Doula Requirements by State

DONA is on the Arizona Department of Health Services approved organizations roster, but that roster only gets you into Arizona's own state doula certification, and the state certificate is what AHCCCS pays. The AHCCCS FAQ says it outright: "doula certification through a national, international, or other organization does not meet the requirement for AHCCCS enrollment and reimbursement."

Your DONA certification satisfies ADHS Initial Path 2, "documentation of current certification with a nationally recognized doula organization." On top of it you add first aid and CPR through a course recognized by the American Heart Association, which DONA does not supply, a completed Birth Observation form, a Primary Doula Attestation for three births as the primary doula with evaluations from the birthing person and the medical provider or licensed midwife, a high school or equivalency attestation, a signed Doula Code of Ethics Agreement, and a Statement of Citizenship or Alien Status.

Fees are $100 nonrefundable application plus $200 initial license. Both are waivable if your family income is at or below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines, or you are an active duty military spouse, or a veteran discharged within two years. Forms download from the ADHS Bureau of Licensing for Professions and Occupations doulas page, and the packet is mailed to ADHS BLPO, 150 North 18th Avenue, Suite 410, Phoenix, AZ 85007.

Then you enroll separately with AHCCCS through the provider enrollment portal, which needs its own distinct NPI. Doulas serving managed care members also credential and contract with each health plan.

Ongoing: 15 hours of continuing education per three-year license period under A.R.S. 36-766.01(D), filed at least 30 and not more than 90 days before your certificate expires. DONA is also approved for continuing education.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Valid Arizona fingerprint clearance card required under A.R.S. 36-766.01(A)(3), from Arizona DPS. Who pays is not stated, and the ADHS fee waiver does not cover it. Liability insurance: Not required. AHCCCS states that state-certified doulas do not have to carry it. Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

DONA is named on the Arkansas Department of Health's approved doula training programs list dated 1.12.26, so there is no state-added course. One thing to settle before you rely on a workshop certificate alone: Act 965 of 2025 speaks of "maintaining a certification" while the Pathway A application accepts a "certificate of completion," and ADH has not resolved the difference in writing. Call ADH Women's Health at 501-661-2480 and ask.

Arkansas is a two-step state. First you hold Arkansas Department of Health Certified Community-Based Doula certification: a mailed Pathway A application, a notarized affidavit, proof you are 18 or older, a DONA verification letter or certificate of completion, and a $50 check to ADH Women's Health Section, Slot 16, 4815 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205. Then you enroll separately with DHS Medicaid using an NPI and taxonomy code.

Every client needs a referral from a Medicaid-enrolled physician, physician assistant, or APRN.

Ongoing: ADH certification lasts two years. Renewal needs 10 hours of professional development per two-year period, an application 90 days before expiration, and a $50 renewal fee. The approved-programs roster covers calendar 2026 only, so recheck it in January 2027.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Self-disclosure of criminal history on the ADH application, with documentation of no disqualifying offense under Ark. Code 17-3-102. No fingerprint check. No cost beyond the $50 fee. Liability insurance: Not specified

California names no organizations. Any training counts if it covers at least 16 hours across five topics (lactation support, childbirth education, anatomy of pregnancy and childbirth, nonmedical comfort measures with prenatal and labor support, and building a community resource list) and you have supported at least three births. Your certificate needs to itemize hours and topics. If it does not, you submit a syllabus plus an attestation in the PAVE application naming the organization, hours, and completion date. An experience pathway is the alternative: five years of active doula work in the past seven plus three testimonial letters on DHCS templates. A postpartum-only training would not meet the training pathway on its face, because it requires labor support content and three births.

Every doula also needs current adult and infant CPR from the American Red Cross or American Heart Association, and a basic HIPAA training attestation.

Enrollment runs through the PAVE portal with an NPI and no application fee. To serve managed care members you also sign a separate contract with each managed care plan, and PAVE enrollment does not credential you with those plans.

Ongoing: three hours of continuing education every three years in the state's defined areas (maternal, perinatal, or infant care), with evidence kept for DHCS on request.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in any official doula document. Managed care plans may run their own credentialing. Liability insurance: Not specified. Only workers' compensation appears on the DHCS checklist, and only where state law requires it.

DONA International is on Colorado's approved training roster with no conditional tier, updated 7/23/26, so there is no state-specific course. One thing to settle before you rely on a workshop certificate alone: the program page says "certificate of completion" while the attestation form says "Doula Certification," and Colorado has not resolved which it means. Email hcpf_maternalchildhealth@state.co.us and ask.

You need current adult and child CPR and you attach the card. On the Doula Provider Attestation Form you attest to at least three births attended as a doula, not your own, in the last five years, listed by date and client initials. The Code of Conduct is signed at the same time. Both forms are on the HCPF Provider Forms page.

Enrollment is as Health First Colorado provider type 79 Doula through the Provider Enrollment Portal, with a Type 1 NPI, the signed attestation, and the signed Code of Conduct. No application fee, and no separate state registry beyond Medicaid enrollment. You revalidate at least every five years with a new attestation form.

If your training is not on the roster, the Experience Pathway is the alternative: 10 births with 5 in the last two years, 4 letters, and a competency attestation.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Fingerprint CBI and FBI check within 30 days of application via IdentoGO or Colorado Fingerprinting. Doulas are rated high categorical risk. The applicant pays the vendor. Liability insurance: Required of all Health First Colorado providers. No dollar minimum stated. Coverage through a doula organization is accepted.

Connecticut Medicaid only enrolls a doula who holds Connecticut Department of Public Health certification, and DPH grants that on one of two documentation paths: completion of a doula training program approved by the Doula Training Program Review Committee, or a notarized attestation that you served at least three families and trained in at least four of the state's seven core competencies within the five years before you apply. This row reads "Not specified" because the statute requires that committee to publish a list of approved programs and Connecticut never has, anywhere on portal.ct.gov, so no official source says whether DONA is on it.

