Kansas does not use one catch-all word for senior care settings. State law defines several classes of "adult care home": nursing facility, nursing facility for mental health, assisted living facility, residential healthcare facility, home plus, boarding care home and adult day care. Each has its own license from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS). If your website calls a residential healthcare facility "assisted living" or a home plus "a nursing home," a family comparing you against the state directory will notice. Use the exact category on your license.
Home health works differently. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) licenses home health agencies, not KDADS, and it has two license tracks: Skilled Services and Non-Medical Supportive Care Services. A family looking for a nurse visit and a family looking for help with bathing and meals are looking for different licenses, so your service pages should say plainly which one you hold.
Money questions come up early. KanCare is the state's Medicaid program, run through managed care plans, and the Frail Elderly (FE) waiver pays for some services at home and in some licensed settings for people 65 and older. Kansas is also an older state than many people assume: about 18.9% of Kansans were 65 or older in 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (Vintage 2025 estimates). Many of the people reading your site are adult children doing the research for a parent, often from out of town.
Who licenses and inspects care in Kansas
- Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), Survey, Certification and Credentialing Commission
Licenses and inspects adult care homes as defined in K.S.A. 39-923: nursing facilities, nursing facilities for mental health, assisted living facilities, residential healthcare facilities, home plus, boarding care homes and adult day care. Runs federal certification surveys for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes. Also credentials adult care home administrators and certified nurse aides and keeps the nurse aide registry. Official site - Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Home Health Agency licensure
Licenses home health agencies under the Skilled Services license (skilled nursing, HCBS waiver services and non-medical supportive care) or the Non-Medical Supportive Care Services license (chore, companionship and help with daily activities, no nursing). Official site - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Care Compare
Federal ratings and inspection information for Medicare-certified nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices in Kansas. Official site
Programs that help families pay
- KanCare (Kansas Medicaid)
The state's Medicaid program. Members are enrolled with a managed care plan. For the contract period January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027 the plans are Sunflower Health Plan, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and Healthy Blue. KanCare covers nursing facility care for people who qualify and funds the HCBS waivers. Learn more - HCBS Frail Elderly (FE) waiver
An alternative to nursing home care for Kansans 65 and older who meet the Medicaid nursing facility threshold score and are financially eligible for Medicaid. Services include personal care, adult day care, medication reminders, personal emergency response, home telehealth and others. In assisted living, residential healthcare, home plus or boarding care, FE pays for direct services in the plan of care, but the resident pays room and raw food costs. People start by calling the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1-855-200-2372. Learn more - KanCare Ombudsman
A separate office from the long-term care ombudsman. It helps KanCare applicants and members with applications, renewals, letters, grievances, appeals and questions about HCBS. It became an independent agency under the Office of Public Advocates on July 1, 2022. Learn more
Long-term care ombudsman
Kansas Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Advocates for residents of nursing homes, assisted living, board and care, home plus, adult day care and residential health care facilities at no charge; the state office is reachable at 785-296-3017 or toll-free 1-877-662-8362, with regional ombudsmen across the state.
What a Kansas care provider website should show
- Name your exact Kansas license category (for example nursing facility, assisted living facility, residential healthcare facility, home plus or adult day care), because those are the categories the KDADS Adult Care Home Directory and Inspection Report uses.
- Link to the KDADS Adult Care Home Directory and Inspection Report so families can check your license and inspection history themselves.
- If you are Medicare-certified, link to your Care Compare profile.
- Home health agencies: say whether you hold a KDHE Skilled Services license or a Non-Medical Supportive Care Services license, and keep your service list inside what that license allows.
- Publish the Kansas Long-Term Care Ombudsman contact (1-877-662-8362) on a resident rights or family resources page.
- Give the KDADS Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation hotline (800-842-0078) for concerns in adult care homes and home health agencies, and the Kansas Department for Children and Families line (800-922-5330) for concerns in the community.
- If you accept KanCare or FE waiver clients, say which KanCare plans you work with and point families to the ADRC at 1-855-200-2372 to start an FE application.
- Assisted living, residential healthcare and home plus providers that accept FE: explain that the waiver covers services but not room and board, so families are not surprised by the bill.
