How to start a home health agency in Kentucky

Kentucky requires a License to Operate a Home Health Agency from Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General, Division of Health Care to operate a home health agency. Fee: $500.

License required

Yes

License

License to Operate a Home Health Agency

Issuing agency

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General, Division of Health Care

Fee

$500

Fee details

$500 initial licensure fee for a home health agency.

Renewal

Every year · $500 annual licensure fee; late renewal penalty is the greater of 20% of the renewal fee or $25.

Regulation

KRS Chapter 216B; 902 KAR 20:081 (home health operations and services); 902 KAR 20:008 (license procedures and fee schedule)

1. File Form OIG 004, Application for License to Operate a Home Health Agency, Non-residential Hospice, or Private Duty Nursing Agency
2. Pay the licensure fee
3. Receive licensure and renew annually

Staffing

• Agency must designate a physician, registered nurse or physician assistant to supervise its home health services
• An RN directly supervises home health aides, with supervisory home visits at least every 60 days when the patient receives skilled care
• Pre-employment abuse registry and criminal background checks; pre-employment and periodic medical exams; annual TB screening

Training

• Aides caring for patients with dementia symptoms need 6 hours of initial dementia training before serving them and 3 hours annually (KRS 216.9375)

Program

Kentucky Medicaid (Department for Medicaid Services)

Enrollment portal

Kentucky Medicaid Partner Portal Application (MPPA)

Fiscal agent

Gainwell Technologies (fiscal agent for KY Medicaid claim processing, KYHealth-Net)

Application fee

Kentucky's MAP-811 checklist tells providers subject to the fee to attach a check payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer; DMS's provider-type summaries say which types owe it. Federal rule (42 CFR 455.460): the state must collect the CMS application fee from institutional providers that are newly enrolling or re-enrolling; individual physicians and non-physician practitioners are exempt, as are providers already enrolled in (or that already paid the fee to) Medicare or another state's Medicaid/CHIP. CMS set the fee at $750 for calendar year 2026.

Fingerprinting

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.434, 455.450(c)): providers the state places in the 'high' categorical risk level, and anyone owning 5% or more of such a provider, must submit fingerprints for a criminal background check.

Site visit

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.432, 455.450(b)-(c)): the state must do site visits before and after enrollment for providers in the 'moderate' or 'high' risk levels, and any enrolled provider must allow unannounced on-site inspections.

Revalidation

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.414): every enrolled provider must be revalidated at least once every 5 years.

Full Kentucky Medicaid enrollment guide →

CON program

Yes

Program

Certificate of Need

Agency

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General

Services covered

• hospitals
• ambulatory surgical centers
• home health agencies
• hospice (including residential hospice by a non-hospice entity)
• nursing facilities, personal care homes, ICF and ICF/IID
• chemical dependency treatment programs
• psychiatric residential treatment facilities (Level I and II)
• PET, MRI, megavoltage radiation and cardiac catheterization
• open heart surgery and organ transplant programs
• special care neonatal beds
• prescribed pediatric extended care facilities
• ground ambulance providers (unless exempt)
• nonsubstantive review: adult day health, private duty nursing agencies, PACE, hospital-owned off-campus freestanding EDs, industrial ambulance, certain acute bed transfers

Kentucky certificate of need details →

Model

hybrid

State vendor

Therap (state-sponsored system); DMS also names Netsmart as its EVV contractor

Services in scope

• personal care
• home health
• 1915(c) waiver in-home services

Alternate EVV allowed

Yes

Program

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dms/dca/Pages/evv.aspx

Kentucky EVV requirements →

State minimum wage

$7.25 an hour

Effective

2009-07-24

Scheduled increases

No scheduled change found in the official sources reviewed.

HCBS 80/20 rule

Federal baseline: 42 CFR 441.302(k) requires the state to show that each provider spends at least 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide and personal care services under 1915(c) waivers on direct care worker pay and benefits. Compliance starts 2030-07-09 (for managed care, the first rating period starting on or after that date); annual payment-adequacy reporting under 441.311(e) starts 2028-07-09. A state may set a lower share for state-defined small providers and exempt providers facing hardship, each only through a public notice-and-comment process. The eCFR text has not changed since 2024-07-09. No state-published 80/20 implementation step (small-provider criteria, hardship exemption or reporting guidance) was found for this state in the official sources reviewed.

Home health agencies — active organization NPIs (NPPES)

445 (as of Sep 13, 2026)

Medicare-certified home health agencies (CMS Care Compare)

88 (as of May 27, 2026)

Total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment (latest reported month)

1,264,449 (as of Jun 1, 2026)