In practice the usable route for a doula holding a national certification is the attestation pathway, using the form linked from the DPH requirements page.

The seven core competencies are pregnancy and childbirth; postpartum, recovery and newborn; expected and unexpected pregnancy outcomes; promotes health equity; promotes racial equity; understanding role advocacy; and professional standards. You need four.

Apply through the CT eLicense portal with a $100 fee. Then enroll with the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program using an NPI with taxonomy 374J00000X. DPH certification has to come first.

Ongoing: certification renews every three years at $100 with evidence of continuing education. DPH has not published an adopted hour count, and doula is absent from its list of professions with continuing education requirements. The Doula Advisory Committee recommended 18 hours per three-year cycle, including two on cultural humility, systemic racism or systemic oppression and two on health equity.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified. No criminal background check or fingerprinting appears in the doula statute, the DPH requirements page, or the DSS enrollment bulletin. Liability insurance: Not specified. No requirement appears in any official Connecticut doula source.

Delaware names no training organizations and publishes no roster. The test is content: at least 16 total hours of birth and labor doula education covering lactation support, childbirth education, nonmedical comfort measures, prenatal support, labor support techniques, and postpartum support. A DONA birth doula certification meets that standard on its face, but no Delaware document names DONA or any other organization, so read this as the state's standard applied rather than a state endorsement.

Two things DONA does not give you and Delaware requires: current CPR certification covering both adults and infants, and 1 documented hour of HIPAA training. Both are named in the approved state plan and both go in with your application.

The credential is issued by the Delaware Certification Board at decertboard.org/doula, a private nonprofit rather than a state agency. Delaware Code names it as the certifying body for the private insurance mandate at 18 Del. C. 3553A. No state source says outright that this credential is mandatory for Medicaid enrollment, though the state plan attestations assume a credential exists.

Delaware has two entry paths. New doulas need the 16 hours plus three births, one as primary doula, in the last three years. The Experienced Doulas legacy path waives the education hours for applicants documenting 15 clients and 9 births in the last three years, plus two professional evaluations and a 250-word lived experience essay.

Ongoing: every three years, 20 hours of relevant education and 1 documented birth.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in any state source. A fingerprint check through IdentoGO appears only in Delaware Certification Board application materials, which are not a state source. Liability insurance: Not specified in any state source. A $1M per incident and $3M aggregate minimum appears only in Delaware Certification Board application materials, which are not a state source. Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

DONA is item 6 on the DHCF list of 40 approved doula certification organizations, with no conditional tier and no birth versus postpartum split, so your DONA certification satisfies the credential requirement outright.

The only thing added is a billing orientation, not more doula curriculum. 29 DCMR 11202.1(e) requires you to complete an orientation session on billing provided by DHCF or its agent. Fee-for-service billing training runs through the Gainwell Learning Center, reachable from the DC Medicaid Online Portal at medicaid.dc.gov. Questions go to dhcf.maternalhealth@dc.gov.

You also need to be at least 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent, and to enroll as a DC Medicaid provider at dcpdms.com using the Standard Application and provider type Doula. Liability insurance of at least $1 million per occurrence and $3 million aggregate has to be in place before you see a Medicaid beneficiary.

One break point to know about. DC Health is required to build its own doula certification standard, and when it does, that standard supersedes the DHCF roster and only DC Health certified doulas will be able to enroll. As of the August 25, 2026 provider manual it has not happened, and the credential field is still labeled interim.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified. No doula-specific check appears in any DHCF document. 29 DCMR 11202.2 defers to general Medicaid provider screening in 29 DCMR Chapter 94. Liability insurance: $1M per occurrence and $3M aggregate, required before you see any Medicaid beneficiary

Florida has no state plan doula benefit and no doula provider type, and you cannot bill Florida Medicaid fee-for-service directly. What exists is doula services as an expanded benefit that every one of the eight Medicaid managed care plans now covers, which AHCA announced as universal in May 2026 under its From the Start initiative. That is broader than most plan-only states, but it is still plan-level coverage rather than a state benefit.

You get paid by contracting with a plan or its doula vendor, and each plan sets its own credentialing terms. The state names no organization and sets no training standard, so check each plan's doula contracting terms before assuming a credential will or will not count.

To join a plan network you need a Florida Medicaid ID through limited enrollment as Provider Type 97, Managed Care Treating Provider, on the AHCA Medicaid portal, plus a fingerprint background check through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse for everyone listed on the application.

Good to remember: Florida does not license or certify doulas, and the 2026 bills that would have created a pilot and a certification task force died in March 2026.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Fingerprint check through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse for everyone on the Medicaid application. Payer not stated. Liability insurance: Not specified

Georgia has no Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet. The same sponsors have filed a doula pilot bill every session since 2021, and all three doula bills in the 2025 to 2026 session died in committee. Every version has depended on a specific appropriation that has never been made, and the only credential language in any bill left training standards entirely to the Department of Community Health, naming no organization. Watch the 2027 session for another filing.

Good to know: any doula program run by a Georgia Medicaid care management organization is a contract between that plan and the doula, not a state provider type, and it sets no state credential standard.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

DONA International is on the pre-approved training roster kept by SIU School of Medicine, the state's certifying body, but with an asterisk: because DONA splits birth and postpartum into separate courses, you must show verification of both the birth and the postpartum training. A postpartum-only credential does not qualify on its own. Training from an organization not on the roster can still qualify by submitting a syllabus that shows prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum content.