The Kansas license categories, in plain words
K.S.A. 39-923 defines each class. A nursing facility runs 24 hours a day and cares for six or more people who need skilled nursing care. An assisted living facility cares for six or more people in apartments, with personal care or supervised nursing care available around the clock. A residential healthcare facility is similar, but with individual living units instead of apartments. A home plus cares for no more than 12 people in a residence. Adult day care is also an adult care home class under the same law.
These differences matter on a website. A residential healthcare facility that writes "apartments" on its floor plan page, or a home plus that implies a large campus, is describing something the license does not match. Write to the category you hold, and have your administrator check the wording against the statute and K.A.R. regulations. This is a summary of the law, not legal advice, so confirm details with your compliance officer or counsel.
Inspections are public, and families look
KDADS field staff run annual, unscheduled inspections of adult care homes on a rotation and unannounced inspections after complaints to the abuse, neglect and exploitation hotline. The results sit in the KDADS Adult Care Home Directory and Inspection Report, sorted by license type. Medicare-certified nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices also appear on Care Compare.
You cannot hide a survey, so do not try. A short page that links to your directory listing, explains what an inspection is, and tells families how you responded to any findings tends to build more trust than silence. Keep that page accurate and dated.
Home health in Kansas is licensed by KDHE
Under K.S.A. 65-5101 et seq., a home health agency provides home health services, supportive care services, or attendant care services under HCBS waivers in the patient's home. KDHE describes its Skilled Services license as covering all home health services allowed in Kansas, including HCBS waiver services. The Non-Medical Supportive Care Services license covers chore, companionship and help with daily activities, and KDHE notes those services are mainly private pay, private duty and some private insurance.
State law also sets who counts as a home health aide: a certified nurse aide in good standing on the KDADS registry who has completed a 20-hour approved home health aide course. If your careers page recruits aides, say what credential the job needs.
Hospice and PACE
K.S.A. 39-923 excludes Medicare-certified hospice programs that serve only hospice patients, and CMS-approved PACE centers that serve only PACE participants, from the adult care home definitions. Hospices should lean on their Medicare certification and Care Compare listing when they describe their credentials, and confirm any state requirements with counsel.
Questions
Who licenses assisted living in Kansas?
KDADS licenses assisted living facilities, along with nursing facilities, residential healthcare facilities, home plus, boarding care homes and adult day care, as classes of adult care home under K.S.A. 39-923.
Does KDADS or KDHE license home health agencies?
KDHE. It offers a Skilled Services license and a Non-Medical Supportive Care Services license. KDADS handles the abuse, neglect and exploitation hotline that also covers home health agencies, and keeps the nurse aide registry.
Will the Frail Elderly waiver pay for assisted living?
In part. KDADS says FE pays for the direct services in the plan of care in assisted living, residential healthcare, home plus or boarding care, but the resident pays room and raw food costs.
Where can families check a Kansas facility's inspection results?
The KDADS Adult Care Home Directory and Inspection Report covers every adult care home class. Medicare-certified nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices also appear on Medicare Care Compare.
What is the difference between the long-term care ombudsman and the KanCare Ombudsman?
The long-term care ombudsman advocates for residents of adult care homes. The KanCare Ombudsman helps people with Medicaid applications, renewals, appeals and HCBS questions.
Sources
- KDADS: Survey Certification and Credentialing
- KDADS: Survey, Certification & Credentialing Commission, What We Do
- KDADS: Adult Care Home Directory
- Kansas Revisor of Statutes: K.S.A. 39-923, definitions
- Kansas Revisor of Statutes: K.S.A. 65-5101, home health definitions
- KDHE: Skilled Services home health licensure
- KDHE: Non-Medical Supportive Care Services licensure
- Kansas Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman: About Our Program
- KDADS: Frail Elderly (FE) waiver
- KDADS: Hotlines
- KDHE: KanCare managed care organization contracts (May 14, 2024)
- KanCare: KanCare Ombudsman
- KanCare home page
- Medicare: Care Compare
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Kansas
General information, not legal advice. Rules change: confirm details with the agency or your counsel.
