Direct support training in Wisconsin is overseen by the Department of Health Services (DHS) through its Division of Medicaid Services and Division of Quality Assurance, but requirements attach to the care setting rather than to a statewide DSP role. Community-based residential facilities (CBRFs) follow DHS 83, licensed 3-4 bed adult family homes follow DHS 88, 1-2 bed adult family homes are county-certified, and Family Care/Partnership managed care organizations and the IRIS self-directed program layer their own scope-of-service training expectations on contracted providers.

The CBRF rules carry the sharpest requirements. Under DHS 83.20, orientation and most job training are provider-delivered — but four subject areas must be completed through department-approved courses taught by department-approved trainers: standard precautions, fire safety, first aid and choking, and medication administration. Completions of these courses are recorded in a state training registry, which is the only verification the Division of Quality Assurance accepts at survey.

Adult family homes run on hour counts instead. Licensed 3-4 bed AFHs require 15 hours of training before or within six months of starting, plus 15 hours annually (DHS 88.04(5)(a)). County-certified 1-2 bed homes require 15 hours within 90 days and 15 hours per year — from open sources, with the state's WisCaregiver program accepted. MCO provider agreements add individualized requirements on top of the licensing floor.

The gatekeeper for the CBRF core is the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, DHS's designee: UWGB develops the curricula, approves training programs and instructors (for a fee), and operates the registry. Outside vendors can seek UWGB approval — the process takes an application with curriculum review and per-instructor approval, some online formats are accepted, and medication administration retains an in-person component — but until a course and its instructors are approved, its completions do not enter the registry and do not count for the four regulated subjects.

So Wisconsin's delivery model is genuinely split: the CBRF core four are state-curriculum, approved-trainer, registry-verified; everything else — CBRF orientation and remaining topics, all AFH hours, and MCO scope-of-service training — is open to provider-chosen sources, though expectations fragment across counties and MCOs. In the IRIS self-directed program, worker training expectations are set at the participant plan level rather than by a uniform curriculum.

Training and eTracking Solutions supports Wisconsin providers in the open portions of this system: online courses that cover adult family home initial and annual hour requirements, CBRF orientation and non-gated topics, and MCO scope-of-service training — plus compliance tracking that holds AFH hour tallies, registry-verified CBRF core completions, and MCO-specific requirements in one record per employee. For the four regulated CBRF subjects, we are candid: those must run through department-approved courses and trainers under the UWGB process, and our platform tracks those registry completions rather than replacing them.