Everyone also documents five common requirements: HIPAA training, current CPR or BLS, cultural competency or implicit bias training, trauma-informed care training, and anatomy and physiology of pregnancy and birth. SIU lists free or low-cost options for each. The training must be within the last five years, and you need three births attended as lead or shadow in the past 12 months with at least one Experience Verification Form from a client or healthcare professional.

Then two enrollment steps: the Illinois Medicaid-Certified Doula certificate from SIU (no charge, apply online or by email to doulacertification@siumed.edu), followed by HFS IMPACT provider enrollment with an NPI. You can enroll to bill independently or through a group.

Ongoing: the certificate is valid for three years, and recertification requirements had not been published as of September 2026.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in the HFS doula notice or the SIU certification guide Liability insurance: Not specified Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

Indiana's Medicaid statute has authorized doula reimbursement since 2019, but the benefit has never been funded or implemented. The law says pregnancy services "may" include doula reimbursement, and the state has not used that authority: no State Plan Amendment, no doula provider type, and no provider bulletin. Bills to make the benefit mandatory died in committee in 2025 and 2026, and the state's own fiscal analysts still treat doula coverage as a new cost. The next likely trigger is the doula reimbursement advisory board report due July 1, 2027, or a bill in the 2027 session. Until funding arrives there is no credential requirement to meet.

You may see claims that Indiana Medicaid began covering doulas in July 2025 under SB 522. That bill died in committee.

The only path to any Indiana Medicaid payment today is as a certified community health worker employed by an enrolled billing provider and working under supervision. Doulas cannot enroll or bill independently.

Good to know: a 2024 stakeholder workgroup recommended a state doula registry and a 32 hour training minimum, but those are recommendations only, and no training organization is named.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

Iowa has no state Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026 and no doula can enroll with Iowa Medicaid, so there is no state credential requirement to meet. What exists is coverage through two managed care plans. Iowa Total Care offers doula care to pregnant members in Polk, Johnson, Black Hawk, Scott, and Woodbury counties through its vendor The Doula Network, and Molina runs a hybrid doula program in Black Hawk and Polk counties. Those are vendor contracts with no state credential standard behind them.

Iowa's own December 2025 Doula Technical Assistance RFP says doulas are paid privately or through small grant pilots and that the state has no licensing or credentialing requirement. SF 132 never left subcommittee in 2025 and SF 67 failed the funnel in 2023. A 2024 state plan anticipated coverage in 2025 and it did not happen.

Watch item: Iowa's new Doula Technical Assistance contractor, running April 2026 through September 2031, is tasked with listing Iowa doulas and training them on billing. That is the likely starting point if a benefit ever arrives.

DONA is named on Kansas Medicaid's Training Pathway 1 roster, alongside BirthWorks International, ChildBirth International, CAPPA, ICEA, HealthConnect One, LifeSpan Doulas and ProDoula. No state-specific course exists.

One step catches people out, and it is signature collection rather than a course. Every applicant, including a DONA certified doula using Pathway 1, must also submit the Primary Doula Attestation in Section II of the KMAP Doula Attestation Form Packet, signed by three laboring people you served as primary doula. The packet joins the certification requirement and the three-birth requirement with "AND," not "or."

Pathway 2 is the alternative: certificates of completion for 30 training hours in any combination of the listed areas.

Enrollment is with KMAP using your own Type 1 NPI, taxonomy 374J00000X, provider type and specialty 32/212, either independently or as part of a doula group. There is no separate doula registry.

Every client needs the service recommended by a Kansas-licensed registered nurse, clinical social worker, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, certified nurse midwife or physician before you start. That is a billing gate, not a credential gate, but missing it stops payment.

Ongoing: 10 hours of continuing education within the last three years, attested at revalidation on Section III of the same packet, with documentation produced to KDHE on request. KMAP revalidation runs every five years.

Background check: Not specified. No background check or fingerprinting appears in the doula policy or the enrollment packet. Standard KMAP provider screening and ownership disclosure applies to all provider types. Liability insurance: Not specified. Not listed among the required doula enrollment attachments.

Kentucky has no state Medicaid doula benefit. There is no doula provider type in the Department for Medicaid Services provider list, no state plan amendment, and no enacted statute, so a doula cannot enroll with Kentucky Medicaid itself. HB 471 in 2026 would have created coverage and a Doula Advisory Council to set credential standards. It died in House Health Services and the session has adjourned. HB 275 died the same way in 2023.

What exists is plan-level coverage, and three of the five Kentucky Medicaid managed care plans list doula care as a 2026 value added benefit in the state's own published comparison. Humana Healthy Horizons is the substantial one: through HumanaBeginnings it covers 5 prenatal visits, 3 postpartum visits and 1 delivery visit per pregnancy. Passport by Molina Healthcare offers limited app-based support and doula services in targeted areas the plan chooses and the state does not name. Aetna Better Health offers virtual doulas only, through its Pacify partnership, for high-risk pregnant members. United Health Care and WellCare of Kentucky are both listed as not offering it.

No official source names which certification any of those plans requires, because value added benefits are contracted plan by plan and Kentucky sets no standard. If you want to do this work in Kentucky, the only way to find out is to call the plan.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

DONA is on the Louisiana Doula Registry Board's approved training organizations roster, updated August 2026, with no tier or condition attached. Three DONA-affiliated trainers are listed separately as well. The only conditional note on the whole roster sits on a different organization.

There is no state training module. The added step is registration with the Louisiana Doula Registry Board through its online application, reviewed quarterly at board meetings.

Louisiana is a hybrid rather than a pure roster. The rule and the LDH FAQ both allow a program that is not on the list to be accepted if its curriculum matches the state standard, so a doula whose organization is not listed is not automatically out.

Then you enroll as a Louisiana Medicaid provider. The provider manual defines a qualified doula as someone trained to give physical, emotional and educational support but not medical or midwifery care, who holds approved Registry Board registration and is enrolled with Louisiana Medicaid.

