CHFS Agencies and Departments

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services consists of several agencies spanning from administrative to community resources.

The agencies on the left of the screen will direct you to specific areas within the Cabinet as they are organizationally structured or browse the links below.

• Office of the Secretary 
• Certificate of Need, Office of Health Policy - Prevents the proliferation of health care facilities, health services and major medical equipment which increases the cost of quality health care within the Commonwealth.
• Contract Oversight - The Office of Contract Oversight, which consists of the divisions of Contracting Services and Procurement Services, is a service-oriented office created to centralize and oversee the Cabinet's contracting and procurement processes.
• Fiscal Services - Consists of three divisions: Financial Reporting, Facilities Management, and General Accounting.
• Health Policy - The Office of Health Policy was created to ensure that health planning and policy research and development occurs in a coordinated, timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner. 
• Human Resource Management - Serves the employees of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services with personnel issues including: administering payroll and personnel, EEO investigations, disciplinary procedures, ADA compliance, oversight of the Limited English Proficiency program, exit interviews, satisfaction surveys, and hiring new employees.
• Information Technology - Serves Cabinet agencies to promote communication, quality and speed of information flow.
• Inspector General - Performs audits and investigations related to abuse of CHFS related programs.
• Legal Services - Provides legal advice and assistance to all units of the Cabinet for Health Services.
• Legislative and Public Affairs
• Ombudsman - Serves as an information and communication resource, an advisor and dispute resolution office.
• Public Affairs - Press/News releases, Cabinet events, etc.

• Aging and Independent Living - Provides services to help older Kentuckians and their families, through a statewide network of local, private and public agencies.
• Community Based Services - Adoption, Child Abuse, Child Care, Child Support, Food Stamps, Foster Care, etc.
• Department for Disability Determination Services - Makes disability determinations on behalf of the Commissioner of Social Security for residents of Kentucky.
• Department for Public Health - Develop and operate all public health programs and activities for the citizens of Kentucky including health service programs for the prevention, detection, care and treatment of physical disabilities, illness and disease.  DPH Topics or Programs can be found fast by clicking Find it Fast.
• Human Support Services - Consists of four divisions and one commission, all of which provide vital programs and services to Kentucky families.  Divisions include Family Resource and Youth Services Centers, Aging Services, Women’s Mental and Physical Health, and Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Services.  This department also oversees the Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service.
• Medicaid Services - Assigned to purchase quality healthcare and related services that produce positive outcomes for persons eligible for programs administered by the Department.
• Mental Health and Mental Retardation - Promote the well-being of all Kentuckians by assuring the provision of quality information, services and support for individuals and their families.

• Administrative Hearings - Health Services Branch and the Family Support Branch.  Holds hearings as a result of appeals of administrative actions regarding the Department for Medicaid Services, Department for Public Health, Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Office of Inspector General, and Office of Administrative Services, or as requested by the Secretary of the Cabinet. Also holds hearings and makes decisions regarding Certificate of Need applications.
• Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Services - Heighten the awareness of Kentuckians to the plight of children and adults harmed by domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault; and to create innovative initiatives to enhance the criminal justice and human service systems' response to the needs of victims of these crimes.
• Child Care - Administers the Child Care Assistance Program to help Kentucky’s low income families find and afford quality child care.  The Division also provides information regarding professional development opportunities for day care staff and other child care professionals.
• Child Support - The state IV-D agency responsible for administering the child support program, which includes providing location services, establishing paternity and child support, enforcing support orders, establishing and enforcing medical support, and collecting and distributing  support payments.
• Family Resource and Youth Service Center - Provides administrative support, technical assistance and training to local school-based centers which assist academically at-risk students and their families.
• Family Support - The Division of Family Support is responsible for administering several programs including EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards/Food Stamps, K-TAP (Kentucky Temporary Assistance), Simplified Assistance for the Elderly (SAFE) and Medicaid programs. The division also has sections that deal with welfare administration claims, Adult Guardianship Cases and the Weatherization Assistance Program.
• Protection and Permanency -  The Division of Protection and Permanency provides consultative services and technical assistance to the service regions regarding issues of child and adult protection, guardianship and permanency for children.
• Women's Physical and Mental Health -  The state's focal point for data and information on women's health issues.  Site maintains a women's health resource center and routinely conducts outreach and education on numerous women's health topics.

• Blue Ribbon Panel on Adoption - The panel was created by administrative order on July 7, 2006, to review the processes and practices that lead to the termination of parental rights and adoption of children in Kentucky’s child welfare system.
• Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs - To plan, develop, provide and evaluate the public statewide system of care for children with special health care needs.  Serves children with physical disabilities from birth to age 21 through on-site and off-site clinics, therapies and related services.
• Institutional Review Board - The CHFS Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (CHFS-IRB) provides protection for clients or employees of CHFS involved in research as subjects.  Any request to conduct research that involves clients or employees of CHFS as subjects, or information or data about CHFS clients or employees for research purposes must be submitted to the CHFS-IRB for review and approval.
• Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service - Supports volunteerism and service through grants, awards and special initiatives.  AmeriCorps Program, Volunteer Insurance Program, Governor's Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
• Kentucky Council on Developmental Disabilities - to create change through visionary leadership and advocacy so that people have choices and control over their own lives.
• Kentucky e-Health Network Board - Created to help develop a secure statewide electronic network through which patients, physicians and other health care providers can access and transfer medical information.