What is the difference between home care and home health in Kentucky?
Non-medical home care, help with bathing, dressing, meals, housekeeping and companionship, comes from an OIG-licensed personal services agency and is usually private pay; home health is skilled, intermittent nursing and therapy ordered by a physician, delivered by a licensed home health agency and often covered by Medicare.
Medicare home health does not provide a caregiver who stays for hours. Families often use both: home health visits after a hospital stay, and private aides for the daily routine.
What does in-home care cost in Kentucky?
CareScout's 2025 Kentucky median for a non-medical caregiver is $74,360 a year at 44 hours a week, about $32.50 an hour or $6,197 a month at that schedule.
Ask agencies about minimum visit lengths, weekend and holiday rates, and whether caregivers are employees or contractors.
Can Kentucky Medicaid pay for care at home?
Yes, for eligible adults who meet nursing-facility level of care: Kentucky's HCB waiver covers attendant care, respite, adult day health, home-delivered meals and minor home adaptations, and participants may self-direct through PDS, though there is a waiting list.
PACE is a second Medicaid route in Jefferson and Bullitt counties.
How many home care agencies are licensed around Louisville?
OIG lists 114 personal services agencies (non-medical home care) and 8 home health agency licenses based in the seven Louisville-area counties as of its October 2026 directories.
See the home care agency roster and the home health roster.
What should Louisville families ask a home care agency first?
Ask for its OIG license number, minimum shift length, hourly and weekend rates, how caregivers are screened and supervised, and how a missed shift is covered.
For home health, ask how soon the first nursing visit can happen after discharge and how therapy visits are scheduled. For either kind of agency, ask for references from families in your part of the county.
Where is in-home care licensed across the Louisville region?
Here is how OIG's October 2026 roster distributes in-home care licenses across the seven KIPDA counties; capacity is the licensed units or beds OIG lists (agencies have no capacity figure).
| County | Licenses | Licensed capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County | 112 | 0 |
| Oldham County | 5 | 0 |
| Bullitt County | 2 | 0 |
| Shelby County | 2 | 0 |
| Spencer County | 1 | 0 |
| Henry County | 0 | 0 |
| Trimble County | 0 | 0 |
At a glance
| In-Home Care in Kentucky is | In-Home Care in Kentucky is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Licenses | Personal services or home health agency | Unlicensed when hired through an agency |
| Medicare | Pays for skilled home health only | Pays for hourly aides |
| Medicaid | HCB waiver and PACE for eligible adults | Immediate; HCB has a waiting list |