Ongoing: not less than 20 contact hours of continuing education per registration cycle. Registrations expire on the last day of December of the fifth calendar year after issuance, so roughly 20 hours across five years.

One thing to settle before you rely on a certificate alone. The promulgated rule says an applicant must meet one of the qualification pathways, which makes a board-approved training certificate a complete standalone route. The LDH web page marks both the experience pathway and the training pathway with an asterisk it defines as a required upload, which reads as though you need both. Email doularegistry@la.gov and ask which it is.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified. No criminal background check or fingerprinting appears in LAC 48:V Subpart 57 or the Medicaid doula enrollment packet. Liability insurance: Not specified

DONA International is on Maryland's approved roster, but only as a pair: Maryland requires both the DONA Birth Doula Certification and the DONA Postpartum Doula Certification to enroll. A birth-only DONA certificate does not qualify, and neither does postpartum-only. The roster lists 45 organizations, most with the same two-credential rule, and Maryland offers no state training or bridge course.

Enrollment runs through ePREP as provider type DL (Doula/Birth Worker) with an NPI and the Doula Individual ePREP Addendum. Through December 31, 2026 the benefit is self-referred, so an enrolled doula can be paid by any managed care organization without a plan contract. No official source yet says what happens after that date.

Also required: a fingerprint criminal background check at a CJIS-approved location of your choosing (you keep the record and attest to passing it), and liability insurance by attestation. Medicaid sets no dollar minimum, but plan contracts typically ask for $1 million per incident and $3 million aggregate.

Ongoing: keep your certification current with your certifying organization. Maryland sets no continuing education count of its own.

Heads up: Maryland has announced new certification rules for fall 2026 and a new application process in spring 2027, and every currently approved organization must meet the new standards to stay approved. Recheck this row after the rules post.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Fingerprint check at a CJIS-approved location of your choosing. You keep the record and attest to passing it. Payer not stated. Liability insurance: Required by attestation, no Medicaid minimum. Plan contracts typically $1M per incident / $3M aggregate. Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

MassHealth keeps no approved-organization list. The Formal Training Pathway accepts a certificate of completion or proof of certification from any doula-certifying organization, plus a signed attestation that your training covered six competencies: maternal anatomy and physiology; common medical interventions; common complications including loss, perinatal mental health disorders, substance use disorder, and high blood pressure; labor and delivery comfort measures; trauma-informed advocacy support; and basic newborn care including breastfeeding and chestfeeding.

The one state-required course is the MassHealth Doula Provider Training, a no-cost online course of about two hours on the MassHealth Provider Learning Management System. Register with Provider ID "Application Pending" and Provider Type "C5 Doula," then submit the certificate with your application. It is a program orientation covering services, rates, billing, and member privacy, not a competency course.

Enrollment is by mailed application, form PE-DOULA, with an NPI, contract, disclosure form, data collection form, health equity attestation, and your pathway documents. You are then listed in the public MassHealth Provider Directory and revalidate at least every five years.

The separate Department of Public Health doula certification is voluntary and not needed to enroll or bill. If you want it: until 2028-03-31, DPH only accepts applications through the MassHealth Provider Pathway or New York and Rhode Island reciprocity, so you have to enroll with MassHealth first.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified for MassHealth enrollment. The voluntary DPH certification runs a CORI check at no cost. Liability insurance: Not specified

DONA International is on the MDHHS-Approved Doula Training Programs list, and Michigan asks only for a certificate of completion of doula training from a listed organization. Full certification is not required, and a postpartum training certificate from a listed organization also qualifies. No experience-only pathway exists in current official sources: MDHHS can approve only applicants trained by a listed organization.

Two steps: apply to the MDHHS Doula Registry (form MDHHS-6035, questions to MDHHS-MIDoula@michigan.gov), then enroll in CHAMPS as a Medicaid provider with an NPI. You can bill independently, through an enrolled organization or clinic, as part of a doula group, or by contracting with a Medicaid health plan. Health plans may add their own orientation or ask for proof of liability insurance during credentialing.

Ongoing: no continuing education count from the state. The registry application asks how you will receive implicit bias training each year, and you must stay on the registry with working contact information to stay enrolled.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in any doula-specific MDHHS source Liability insurance: Not required by MDHHS. Health plans may require proof during credentialing, no minimum stated.

DONA is named in the Minnesota statute itself. Minn. Stat. 148.995 subd. 2 defines a certified doula by reference to named organizations, and DONA International appears on the MDH designated list of 59 active organizations updated 09/02/2026. There is no state-added course.

Minnesota is a two-step state. First the MDH Doula Registry: apply through the MDH Licensing System, upload proof of current certification, pay $200, and your listing is valid three years. Then enroll with Minnesota Health Care Programs through the MPSE portal using the MDH registry letter, provider type DA, with a Type 1 NPI.

Ongoing: renew the MDH registry every three years at $200 and keep your certification current with the designated organization, so DONA's own recertification cycle governs. Minnesota sets no separate continuing education count.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: MDH reviews the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension public website when processing the registry application. No fingerprint study and no separate fee stated. Liability insurance: Not specified

No state-specific supplemental training required. Missouri's rule is standards-based rather than a fixed roster. 13 CSR 70-25.160 (2)(B) requires a current certificate from a national or Missouri-based doula training organization whose curriculum covers the doula role, breastfeeding support, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, anticipatory care, cultural competency, trauma-informed care, and health-related social needs.

Ongoing requirement worth knowing: at least 6 CEU hours per year on those topics.

Also required: at least 18 years of age, and enrollment as a MO HealthNet provider.

Benefit live for dates of service on or after October 1, 2024. Coverage runs 12 months postpartum.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in 13 CSR 70-25.160 Liability insurance: Required, individually or through a supervising organization. No dollar minimum stated.

