245D basic vs intensive is the first question a Minnesota home and community-based services (HCBS) provider has to answer about each service it delivers, because the answer sets the deadlines. Minn. Stat. § 245D.03, subd. 1 puts every licensed service in one of two categories. Basic support services provide the assistance, supervision, and care necessary for health and welfare. Intensive support services provide that same care plus services directed toward training, habilitation, or rehabilitation.
Both categories share the core of chapter 245D: rights, incident reporting, staff training, and records. What changes is planning depth and pace. A basic service needs a preliminary support plan addendum within 15 calendar days and a revised addendum within 60 calendar days. An intensive service needs those plus assessments, a planning meeting, a service plan with measurable outcomes, annual progress reviews, and a policy set, and it must give 60 days' notice to end services instead of 30.
This guide reflects the statute as of September 2026. If you are new to the chapter, start with what 245D is.
The § 245D.03 lists: which services are basic and which are intensive
The statute names each service and the waiver plans it comes from: brain injury (BI), community alternative care (CAC), community access for disability inclusion (CADI), developmental disabilities (DD), and elderly waiver (EW).
| Category | Services in § 245D.03, subd. 1 |
|---|---|
| Basic support services, para. (b) | In-home and out-of-home respite (BI, CAC, CADI, DD, EW); adult companion services (EW); 24-hour emergency assistance and personal emergency response (CADI, DD); night supervision (BI, CAC, CADI, DD); homemaker services (BI, CAC, CADI, DD, EW); individual community living support under § 256S.13; individualized home supports without training (BI, CAC, CADI, DD) |
| Intensive support services, para. (c) | Intervention services: positive support services, in-home or out-of-home crisis respite, and specialist services (BI, CAC, CADI, DD). In-home support: semi-independent living services, individualized home supports with training, and with family training (BI, CAC, CADI, DD). Residential: community residential services, family residential services, supervised living facilities, and life sharing. Day services: day support, day training and habilitation, prevocational services. Employment exploration, employment development, and employment support services. Integrated community supports (BI, CADI; CAC and DD since January 1, 2023) |
Two services with similar names sit on opposite sides of the line. Individualized home supports without training is basic; individualized home supports with training is intensive. Respite is basic; crisis respite is intensive. The license lists each service line separately, and the licensor reviews each person's record against the category of the service that person receives.
Side by side: what changes when a service is intensive
| Obligation | Basic support services | Intensive support services |
|---|---|---|
| Planning statute | § 245D.07 | § 245D.07 and § 245D.071 |
| Preliminary support plan addendum | Within 15 calendar days of service initiation | Within 15 days of service initiation |
| Assessments (health and medical, personal safety, symptom or behavior self-management) | Not required by statute | Before 45 days of service or within 60 calendar days, whichever is shorter; reviewed annually |
| Initial planning meeting | Participate in support team meetings on the support plan's timelines | Required within the same window, covering the topics in § 245D.071, subd. 3, including technology |
| Service plan with outcomes | Revised addendum within 60 calendar days describing how, when, and by whom services are provided | Service plan within 10 working days of the meeting with methods, measurable criteria, dates, and responsible staff; signatures within 20 working days |
| Progress reviews | Written progress or status reports on request (§ 245D.07, subd. 3) | Review meetings on the support plan's schedule, at least once per year, or within 30 days of a written request (§ 245D.071, subd. 5) |
| Required policy set | Grievance and service suspension and termination policies (§ 245D.10); EUMR policy (§ 245D.061, subd. 9) | The above plus the § 245D.11 health and welfare, data privacy, and admission policies |
| Service termination notice | At least 30 days (§ 245D.10, subd. 3a) | At least 60 days |
Service planning timelines: § 245D.07 vs § 245D.071
§ 245D.07 applies to every license holder. Subd. 1a sets the person-centered principle: services must respond to the person's identified needs, interests, preferences, and desired outcomes. Subd. 2 sets the basic service timeline. Within 15 calendar days of service initiation the provider completes a preliminary support plan addendum based on the case manager's support plan. Within 60 calendar days it revises the addendum to document the services provided, when and how they are delivered, who is responsible, and how service coordination is overseen.
§ 245D.071 layers the intensive requirements on top. Subd. 1 states that a license holder providing intensive support services must comply with both sections. Subd. 3 keeps the 15-day preliminary addendum, then requires the three assessments and the initial planning meeting before 45 days of service or within 60 calendar days of service initiation, whichever is shorter. Subd. 4 requires the service plan within 10 working days of the meeting and submission for dated signatures within 20 working days; if there is no response within 10 working days, the plan is deemed approved.
The "45 days of service" clause is the one agencies miss: for a person in community residential services day 45 is the deadline, while for a person attending a day service three times a week the 60-calendar-day limit controls. The 245D documentation checklist shows how to date each step.
Assessments, outcomes, and progress reviews
Basic services have no statutory assessment. Intensive services must assess health and medical, personal safety, and symptom or behavior self-management, based on the person's status within the last 12 months, and review those assessments annually or within 30 days of a written request.
