Guides · Minnesota

Basic vs intensive support services under 245D.

The two halves of Minnesota's HCBS licensing standards, listed exactly as the statute groups them — and how to tell which standards govern each service line you run or plan to add.

The split in one paragraph: Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1 divides every service licensed under chapter 245D into two groups. Basic support services provide the assistance, supervision, and care necessary to ensure a person's health and welfare and do not include services specifically directed toward the training, treatment, habilitation, or rehabilitation of the person. Intensive support services provide that same care plus services specifically directed toward the training, habilitation, or rehabilitation of the person. Respite, companion, night supervision, and homemaker services are basic; residential, day, employment, and intervention services are intensive. Your license standards follow the statutory list, not your marketing language.

The statutory test, in one sentence

Both groups exist to ensure health and welfare. The dividing line is what else the service does. If it is specifically directed toward training, habilitation, or rehabilitation — teaching skills, building independence — it is intensive. If it provides assistance, supervision, and care without that training component, it is basic (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b) and (c)). The classification attaches to the service, not the agency — one agency can run lines on both sides.

Basic support services: the statutory list

Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b) lists seven basic support services, most defined by reference to the waiver plans — brain injury (BI), community alternative care (CAC), community access for disability inclusion (CADI), developmental disabilities (DD), and the elderly waiver (EW):

In-home and out-of-home respite care — under the BI, CAC, CADI, DD, and elderly waiver plans, with a carve-out for certain out-of-home respite provided to children in licensed family child foster care homes (clause (1)).
Adult companion services — as defined under the elderly waiver plan, excluding the federal Senior Companion Program (clause (2)).
24-hour emergency assistance and personal emergency response — as defined under the CADI and DD waiver plans (clause (3)).
Night supervision services — as defined under the BI, CADI, CAC, and DD waiver plans (clause (4)).
Homemaker services — under the CADI, BI, CAC, DD, and elderly waiver plans, excluding providers licensed by the Department of Health under chapter 144A and providers offering cleaning services only (clause (5)).
Individual community living support — under Minn. Stat. 256S.13 (clause (6)).
Individualized home supports without training services — under the BI, CAC, CADI, and DD waiver plans (clause (7)).

Intensive support services: the statutory list

Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(c) groups intensive support services into eight clauses, several with named sub-items:

Intervention services — positive support services, in-home or out-of-home crisis respite, and specialist services (clause (1)).
In-home support services — semi-independent living services, individualized home support with training, and individualized home support with family training (clause (2)).
Residential supports and services — community residential services (in a corporate child foster care residence, a community residential setting, or a supervised living facility), family residential services (in a family child or family adult foster care residence), residential services to more than four persons with developmental disabilities in a supervised living facility including ICFs/DD, and life sharing (clause (3)).
Day services — day support services, day training and habilitation under Minn. Stat. 252.41 to 252.46, and prevocational services (clause (4)).
Employment exploration services (clause (5)).
Employment development services (clause (6)).
Employment support services (clause (7)).
Integrated community support — under the BI and CADI waiver plans beginning January 1, 2021, and the CAC and DD waiver plans beginning January 1, 2023 (clause (8)).

Notice the near-twins across the two lists: home supports without training is basic, with training is intensive; respite is basic, crisis respite is intensive. One word in the service definition moves you across the line.

What the split changes in practice

Both levels are 245D licenses, and both are also subject to the licensure requirements of chapter 245A (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 2(a)). The chapter's stated effect applies to both: health, safety, welfare, and rights protections, with continuity in service planning, care, and coordination with each person's support team (subd. 1a).

The person-level paperwork is keyed to the chapter's definitions. Every person served has a support plan — a term the chapter defines by cross-reference to the waiver case-management statutes (Minn. Stat. 245D.02, subd. 4b) — and a support plan addendum, the documentation the chapter requires of the license holder for each person receiving services (subd. 4c). Staffing duties hang off the same documents: supervision means oversight by direct support staff as specified in the support plan or addendum, responding to serious-risk situations, and staff presence at the service site unless the plan documents otherwise — and the statute defines while services are being provided as any period you seek reimbursement (Minn. Stat. 245D.02, subd. 33b).