Nevada accepts no national credential directly. Every doula must hold a Birth Doula Certification from the Nevada Certification Board before enrolling as Medicaid Provider Type 90, and the NCB is the state's sole designated certifying body. DONA International birth doula training counts as NCB's approved foundational training, so your DONA hours are not wasted.

On top of that training the NCB requires 6 hours of cultural competency and humility, 4 hours of trauma-informed care, HIPAA training, current adult and infant CPR, attendance as the prime contracted doula at one birth in the past five years with a client recommendation sent to NCB, agreement to the NCB code of ethics, living or working in Nevada at least 50 percent of the time, and a $100 application fee. Apply at nevadacertboard.org/certs/doula/.

Then you enroll with Nevada Medicaid as Provider Type 90, specialty 990 for an individual or 890 for a group, with a Type 1 NPI, TIN documentation, and a Nevada Secretary of State business license if you bill independently.

Ongoing: NCB recertification every two years with a $50 fee, 20 continuing education hours in the Nevada Birth Doula Competencies, and current adult and infant CPR. Standard Medicaid revalidation applies on top.

One to check with NCB directly: its pages state the HIPAA requirement as 1 hour in one place and 30 minutes in another.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified. Nevada Medicaid fingerprint checks apply to other provider types and PT 90 is not listed. The NCB application has none. Liability insurance: Not specified Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

DONA International Birth Doula Certification is on the accepted list, but not the fully approved list. Accepted programs must add Supplemental Community Competency Training (SCCT). Request access by emailing Doulas.FHS@doh.nj.gov.

Three NJ programs are approved outright with no SCCT: Children's Home Society of NJ AMAR Community-Based Doula Program, the Department of Health Uzazi Village Training, and Partnership for Maternal & Child Health of Northern New Jersey Community of Caring.

Other programs accepted with SCCT: Ancient Song Labor Doula Certification, HealthConnectOne Community Based Doula Training, Uzazi Village Perinatal Doula Training, CAPPA Labor Doula (CLD) Certification, DONA International Birth Doula Certification.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: NJ State Police fingerprint-based, at no cost to the applicant Liability insurance: $1M per incident / $3M aggregate Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

DONA is named on New Mexico's Pathway 1 roster as "Doulas of North America (DONA) Doula Training," so there is no state-run course. Pathway 2 accepts any training of 15 or more hours covering five core competencies plus an attestation of three clients in the past two years. Pathway 3 is experience.

Every applicant needs current adult and infant CPR from the Red Cross or American Heart Association with an in-person skills session, plus HIPAA training. The state's chosen course is "HIPAA Awareness Module 1 (1047429)" on TRAIN NM at no cost, an equivalent is accepted, and it is renewed yearly.

New Mexico is a three-step state. NMDOH doula certification comes first, at no fee, with a 60-day review and a two-year term, and you appear on a public registry. Then an NPI. Then New Mexico Medicaid enrollment as Provider Type 406, Specialty 206, taxonomy 374J00000X, and a contract with each managed care organization. Doulas within 100 miles of the New Mexico border may apply.

Ongoing: recertify with DOH every two years with 24 continuing education hours in maternal, perinatal, or infant care. HIPAA renews yearly and CPR stays current.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not required yet. The DOH FAQ says one will be implemented for all doulas, with no date announced. Liability insurance: Not required for DOH certification. Some managed care organizations may require it to contract. No minimum stated.

New York names no organization. Any doula training organization's certificate or letter counts if you attest to 24 hours of training across the state's defined competencies and doula support at a minimum of three births. The state does not vet organizations; you attest. The 24 hours must cover 20 hours of core competencies (anatomy of pregnancy and childbirth, labor support and nonmedical comfort measures, common medical interventions, prenatal and postpartum education, lactation and infant feeding, and scope of practice) plus four hours of broader competencies (cultural awareness and humility, health equity, person-centered and trauma-informed care, and community resources). Postpartum training hours count toward the 24, but the three births are still required. Without three births, the work experience pathway needs 30 births or 1,000 hours in the last ten years plus three recommendation forms.

Also required: current adult and infant CPR certification in your name, familiarity with HIPAA, and doula-specific liability insurance in your name.

Enrollment runs through the eMedNY portal with an NPI and no fee, plus the state doula directory form. You must be enrolled in fee-for-service before contracting with any managed care plan, and since April 2025 you bill each member's plan directly. The Medicaid team offers one-to-one enrollment help at MaternalAndChild.HealthPolicy@health.ny.gov.

Ongoing: revalidate every five years with an attestation to six hours of continuing education per year, current CPR, and current liability coverage.

One thing to check before you sign: the attestation form still lists older pilot-era items, including a proficiency exam, that the current policy manual does not require. Ask the Medicaid team which list governs.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified in the policy manual or enrollment instructions. Doulas are not mandatory reporters. Liability insurance: Required, doula-specific, in the applicant's name. No dollar minimum stated.

North Carolina has no Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet. Bills to create one were filed in 2025 and 2026 and have not moved out of committee, and the legislature's remaining 2026 sessions cannot advance them. Watch for a refile in the 2027 session. The 2026 bill would have asked Medicaid to consider training in eight areas, including childbirth education, comfort measures, lactation support, and cultural awareness, without naming any organization.

What does exist: some Medicaid managed care plans pay doulas as a plan-level extra, with each plan setting its own credentials and enrollment. Those are contracts with the plan, not state rules.

Good to know: a 2023 state landscape report recommended credentialing built on core competencies rather than certification with any single organization, and a 2025 rural health grant proposes a state-run doula training program. Neither is a Medicaid benefit yet.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

Ohio accepts current certification from any doula certifying organization "recognized on an international, national, state, or local level." There is no published roster, and the Board of Nursing's own FAQ names DONA International first among its well-known examples. There is also a path with no certification at all: 10 education hours plus three years of practice or five clients in three years.

