SDS Provider Certification & Compliance Unit
Certifies and recertifies home and community-based Medicaid waiver providers and Personal Care Assistance agency providers, and processes background check variance requests.
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Alaska provider enrollment
How to Become a Medicaid Waiver Provider in Alaska
What Alaska requires before you can deliver home and community-based waiver services, in the order the state actually requires it. Every claim links to the official page it came from.
Last reviewed July 2026. Provider rules change often — confirm fees and deadlines against the linked sources before you rely on them.
Overview
Becoming a waiver provider in Alaska
Alaska's application is unusual in that it is mostly a writing exercise. Rather than filling in a form and attaching licenses, you submit a body of agency policies and procedures — background checks, critical incident reporting, financial accountability, person-centered practice, quality improvement, restrictive interventions — and SDS evaluates whether those documents demonstrate that you actually understand the regulations you would be operating under. The state says outright that the provider is responsible for knowing and implementing the applicable regulations, and that the submitted documents must show that knowledge. Budget real time for drafting. This is the part applicants underestimate.
Who certifies you
The agencies that decide
Before you apply
What has to be true first
Certification and enrollment are both required
SDS is explicit that providers must first complete certification and then enrollment before offering services. Certification alone does not let you bill; Medicaid enrollment runs separately through the state's provider enrollment portal.
SourceBusiness license and certificate of insurance
Both are core requirements submitted with the application, alongside an organizational chart and personnel list, and identification of your program administrator.
SourceYou are expected to know the regulations before you apply
The provider is responsible for knowing and implementing the HCBS waiver regulations applicable to certification and renewal, and the documents you submit must demonstrate that understanding and assure compliance for every service you offer. A thin policy set is a rejected application.
SourceEnrollment
How to enroll in Alaska
Certification applications go to SDS by email as PDFs, organized into two bundles: Provider Core Requirements and an Operations Manual. Alaska is prescriptive about format, and says the wrong format delays evaluation.
Application system: SDS Provider Certification & Compliance Unit
- Draft your policies and procedures against the regulations
The Operations Manual bundle requires written policy and procedure for background checks, critical incident reporting, financial accountability, person-centered practice, quality improvement, and restrictive interventions, among others. SDS distinguishes a policy (what you do and why) from a procedure (who does what, when, and how) and expects both.
Source - Complete SDS critical incident reporting training
Your appointed program administrator takes the SDS Critical Incident Reporting course and you submit the certificate of completion with the application. This is a prerequisite document, not something you can finish after approval.
Source - Assemble the Provider Core Requirements bundle
Application with service declarations, business license, certificate of insurance, critical incident reporting training certificate, organizational chart and personnel list, and program administrator designation. Renewal applications additionally require a Quality Improvement Report.
Source - Submit as PDF, in the prescribed format
Electronic submission is preferred: PDF only (not Word or JPEG), grouped into the two named categories, emailed to DSDSCertification@alaska.gov. If you are certifying more than one location, separate and clearly label the documents for each. Send only what Medicaid certification requires — SDS warns that including grant or licensing paperwork slows your review down.
Source - Complete background checks for everyone associated with the agency
Submit one set of fingerprints per person, or proof of a valid fingerprint-based check, before they are associated with your agency.
Source - Enroll with Alaska Medicaid to bill
Certification establishes that you meet the standards; enrollment is what lets you submit claims. SDS directs certified providers to Medicaid Alaska for this second step.
Source
Fees, screening, and renewal
Renewal is due 60 days before your certification expires
A complete renewal application with all required information and documentation must be submitted not later than 60 days before the expiration date of the current certification period, under 7 AAC 130.220(d). This is the deadline most likely to catch an established provider off guard — it is two months earlier than the date on your certificate.
SourceScreening
Background checks and staff eligibility
Everyone 16 and older, not just direct care staff
A valid background check is required for each individual 16 or older associated with the provider as an administrator or operator, an individual service provider, or an employee, independent contractor, apprentice, unsupervised volunteer, or board member with regular contact with recipients. Board members surprise people — unpaid governance roles are inside the requirement.
