What "Pending Renewal" Means on Kentucky's Assisted Living Roster

Why are so many Louisville licenses marked "Pending Renewal"?

Kentucky's Office of Inspector General (OIG) posts its facility directories at the start of every month as PDF and Excel files. Each assisted living row carries a license expiration date. When a renewal application is in the pipeline but the new license has not been issued, the directory prints Pending Renewal in that column instead of a date.

In the October 2026 file, 35 of the 76 assisted living licenses in Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt, Shelby, Spencer, Henry and Trimble counties carry that status. The split by license type is roughly even: 15 ALC-BH licenses, 12 ALC-DC licenses and 8 social-model ALC licenses. Kentucky's non-medical home care agencies show the same pattern; 78 of the 114 personal services agencies based in the region are listed as pending renewal.

Does "Pending Renewal" mean a community is operating without a license?

Not by itself. Kentucky's assisted living licenses renew every year, with a fee that scales with the number of units (from $500 plus $40 per unit for small communities to $2,000 plus $40 per unit for those with 100 or more units, under 902 KAR 20:480). A community that files its renewal on time but has not yet received the new certificate shows up as pending.

What the status cannot tell you is how long the renewal has been pending or whether OIG has raised questions. A license that sits in pending status for many months is worth a direct question, especially if it coincides with a recent complaint investigation or ownership change. Kentucky law bars a license from being transferred with a building (KRS 194A.710(3)), so a sale requires a fresh application by the new owner.

How should families check a pending license?

Ask the community three things: when it filed its renewal, whether OIG has conducted a licensure review since the last renewal, and whether it will share the findings from its most recent review. KRS 194A.707(10) requires the cabinet to make the findings of the most recent licensure review available to the public, so a community has no reason to withhold them.

If the community cannot answer, call OIG's Division of Health Care at 502-564-7963 and ask about the license number shown on the roster. Our assisted living roster shows each license number next to its status, and you can filter the list by county or license type to see which nearby communities show a current date.

What else on the roster deserves a second look?

Three details matter more than the pending flag. First, the license type: a community promising to give insulin or eye drops must hold an ALC-BH or ALC-DC license, because a social-model ALC is limited to assisting with self-administered medication. Second, the address: the license is tied to a location, and some campuses hold two licenses at one street address, one for assisted living apartments and one for a secured dementia unit. Third, the unit count, which the fee schedule makes reliable.

An expiration date in the past is a different matter from "Pending Renewal." If you ever see one, ask the community and OIG directly before going further.

Why does Kentucky's roster matter so much for assisted living?

Because it is close to the only public record there is. Neither CMS nor Kentucky rates assisted living, and OIG's online inspection database covers nursing homes and personal care homes, not assisted living. The roster tells you a community exists as a licensed entity, what it is licensed to do and how big it is. Everything else, including staffing, pricing and the last review's findings, has to come from questions you ask.

That is why we rebuild our directory from OIG's file every month rather than relying on marketing listings, which rarely mention license type at all.

How does this compare with nursing homes?

Nursing homes are a different world. Most Louisville-area nursing facilities are certified by CMS, which publishes star ratings, inspection dates, deficiency counts, staffing hours and fines. Our nursing home pages reproduce those CMS figures for each certified facility. For assisted living, families have to do more of the work themselves, starting with the license status.

What does the rest of a roster row tell you?

Each row in OIG's assisted living file has twelve columns: license type, license number, community name, street address, city, ZIP, county, the administrator's first and last name, telephone, license expiration and units. The administrator column is worth noting. If the person who runs the community has changed since the last roster, and you hear about it from the roster before the sales office mentions it, that is a conversation to have.

The units column is the most reliable size measure available anywhere, because the license fee depends on it. In the seven Louisville-area counties, licensed units per license range from about ten to well over one hundred.

Is it safe to move into a community whose license says Pending Renewal?

Usually the status reflects paperwork in process. Ask when the renewal was filed and request the latest OIG licensure findings before signing; if answers are vague, contact OIG at 502-564-7963.

How often does Kentucky renew assisted living licenses?

Every year. The fee depends on the number of units, from $500 plus $40 per unit for communities under 25 units to $2,000 plus $40 per unit for 100 or more.

Where can I see a Kentucky assisted living community's license?

On OIG's monthly Assisted Living Community Directory at chfs.ky.gov, or on our sortable assisted living roster built from that file.

Does Pending Renewal apply to home care agencies too?

Yes. 78 of the 114 personal services agencies based in the seven counties show Pending Renewal on OIG's October 2026 directory.