Some settings carry their license level in their definition. A community residential setting is defined as a program providing the residential supports and services on the intensive list — subd. 1(c), clause (3), items (i) and (ii) — (Minn. Stat. 245D.02, subd. 4a), and a day services facility is defined around day services (subd. 4f), also intensive. Operate either and you are running intensive service lines by definition. The statute also grants targeted exemptions rather than a lighter track: supervised living facilities and 144A-registered homemaker providers are exempt from section 245D.04, and ICF/DD providers are exempt from a specific list of sections (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 2).

As practice guidance beyond the statute: because intensive services are by definition directed toward training, expect your records for those lines to show progress toward outcomes, not just attendance and hours. Our progress note template and compliance checklist cover what that trail looks like.

How to classify any service line

Name the service exactly as your service agreement and the waiver plan name it — the statutory lists use waiver-plan definitions, not marketing labels.
Find that exact name in Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b) (basic) or subd. 1(c) (intensive).
Watch the near-twin pairs: without-training versus with-training home supports, and respite versus crisis respite.
Check the subd. 2 exemptions for your setting — supervised living facilities, ICFs/DD, and 144A-registered homemaker providers each get specific relief.
Remember both levels also answer to chapter 245A (subd. 2(a)).
If a service is on neither list, chapter 245D is not what licenses it — find out what does before assuming anything.

Planning to expand? Read this first

Normally an agency licensed for basic support services could apply to add intensive service lines as it grew. Right now it cannot: DHS stopped accepting new 245D license applications on January 1, 2026, and the pause also covers adding service lines to existing licenses. It is expected to run about 24 months, through December 31, 2027, with the only path to new licensed capacity being an exception request filed by a lead agency (county or MCO) or a Tribal Nation — not by the provider. If intensive services are in your growth plan, read our 245D moratorium guide first, and spend the window making your existing lines review-ready.

Common questions

What is the actual difference between basic and intensive support services?

The test is training. Basic support services provide the assistance, supervision, and care necessary to ensure a person's health and welfare and do not include services specifically directed toward the training, treatment, habilitation, or rehabilitation of the person (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b)). Intensive support services provide that same care plus services specifically directed toward the training, habilitation, or rehabilitation of the person (subd. 1(c)). The statute lists which service lines sit on each side, so classification is a lookup, not a judgment call.

Is individualized home supports a basic or intensive service?

It depends on the exact service name. Individualized home supports without training services is basic (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b), clause (7)). Individualized home support with training and with family training are both intensive, grouped under in-home support services (subd. 1(c), clause (2)). One word in the service name changes which standards apply, so read your service agreement carefully.

Is respite care basic or intensive?

Ordinary in-home and out-of-home respite care is a basic support service (Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b), clause (1)). In-home or out-of-home crisis respite is different: the statute groups it under intervention services, which are intensive support services (subd. 1(c), clause (1)). If the word crisis appears in the service definition, you are on the intensive list.

Can I add intensive services to my basic 245D license right now?

Not through a normal application. DHS stopped accepting new 245D license applications on January 1, 2026, and the pause also covers adding service lines to existing licenses. It is expected to run about 24 months, through December 31, 2027. The only route during the moratorium is an exception request filed by a lead agency (a county or MCO) or a Tribal Nation, not by the provider.

Where ClientCentric fits (the vendor part, clearly labeled)

ClientCentric does not classify your services — the statute does that. What it does is keep the records the classification demands in one place: support plan addendum documentation, case notes with a locked lifecycle, staff assignments, and append-only audit history — so a basic line can prove supervision happened and an intensive line can prove training happened.

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Written and maintained by the ClientCentric team from the working product. Last reviewed 2026-08-31. Service lists and definitions from Minn. Stat. 245D.03 and 245D.02 (2025 Minnesota Statutes). The published text of 245D.03 carries notes about pending amendments — a 2023 amendment to subdivision 1 effective January 1, 2026, or upon federal approval, whichever is later, and a 2026 session-law amendment to subdivision 2 — so verify the current text before relying on it. General information, not legal advice.