Two layers sit on top of a DONA certificate. First, an attestation of four hours of training on racial bias, health disparities, and cultural competency, from your certifying organization or any other source. Second, the State of Ohio Certified Doula certificate itself, applied for on eLicense at $35 plus a small transaction fee, waived at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line. DONA must send your certificate directly to the Board at doula@Nursing.Ohio.gov, or you supply DONA's contact details so the Board can verify it.

Then Ohio Medicaid enrollment in the PNM portal as provider type 09 Doula, with an NPI and a copy of the Board certificate, followed by a separate contract with each of the seven managed care organizations.

Ongoing: the Board certificate renews every two years in even-numbered years, with 10 contact hours of continuing education per renewal period, at least four of them on racial bias, health disparities, and cultural competency. Continuing education is not required for the first renewal. Keep proof for six years. Medicaid revalidation every five years.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Fingerprint-based Ohio BCI and FBI check, requested by the applicant, results to the Board before the certificate issues. Fee and payer not stated. Liability insurance: Not required by state rule. Varies by managed care organization at contracting, no dollar minimum stated.

OHCA lists 30 recognized certifying organizations on its Doula Services provider page, including DONA International with no condition attached, so there is no state-added course at enrollment. The rule, OAC 317:30-5-1216, puts CPR verification and HIPAA training on the certifying organization rather than on you.

Enrollment is with SoonerCare through the OHCA provider portal using an NPI and the required taxonomy code. There is no separate state registry.

Every SoonerCare doula client needs a referral form from an OB, certified nurse midwife, physician, physician assistant, APRN, or licensed midwife under OAC 317:30-5-1217. Coverage is 8 visits plus 1 labor and delivery visit, and labor support at a home birth is not covered.

Ongoing requirements run through your certifying organization: recertify at least every three years, with no lifetime certifications accepted, a minimum of 3 continuing education experiences per period, current CPR, and HIPAA training each period.

One oddity to be ready for. The rule asks certifying organizations to verify CPR and provide HIPAA training. DONA does not require CPR, yet OHCA lists DONA unconditionally, and no source says OHCA asks the doula directly. Carry proof of both if you are asked.

Background check: Not specified for doulas. General OHCA screening applies to all providers. Fingerprint checks are for high-risk provider types and doulas are not named. Liability insurance: Not specified

Two different answers here, depending on what you want. If you work with private-pay clients in Oregon, no state requirement applies to you at all, because Oregon does not license doulas. If you want to bill Oregon Medicaid, this is the strictest state in this library: a certification earned outside Oregon will not enroll you, and Oregon Medicaid enrolls only doulas certified through the Oregon Health Authority Traditional Health Worker program.

Read this part before you buy any training if billing Oregon Medicaid is your plan. Certification needs at least 40 contact hours from an OHA-approved birth doula training program, of which at least 28 must be in-person contact hours. Oregon's own page says "Midwifery education, nursing training, or online childbirth and doula training courses are not accepted as substitutions for in-person doula training." There are 10 approved birth doula programs and every one of them is in Oregon. Reciprocity exists only with Alaska and Idaho, and Washington reciprocity has been paused since February 11, 2026.

On top of the 40 hours: 6 hours cultural competency, 1 hour interprofessional collaboration, 1 hour HIPAA, 4 hours trauma-informed care, a 1.5 hour OHA-approved oral health training, current adult and infant or child CPR, a community resource list, three documented births, and three documented postpartum visits. Pick a program from the OHA-Approved Doula Training roster on the THW Training Programs page, then apply to the THW Program at THW.Program@oha.oregon.gov.

Two things worth knowing if you already hold a DONA certification. Doula Love, LLC of Portland is an OHA-approved program whose workshop is also DONA-approved, and it is the only place DONA appears anywhere in Oregon's roster of 79 approved programs, so training there produces both credentials. The approval belongs to Doula Love, not to DONA. Separately, OAR 950-060-0100(1) requires approved programs to establish equivalency for students who have already completed training meeting one or more requirements. That review is done by the individual program, not by OHA, and no official source says how much credit any of them grants. Ask an approved program for an equivalency review before you pay for a full retrain.

Ongoing: at least 20 continuing education hours every three-year renewal period, of which at least 3 must be suicide risk assessment, treatment and management appropriate to the birth doula scope of work. Keep CPR current. If your certification lapses for six months or more, you sit a birth doula competency test.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Required for certification and registry enrollment under OAR 950-060-0070, conducted by the Authority under OAR 943-007-0001 and 943-007-0501. Who pays is not stated in the rule. Liability insurance: Not required for state certification. A coordinated care organization may require it at contracting. No dollar minimum stated. Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

Read this first: the Pennsylvania Certification Board's Certified Perinatal Doula (CPD) credential is the only certification Pennsylvania Medical Assistance accepts, and DHS says in writing that a DONA certification cannot be submitted in its place.

Your DONA training is not wasted, and you do not retrain. You apply to PCB for the CPD and document 24 total hours of education across the 16 CPD knowledge areas. DONA workshop hours count as long as each certificate shows your name, the training title, dates, hours, and organization. One of the 24 hours must be HIPAA or client confidentiality. You also need current CPR certification covering adults and infants, three client evaluations from families served in the last year with signed consent, a $50 fee, and a Pennsylvania home or workplace. If your education did not come from an approved doula certifying body or training organization, you also need one year of experience within the last two. Apply at pacertboard.org.

Then PROMISe enrollment as Provider Type 13, Specialty 130 Certified Doula, with an NPI. Every doula enrolls as an individual first and may assign fees to a group.

