Illinois EVV requirements, program by program

Illinois EVV, step by step

The program paying for a visit decides which Illinois EVV texts apply to it.

Dates are the ones each HFS text gives for itself; the texts were all opened on October 20, 2026.

In the Department’s words

On the model, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ EVV page, published October 7, 2026, says, “Illinois is a hybrid state where agencies can use any qualified EVV vendor, but EVV information must still be submitted to HHAeXchange.” On location, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ notice of February 10, 2026 tells State Plan home health agencies they are required, from April 1, 2026, to use a mobile app that records GPS location as service delivery begins and ends, and adds, “Capturing location of service delivery is both a State and Federal requirement.” On exceptions, the policy behind that notice is blunt: “HFS does not have any exemptions to this policy.”

State Plan home health from April 1, 2026

The policy, HCBS-EVV-24-02, covers home health agencies billing fee-for-service Medicaid, HealthChoice Illinois managed care plans or FIDE SNP plans; home health here means nursing and physical, occupational and speech therapy given in the home. Under the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ notice of February 10, 2026, from April 1, 2026 those agencies must use HHAeXchange’s mobile app or a third-party vendor’s, and the app must capture GPS location when a visit starts and when it ends. The policy also points back to two earlier dates: agencies were to be on HHAeXchange or sending it data by December 31, 2023, and to carry each caregiver’s full Social Security number in that data by October 17, 2024.

The 75 percent line, quarter by quarter

The policy counts a visit toward the line only when it was recorded through EVV with no manual entry and no adjustment afterward, and a claim billed with no visit data behind it counts against the agency. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ home health EVV guidance, policy HCBS-EVV-24-02, says State Plan home health agencies were required to reach and maintain 75 percent by September 30, 2025. What changes on April 1, 2026 is the count: under the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ notice of February 10, 2026, State Plan home health agencies must reach at least 75 percent in every state fiscal quarter, and a quarter does not carry over into the next. HFS’s December 9, 2025 update describes the switch as quarterly rather than year-to-date percentages. HHAeXchange sends agency administrators a “Know Your Numbers” report on the 15th of each month. One quarter below the line brings training modules within 30 days; a second in a row brings an action plan due within 10 business days and carried out within 20 business days of HFS approving it; a third brings a referral to the HFS Office of Inspector General. HFS’s December 9, 2025 update says letters of that kind went out in late October and early November 2025 to agencies serving home health or personal care and billing HFS, DDD or DSCC that fell under 75 percent for July to September 2025, or that billed EVV services without using EVV.

Personal care and the other programs

Personal care follows the program that pays for it. The HFS EVV page dates EVV for the two developmental disabilities waivers to September 1, 2023, and puts Department on Aging and Division of Rehabilitation Services providers into HHAeXchange on March 2, 2026. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ notice of February 10, 2026 says updated EVV policies for DSCC, DDD, DRS and the Department on Aging are forthcoming from each of those agencies, without a date. Managed care plans have a duty of their own: under the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ listserv notice of April 9, 2026, Illinois plans must make sure their service authorizations reach HHAeXchange.

Live-in caregivers and claims

In a notice of May 10, 2023, HFS reversed an earlier decision and allowed a live-in exemption for the two DDD waivers; the HFS EVV FAQ adds that a caregiver applies for it and renews it each year, and that DDD is the only program offering one. On payment, the December 9, 2025 update answers that, for now, claims “are managed independently” of the EVV aggregation, so HHAeXchange does not currently produce them. The HFS texts read here describe training, action plans and referrals when an agency falls short, not an automatic claim denial; a managed care plan’s own rules were not read.

Documented and reported

Everything above comes from HFS’s own pages, policy, notices and listserv messages. The FAQ page mixes answers from 2022 to 2025, so this page uses it only where nothing newer speaks; its 2024 answer that the state did not then expect hard claims penalties is older than the 2026 policy and is not treated as current. HHAeXchange’s own Illinois pages were not used.

What this page does not cover

This page did not read any Illinois statute or administrative rule on EVV. The updated policies from DSCC, DDD, DRS and the Department on Aging were not yet published, and HFS’s April 16, 2026 message says that month’s Know Your Numbers figures for State Plan home health may not be accurate. Plan contracts and HHAeXchange’s technical specifications were not read.

What LockProof is to an Illinois agency

EVV data flows to HHAeXchange for HFS and the plans. LockProof photos go to family members and private-pay clients who ask to see a visit. More on the difference: visit-photo tools used beside EVV, and the contents of a caregiver photo record.

How far this summary goes

The HFS texts listed above date from the October 20, 2026 reading, and the FAQ page is undated, so a newer HFS notice may not be reflected. Other states are listed in the EVV requirements index by state, among them New York and its Choice Model.