The service plan under § 245D.071, subd. 4 must document, for each desired outcome, the methods staff will use, measurable and observable criteria for knowing when the outcome is achieved and how data will be collected, a projected start and review date, and the staff responsible. Progress reviews under subd. 5 follow the schedule in the support plan, at least annually or within 30 days of a written request, with a written report on status and progress and a recommendation to change, continue, or discontinue supports. The same meeting must document the annual discussions of technology, of options for moving out of a provider-controlled residential setting, and for day services, of transitioning to employment.
Staff orientation and training
§ 245D.09, subd. 4 sets one program orientation for all direct support staff: within 60 calendar days of hire, combining supervised on-the-job training with instruction on 11 topics, with maltreatment reporting training within 72 hours of first direct contact. Subd. 5 requires annual training on clauses (3) to (11). Neither sets an hour count as of September 2026; the 245D training guide explains why.
The difference is in subd. 4a, the person-specific orientation. Before unsupervised contact, every staff person reviews the person's support plan or addendum and, when applicable, the individual abuse prevention plan. For community residential services, an intensive category, training and competency evaluations must also cover personal hygiene and other activities of daily living, a healthy diet and how to prepare it, and instrumental activities of daily living when the support plan identifies them. Medication procedures, life-sustaining medical equipment, and mental health crisis response training turn on the person's needs rather than the license category, but they arise far more often in intensive services.
Positive supports add a separate layer. Minn. R. 9544.0090 requires staff who develop, implement, monitor, supervise, or evaluate positive support strategies to complete a minimum of 8 hours of training before assuming those responsibilities, with 4 additional hours for staff who develop strategies, 2 additional hours for administrators and managers, and 4 hours of refresher training annually.
Restraint, prohibited procedures, and positive supports
§ 245D.06, subd. 5 prohibits every license holder from using chemical restraints, mechanical restraints, manual restraints, time out, seclusion, or any other aversive or deprivation procedure as a substitute for adequate staffing, as punishment, or for staff convenience. Subd. 6 allows only the permitted actions in subd. 7, procedures in a positive support transition plan, and emergency use of manual restraint under § 245D.061, and bans prone restraint. None of this is limited to intensive services: a respite provider that uses a manual hold in an emergency triggers the full § 245D.061 reporting chain in the 245D incident reporting guide.
Minn. R. chapter 9544, the Positive Supports Rule, applies to providers of home and community-based services governed by chapter 245D and to other DHS-licensed providers serving people with a developmental disability or related condition. Under § 245D.06, subd. 8, a person admitted with behavior that poses an immediate risk of physical harm needs a positive support transition plan within 30 days, with restrictive interventions phased out within 11 months.
Compliance note: the emergency use of manual restraint policy under § 245D.061, subd. 9 is required even if your program does not allow manual restraint. The policy must then describe the alternative measures staff will use.
Person-centered planning and HCBS settings
Person-centered planning under § 245D.07, subd. 1a applies to both categories; intensive services have the longer checklist in § 245D.071, subd. 3, including whether the setting is the most integrated available.
The federal HCBS settings rule at 42 CFR 441.301(c)(4) applies to waiver services in both categories. Its additional conditions for provider-owned or controlled residential settings, such as a lease or other legally enforceable agreement and privacy in the living unit, fall on community residential services and integrated community supports, both intensive services. Basic in-home services are delivered in the person's own home and do not carry those conditions.
Record content under § 245D.095
The list of what a service recipient record must contain in § 245D.095, subd. 3 is the same for both categories, and so is the personnel record in subd. 5. What differs is the proof inside it: an intensive record holds dated assessments, the planning meeting summary, the outcomes plan with signature dates, and each progress review report, while a basic record holds the preliminary and revised addendum and the notes showing services were delivered as the addendum describes.
Keeping two sets of timelines straight
An agency that provides both categories has people on both tracks, and sometimes one person on both. The workable approach:
- Tag each service line, not each person, with its category. A person receiving respite who later adds individualized home supports with training moves to the intensive timeline for that service on its own initiation date.
- Run two deadline templates from the service initiation date. Basic: day 15 and day 60. Intensive: day 15, the earlier of 45 days of service or day 60, then 10 and 20 working days from the meeting, then the annual review date.
- Count days of service for intensive services. The 45-day clause depends on attendance, so the calendar alone cannot tell you when the window closes.
- Apply the 60-day termination notice to intensive services and the 30-day notice to basic ones. A 30-day notice for a residential service is a citation under § 245D.10, subd. 3a.
How Trustora helps
Trustora records each 245D service line with its § 245D.03 category and starts the matching deadline set on the service initiation date: the 15-day and 60-day addendum steps for basic services, and the 15-day, 45-days-of-service or 60-calendar-day, 10-working-day, 20-working-day, and annual progress review steps for intensive services. Days of service are counted from the service notes, so the 45-day window closes on the right date, and gap-day alerts fire before a step is late.
Person-specific orientation under § 245D.09, subd. 4a is tracked per staff and client pair, and a shift cannot be scheduled with a client the staff person has not been oriented to. See the platform overview for how one client file holds both tracks.