Ongoing: keep the CPD current to bill. PCB recertification is every three years with 15 hours of continuing education and a $75 fee. PROMISe revalidation is every five years. A Doula Services Recommendation Form signed by an enrolled physician or licensed practitioner must be in hand before services start.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: No fingerprint or clearance requirement stated. Enrollment includes disclosure questions and exclusion-list screening. Liability insurance: Not specified

Check the date on your training certificate before you read anything else. Rhode Island counts no education older than three years at the date you apply, so a DONA training from four years ago is worth nothing here even if your certification is current and in good standing.

Rhode Island Medicaid enrolls only doulas holding the Certified Perinatal Doula credential from the Rhode Island Certification Board. DONA is not that credential and there is no reciprocity, no challenge route and no credit for holding a national certification. What your DONA training does is fill the largest of RICB's five education buckets.

RICB requires 20 hours, allocated exactly, with no overflow between buckets: 12 hours of birth, antepartum or postpartum doula training or childbirth education, at least one of which must be a doula training; 2 hours of breastfeeding, or a valid lactation certification; 2 hours attending a childbirth class, or a valid childbirth education certification; 3 hours of cultural competency; and 1 hour of HIPAA or client confidentiality. A DONA birth doula training should satisfy the 12-hour bucket, which leaves 8 hours to find. RICB does not name DONA or any other organization in writing, so confirm yours will be accepted before you count on it.

RICB publishes no approved-provider list, runs no course of its own and requires no pre-approval, which is why outside training is the normal route. Certificates must carry your name, the title and dates of the training, the number of hours, and the name of the training organization, or they are rejected. Registration forms and sign-in sheets are not accepted, and the same training cannot be claimed twice.

The application is $50, notarized, and you must live or work in Rhode Island when you apply. There is no birth attendance requirement and RICB lists no exam for this credential. Allow 10 business days. Certification runs two calendar years from approval. Then you enroll through the RI Medicaid Healthcare Portal at riproviderportal.org, uploading proof of RICB certification.

Ongoing: $50 and 15 hours relevant to doula practice every two years. RICB says outright that recertification hours may come from any source with no approval needed. Ask RICB at info@ricertboard.org or 401-349-3822 whether those 15 hours must include 3 hours of ethics, because RICB's own documents disagree on that point.

One thing you may find online that is out of date: an older state plan payment page still describes a competency-based route of 24 contact hours plus a breastfeeding class, a childbirth class, two births, cultural competency, HIPAA, CPR and SafeServ. The 2022 CMS-approved amendment and the 2023 provider manual both replaced that with RICB certification. A grandfather route for doulas practicing before July 1, 2021 expired December 31, 2022.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Not specified. The Medicaid manual mentions only federally required disclosures at enrollment. Liability insurance: Not specified

South Carolina has no Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet. Two coverage bills, H 3108 and S 42, have sat in committee since early 2025 and will need refiling when the new General Assembly convenes in January 2027.

If H 3108 returns with the same language it matters to you: DONA International was on its named roster, alongside ICEA, CAPPA, ToLabor, Birthworks, Childbirth International, ICTC, and Commonsense Childbirth.

Good to remember: claims online that South Carolina launched a 24-month Medicaid doula pilot in September 2024 under H 3592 are false. That bill is a compounding pharmacy law.

DONA International is on South Dakota Medicaid's roster with no qualifier, in a list of eight organizations where three others carry restrictions: ICEA is limited to "Dual Certificate Only," MaternityWise to "Labor Doula and Full Doula," and Birthing Advocacy Doula Training to Full Spectrum Doula only. DONA carries none. There is no state-added course.

One limit matters if you want the full range of billing. The manual says a doula may only provide services within the scope of the certification held, so a birth certification alone covers prenatal and labor and delivery. Billing the postpartum code needs a postpartum certification. DONA is accepted for both, but they are two separate certifications.

Enrollment is with South Dakota Medicaid using a Type 1 NPI and taxonomy 374J00000X, submitting a copy of your active certificate. There is no separate registry.

Ongoing: no continuing education count is stated. Your certification has to stay current and in good standing and your enrollment record has to reflect it. A lapse can end your enrollment.

Worth knowing: South Dakota calls this roster "a temporary bridge" to a future oversight body and closed it to new organizations on December 31, 2024. DONA is on it, so this is not a problem for you, but the list can be replaced.

Background check: Fingerprint criminal background check plus an onsite visit, required of individual billing and servicing providers before enrollment is approved. The Provider Enrollment Team sends fingerprinting instructions. Who pays is not stated. Liability insurance: Not specified

No statewide TennCare doula benefit exists as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet yet. The only TennCare doula activity is a set of pilot programs run by the three managed care organizations (Wellpoint, BlueCare, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan). Those pilots contract with specific organizations rather than enrolling individual doulas, and they have been extended through December 31, 2027.

What is on the horizon: a March 2025 Department of Health advisory report recommended a standards-based model with no approved-course list, a 40 contact hour minimum, and reverification every three years with 10 hours of continuing education. A 2026 bill that would have created TennCare coverage and a state registry, naming DONA International as the benchmark credential, died in committee when the legislature adjourned in April 2026. A refiled bill in the 2027 session is possible.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

Read this first: Texas has no standalone doula benefit. What exists is doula enrollment as a case manager under Case Management for Children and Pregnant Women (CPW), which pays for case management visits, not labor support. The doula bills in the 2025 legislative session all died, and the next regular session opens in January 2027.

To enroll, Texas HHSC must first confirm that your certification is "in alignment with nationally recognized standards." No organization is named. There are two pathways. With five years of experience in the last seven, you need three births attended and three professional letters of recommendation. With less than five years, you need three births, three letters, and training that covers five core competencies: childbirth education, lactation support, nonmedical comfort measures with prenatal and labor support, chronic and acute perinatal health conditions, and cultural competency.

