a disclosure, not a brand protection. So search any candidate name on Google Maps in your metro before committing. If three nearby agencies use a close variant, families and discharge planners will confuse you, and you will fight for your own name in search for years.
My practical checks before committing to a name:
- The .com is available or affordable, and the name is short enough to say on the phone without spelling it twice.
- It does not lock you into a service you are not licensed for. Texas Health and Safety Code section 142.002 says a person not licensed to provide hospice services may not use the word "hospice" in a title or description. Do not put "Hospice" or "Home Health" in the name of a PAS-only agency.
- It leaves room to grow. A name tied to one suburb is awkward when you open a second office across the metro.
While the application is pending: a holding page, not a launch
Before you even apply, 26 TAC §558.13 requires the administrator and alternate administrator to complete Presurvey Training. After you submit, 26 TAC §558.31 sets two processing time frames of no longer than 45 days each: one for HHSC to review the application, and one from the date the application is complete to the date the license is issued. Plan for that window, plus whatever time it takes you to answer any deficiency notices.
I would not launch the full marketing site during those weeks. Section 142.002 also says a person not licensed to provide home health services may not indicate or imply that they are licensed, with the same language for personal assistance services. A complete services site with a "Request Care" button, published before your license exists, is the kind of thing that can read as implying exactly that.
If you want something live, keep it to a single page with clearly informational wording:
| Fine on a pre-license page, in my view | Wait until the license is issued |
|---|---|
| The founders, their background and why they are starting the agency | "Licensed home care agency" or a license number |
| The region you plan to serve | Service pages describing visits, care plans and pricing |
| A careers interest list for future caregivers | "Request care," "Schedule an assessment" or intake forms |
| A general contact email | Payer claims such as Medicare or Medicaid |
For most new agencies I would skip the holding page and build the real site on a staging URL that search engines cannot index, ready to switch on the day the license lands. If you are wondering how long a proper build takes, my post on how long a website takes walks through realistic timelines.
License issued: launch with the first six months in mind
Here is the rule that should shape your launch. Under 26 TAC §558.521, no later than six months after the effective date of your initial license, you must admit and provide services to clients and submit a written request for an initial licensure survey. If your initial license has only one category, that means at least one client; licenses that combine categories, such as LHHS with hospice, need clients in each of the specified categories before you request the survey.
So the website at launch has one overriding job: help you get those first clients and the caregivers to serve them, inside a fixed window. That rules a lot in and a lot out.
Build these at launch
- One page per licensed category, using the same words as your license. A PAS agency describes personal assistance with bathing, dressing, meals and companionship. It does not describe skilled nursing.
- A careers page with a short mobile application. You cannot admit a client you cannot staff, and early hires often come from a link you can text to people you already know.
- A referral partner page that tells a discharge planner or case manager, in under a minute, which counties you cover, what you accept and how to send a referral.
- A contact path a human answers: a tap-to-call number and a simple call-back form matter more than chat widgets when two or three people are doing everything.
- Your license shown accurately on the about page or footer, once you have it. My local SEO guide for Texas home health agencies covers how I display license details and how to match them on your Google Business Profile.
Forms deserve particular care from day one, because the first inquiry is often the most detailed one. A daughter will type her mother's diagnosis into any open text box you give her. Keep the public form to name, phone and best time to call, and move clinical intake into a system built for it. I explain the reasoning in what a HIPAA-compliant website means for a home health agency.
Set up Google Business Profile when you can serve clients
Google's Business Profile guidelines say a business qualifies if it either has a location customers can visit or travels to customers where they are, and that the name should reflect your real-world name as used on your storefront, website and stationery. They also say a service-area business should hide its address from customers. For a home care agency that visits clients at home, that usually means a service-area profile with the address hidden. I set this up after the license is issued, using exactly the name on the website, rather than creating a profile for a business that cannot yet take a client.
After the survey: earn the extras
Once the initial survey is behind you, the website can grow in the directions that compound: real team photos, genuine reviews, a page for each county where you truly have staff, and articles that answer the questions families actually ask your intake team. My home care agency website checklist is the full list I work from at this stage.
One claim to be especially careful with is Medicare. Section 558.13 says an applicant requesting the licensed and certified home health category must also apply to CMS for certification, and that HHSC issues an initial license reflecting the licensed home health services category if the applicant meets the criteria. The HCSSA FAQs add that an agency requesting payment from Medicare or Medicaid must be certified with Medicare or contracted with Medicaid. In plain terms: until CMS has certified you, your website should not say "Medicare-certified," and your payer section should only list what you can actually bill today.
What I would not spend money on in year one
New agencies get pitched a lot. These are the items I would usually delay, and why:
- Dozens of city pages. Thin pages that swap a city name are a search risk, not an asset: Google's spam policies list "pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" as an example of doorway abuse. Start with one regional service-area page and add a county page only when you have staff and something specific to say there.
- Paid ads before intake is ready. Calls nobody answers burn money and goodwill.
- A client or family portal. Portals bring login pages, data handling and vendor agreements. Your agency software may already include one.
The exception: if you already have strong referral relationships in your market, launching with more on day one can make sense, because clients will come sooner.
The launch checklist
- Name checked against SOS records, Google Maps and domain availability, with no "hospice" or "home health" unless you will be licensed for it.
- Assumed name certificate filed with the right office if you trade under another name.
- Full site built on a staging URL that is not indexed, ready to launch.
- Any pre-license page strictly informational, with no implied licensure, intake forms or payer claims.
- Service pages worded to match the exact categories on your license.
- Careers page and short mobile application live on launch day.
- Referral partner page with counties, payers and how to refer.
- Minimal public inquiry form; clinical intake handled elsewhere.
- Google Business Profile created after the license, with the same name, as a service-area business if you serve clients at home.
- "Medicare-certified" added only after CMS certification.
- Survey deadline (six months from license effective date) on the calendar, with weekly inquiry and application counts tracked.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have a website before my HCSSA license is issued?
Having a website is not the issue; what it says is. Section 142.002 of the Health and Safety Code says an unlicensed person may not indicate or imply they are licensed to provide home health or personal assistance services. A plain page about the founders and plans is very different from a full services site with intake forms. Ask your attorney to review anything you publish before licensure.
How long does an initial HCSSA license take in Texas?
26 TAC §558.31 sets two processing time frames of no longer than 45 days each, one for reviewing the application and one from a complete application to issuance. Build the website in parallel rather than waiting.
Starting an agency and planning the site?
If you are working through your HCSSA application and want the website ready the day the license arrives, I'm happy to help you plan the order of work and the wording for each stage. Get in touch and tell me which categories you are applying for and where you plan to operate.