SourceFingerprint-based, one set per person
Providers submit one set of fingerprints for each individual for whom a background check request is made, or provide proof of an existing valid fingerprint-based check.
SourceBarrier crimes carry a 24-hour reporting duty
You must require every applicant subject to a background check to report to you within 24 hours, or the next business day, if they are charged with, convicted of, found not guilty by reason of insanity for, or adjudicated delinquent for a barrier crime listed in 7 AAC 10.905. That duty has to live in your written policy.
SourceVariances exist and SDS processes them
The Provider Certification & Compliance Unit handles background check variance requests, so a barrier crime is not automatically the end of the conversation for an otherwise suitable employee.
SourceTraining
What your staff must complete
CPR and first aid every two years
You must hold documentation for each direct service worker, chore services provider, and person providing agency-based congregate meals or transportation showing completion of CPR and first aid training meeting American Heart Association or American Red Cross standards, at least every two years.
SourceCritical incident reporting training every two years, for all staff
Documentation is required for every staff member. Your program administrator and the supervisor of each certified service must take the SDS course itself; other staff may be trained by someone who has completed it.
SourceOrientation documented for employees and volunteers
You must provide and keep on file documentation of orientation to the agency and its relationship to the department, for all employees and volunteers.
SourceAfter approval
Staying compliant
Annual self-assessment, every year of your certification
You must run a quality improvement self-assessment at least annually for each year of the certification period, evaluating findings and corrective actions from your complaint management process among others, and use the findings to build the quality improvement report.
SourceQuality Improvement Report at renewal
The report must name the certification period it covers with start and end dates and the location, and you must be able to back it with original data and hand that data to SDS on request within the required timeframe.
SourcePolicies you keep but do not submit
Complaint management, confidentiality, conflict of interest, and emergency response policies are attested to rather than filed, and must be available to SDS on request. "On request" means they need to actually exist.
SourceConfirm by phone
What the state does not publish
Alaska does not publish these in a form we could verify, so we have not guessed at them. Ask directly — and if an answer here would help other providers, tell us and we will add it with its source.
- How long is an Alaska HCBS certification valid, and is a new provider's first certification probationary?
Ask: SDS Provider Certification & Compliance Unit, 907-269-3666
- What does SDS charge for certification, and how long does review take from submission to decision?
Ask: DSDSCertification@alaska.gov
- Is SDS accepting new providers for the service you intend to offer, in your region?
Ask: SDS, 907-269-3666 or doh.sds.info@alaska.gov
Key contacts
Alaska provider contacts
Senior and Disabilities Services
General program contact — doh.sds.info@alaska.gov.
907-269-3666Visit siteSDS Certification intake
DSDSCertification@alaska.gov — where completed certification applications are emailed.
Visit siteAlaska Background Check Program
Runs fingerprint-based checks and the barrier crime determinations for all provider-associated individuals.
Visit siteFAQ
Alaska provider questions
What actually makes an Alaska application succeed or fail?
The quality of your written policies and procedures. SDS is evaluating documents, not credentials — the submitted material has to demonstrate that you know the regulations for every service you are applying to provide. Applicants who treat the policy set as paperwork to be assembled quickly are the ones who get sent back.
Do board members really need background checks?
Yes, if they have regular contact with people receiving services. The requirement covers anyone 16 or older associated with the provider as an administrator, operator, individual service provider, employee, independent contractor, apprentice, unsupervised volunteer, or board member with regular contact.
When do I need to start my renewal?
Earlier than you would guess. A complete renewal application is due no later than 60 days before your current certification expires — and renewals also require a Quality Improvement Report covering your certification period, which you cannot write in a weekend if you have not been doing the annual self-assessments.
Can I send my application as a Word document?
No. SDS asks for PDFs, grouped into Provider Core Requirements and Operations Manual, emailed to DSDSCertification@alaska.gov. It also asks you not to send documents used for grants or licensing — extra material slows the review rather than strengthening it.
Looking for the family-facing guide? Browse state waiver guides