Electronic visit verification, explained without the sales pitch
If you have just been told your agency needs EVV, start here. These guides explain what the requirement is, where it comes from, and how to find out what applies to you.
Read this before you read anything else
Many states provide an EVV system to providers at no cost, and where they do it satisfies the requirement on its own. Establishing whether yours does is the first step, and it may mean you never need to spend anything. We sell software and we are still telling you that first, because a page that implied otherwise would be false.
What EVV requires, in full
Section 12006 of the 21st Century Cures Act requires that Medicaid personal care and home health visits electronically verify six things:
- 1.The type of service performed
- 2.The individual receiving the service
- 3.The date of the service
- 4.The location of service delivery
- 5.The individual providing the service
- 6.The time the service begins and ends
That is the federal requirement complete. It does not name a vendor, it does not require GPS, and it does not say the data has to be captured by an app. Telephony and other methods are acceptable, which matters for clients who have no smartphone.
Everything else you will hear about EVV is a state or a payer deciding how those six elements get captured and where they get sent. That is why the answer to almost every EVV question is “it depends on your state”, and why the guides below are organized that way.
The deadlines were 1 January 2020 for personal care services and 1 January 2023 for home health services. Some states are still implementing the home health side now, so a state being late is common rather than unusual.
Start here
What is EVV?
6 min read
The six things every visit has to record, who the requirement applies to, and the three ways agencies capture a visit.
The Cures Act requirement
6 min read
What section 12006 actually says, the deadlines of 1 January 2020 and 1 January 2023, and why your state's date may differ.
Open vs closed state models
7 min read
Whether you get to choose your own system or your state mandates one. Find this out before you evaluate any software.
What an aggregator is
6 min read
Where your visit data goes, why claims fail on matching rather than capture, and what integration really involves.
If you only have fifteen minutes
Read them in this order and you will know enough to have a useful conversation with your state agency:
- What is EVV, so the six data elements and the vocabulary make sense.
- Open vs closed models, because it determines whether you have a decision to make at all. In an open vendor state you may choose your system. In a closed one the choice is made for you.
- Your state guide below, then confirm what it says with your state Medicaid agency.
The Cures Act and aggregator pages are worth reading when you want the detail behind those two. If you would rather answer five questions than read four pages, the readiness check gets you to roughly the same place in two minutes.
EVV requirements by state
12 guides published so far. We publish one only once we have researched it against official sources, so this list grows slowly on purpose. A wrong statement about a state's rules could cause an agency to miss a deadline, and that is a worse outcome than a missing page.
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
Each guide covers who administers EVV in that state, which system providers are expected to use, whether a third-party vendor is permitted, and what to confirm directly with the state. If your state is not here yet, the four explainers above cover the federal rules that apply everywhere.
Guides last reviewed 2 August 2026. EVV rules change, so we re-check published guides on a schedule and update the review date only when we have actually re-checked.
Common questions
What does EVV actually require?
Six pieces of information about every visit: the type of service, who received it, the date, the location, who provided it, and the start and end time. That is the federal requirement in full. Everything else you hear about EVV is a state or a vendor deciding how those six get captured and transmitted.
Do I have to buy software to comply?
Usually not. Many states provide an EVV system to providers at no cost, and where they do, that system satisfies the requirement on its own. Establishing whether your state does this is the first thing to do, before you evaluate anything. Any vendor telling you that compliance requires their product is selling rather than explaining.
Does EVV apply to private pay clients?
No. The requirement follows Medicaid funding, so visits paid for privately are outside it. Plenty of agencies verify those visits anyway, but the reason is evidence and payroll accuracy rather than a legal obligation, and it is worth being clear about which is which.
What happens if my state's deadline has passed?
The federal deadlines were 1 January 2020 for personal care services and 1 January 2023 for home health services, and states that missed them faced reductions in federal funding rather than penalties on individual providers. Several states are still rolling out home health EVV now. What matters to you is your state's current status and what your payers require, which is what the state guides cover.
Who is the authoritative source on my state's rules?
Your state Medicaid agency, and your managed care plans where you are contracted with them. Not us, and not a software vendor. Our state guides are researched against official sources and dated, but rules change, and the guides exist to tell you what to ask rather than to be relied on in place of asking.
General information, not legal advice
This page explains federal rules in plain language. It is not legal advice and it is not an official source. EVV requirements are set and enforced by your state Medicaid agency, they change, and your state's rules govern what you actually have to do. Confirm anything that matters with your state agency before acting on it. CareVerify is not affiliated with any state Medicaid agency, with CMS, or with any EVV aggregator or vendor.
CareVerify is visit verification and scheduling software for home care agencies with 5 to 40 caregivers. It does not replace your state's EVV system for Medicaid claims, and if your state gives you one free you should use it. See what we do and what we cost.