Three trainings are required before enrollment: the HHSC standardized case management training, HIPAA training with a certificate, and the core competencies training if you are on the less-than-five-years pathway. Access is by email only. Write AskCM@hhs.texas.gov, a DSHS regional liaison schedules a pre-planning session and reviews your qualifications, and you receive an HHSC approval letter to submit during Medicaid enrollment.

Ongoing: attend the trainings HHSC requires (no hour count is stated), revalidate your Medicaid enrollment every five years, and contract separately with each Medicaid managed care organization.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Screening against state and federal OIG exclusion lists at pre-planning. Fingerprint check only if enrollment assigns a high risk level, $10 fee paid by the applicant. Liability insurance: Not specified

DONA International is one of 17 approved training organizations on Utah's roster, named specifically as "Birth Doula Certification," so there is no state-added course. One thing to settle before you rely on a workshop certificate alone: the program page says "complete training through" an approved organization while the roster names "Birth Doula Certification," and Utah has not said which it means. Ask Utah Medicaid before you count on the workshop certificate.

Utah adds experience and CPR conditions instead of coursework. On the Doula Provider Attestation Form you attest to training from an approved organization, at least three births attended as a doula, not your own, in the past five years, current CPR kept for the life of your enrollment, and agreement to the Utah Doula Code of Conduct. An experience pathway exists for doulas without an approved credential.

Enrollment runs through the PRISM portal with the attestation form, and there is no separate registry.

Billing is capped. T1032 prenatal and postpartum 15-minute units are limited to 32 per rolling year, T1033 labor support per diem to 1 per rolling year, services must be ordered by a Medicaid-enrolled qualified health professional, and telehealth is not covered.

Background check: Not specified. Standard Medicaid provider screening applies. Liability insurance: Not specified Postpartum doula certification is not accepted.

DONA International is on Virginia's approved training entity roster with no partial flag, so DONA training meets the full 60-hour requirement. That is the first step, not the last. Virginia Medicaid enrolls only a Virginia State-Certified Doula, which means a separate application to the Virginia Certification Board: a $100 fee, an education form documenting 60 hours across the eight knowledge areas from an approved entity within the last three years, a notarized acknowledgements page, and a signed code of ethics. Apply at vacertboard.org/doula. You must live or work in Virginia at least 51 percent of the time.

Then DMAS enrollment through the provider enrollment portal with an NPI, fingerprinting and a background check, and proof of liability insurance at $1 million per claim and $3 million per year.

Ongoing: 15 hours of continuing education every two years from an approved training entity, and a $75 recertification fee.

Two things to confirm with the Certification Board before you apply: whether a DONA certificate alone documents the 60 hours by knowledge area, and whether DONA training older than three years still counts.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: Fingerprinting and background check at Medicaid enrollment. Payer not stated. Liability insurance: $1M per claim / $3M per year, proof uploaded at Medicaid enrollment

Washington accepts any birth doula training that covers the state's six core topics, and DONA's workshop meets that on its face. Three layers sit on top. First, training in culturally congruent ancestral practices under the state rule, with no hour minimum, documented by self-attestation or a certificate. Second, the Department of Health state birth doula certification itself, applied for online or on paper, with no exam. If your DONA workshop trainer is on the DOH approved-program roster (currently Kim James and Sharon Muza, both in Seattle), the program sends proof to DOH directly. For any other DONA workshop you submit the program name, address, and completion date yourself. The $190 application and renewal fees are waived through June 30, 2027. Third, Health Care Authority ProviderOne enrollment with an NPI and the Core Provider Agreement, which requires professional liability coverage with no stated minimum.

An ancestral pathway exists for doulas with no formal training, and out-of-state endorsement is available.

DOH runs a criminal background check on every applicant. A fingerprint check may be required if you have lived in another state or have a Washington record, at your expense.

Ongoing: certification renews every two years on your birthday, with 10 continuing education hours per cycle, at least 5 directly on birth doula practice, plus 2 hours of health equity education every four years.

State registry or provider enrollment required. Background check: DOH criminal background check on every applicant. Fingerprint WSP and FBI check may be required, at the applicant's expense. Liability insurance: Required at HCA enrollment under the Core Provider Agreement. No dollar minimum stated.

West Virginia has no Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet. Doula Medicaid bills have failed four sessions running, most recently a 2025 bill that passed the Senate and died in the House and a 2026 bill that never left committee. None of them named accepted certifications, so even passage would not answer the credential question on its own. A 2027 refile is likely.

Good to know: the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership Doula Project has paid for DONA training scholarships and runs a doula directory, but it is a workforce program, not a Medicaid benefit, and it does not let doulas enroll or bill.

Background check: Not specified Liability insurance: Not specified

Wisconsin has no Medicaid doula benefit as of September 2026, so there is no credential requirement to meet. Doula coverage was pulled from the 2025 state budget, and the 2026 bills to add it failed to pass when the session ended in March 2026.

The only place Wisconsin Medicaid names doulas is the Prenatal Care Coordination (PNCC) benefit. Since June 2026 a doula can serve as a PNCC agency's qualified professional, but only with at least four years of care coordination experience plus certification by a department-approved doula certification program or equivalent experience. No list of approved programs is published. Doulas cannot enroll with ForwardHealth on their own. Only a PNCC agency enrolls, and doulas work as its staff or contractors. ForwardHealth has said in writing that the PNCC benefit does not pay for everything a doula does, only the pieces that fall within care coordination.

Good to know: if you work under a PNCC agency, it runs criminal history and caregiver background checks at hire and every three years.

Background check: Only for PNCC agency staff: criminal history and caregiver background checks at hire and every three years. Payer not stated. Liability insurance: Not specified