As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 26, 2001

                                                      Registration No. 333-64897
================================================================================

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549


                            POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT

                                       TO

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                        -------------------------------

                            KINDRED HEALTHCARE, INC.
             (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)


           Delaware                                    61-1323993
(State or Other Jurisdiction of          (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
Incorporation or Organization)


                            680 South Fourth Street
                           Louisville, KY 40202-2412


             (Address of Registrant's Principal Executive Offices)

                        -------------------------------

                         Vencor Retirement Savings Plan
                            (Full Title of the Plan)

                        -------------------------------

                            M. Suzanne Riedman, Esq.
                   Senior Vice President and General Counsel
                            Kindred Healthcare, Inc.
                            680 South Fourth Street
                           Louisville, KY 40202-2412
                                 (502) 596-7300

(Name, Address, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

                        -------------------------------

                     with copies of all correspondence to:

                             Arthur H. Kohn, Esq.
                      Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton
                               One Liberty Plaza
                              New York, NY  10006
                                (212) 225-2466


                            DEREGISTRATION OF SHARES

          Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (formerly Vencor, Inc. and formerly Vencor
Healthcare, Inc.), a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), has previously filed
two Registration Statements on Form S-8, Registration No. 333-51359, filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on April 29, 1998 (the
"April 1998 Registration Statement"), and Registration No. 333-64897, filed with
the Commission on September 30, 1998 (the "September 1998 Registration
Statement"), to register, in the aggregate, 6,500,000 shares of the Company's
former common stock, par value $0.25 per share (the "Shares"), for issuance
pursuant to the Company's Retirement Savings Plan (the "Plan").  As of the date
this Post-Effective Amendment is filed, 2,229,618 Shares have been issued under
the Plan: all Shares registered on the April 1998 Registration Statement
(1,500,000 Shares) have been issued, and 729,618 Shares registered on the
September 1998 Registration Statement have been issued.

          On September 13, 1999, the Company and substantially all of its
subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for protection under Chapter 11 of Title
11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the
District of Delaware (the "Bankruptcy Court").  On March 1, 2001, the Bankruptcy
Court approved the Company's fourth amended plan of reorganization filed with
the Bankruptcy Court on December 14, 2000, as modified at the confirmation
hearing (the "Amended Plan"). The order confirming the Amended Plan was signed
on March 16, 2001 and entered on the docket of the Bankruptcy Court on March 19,
2001.  The Amended Plan became effective on April 20, 2001.  In connection with
its emergence, the Company also changed its name to Kindred Healthcare, Inc.

          In connection with the bankruptcy, all Shares were cancelled under the
terms of the Amended Plan.  In addition, the Company ceased offering the Shares
as an investment alternative under the Plan during 1999.  Pursuant to the
Company's undertaking in the September 1998 Registration Statement, this Post-
Effective Amendment is being filed by the Company to deregister 4,270,382
Shares, which constitute all of the securities registered pursuant to the
September 1998 Registration Statement but remaining unissued under the Plan as
of the date this Post-Effective Amendment is filed.

          Two other retirement plans maintained by the Company - the TheraTx
Retirement Savings Plan (the "TheraTx Plan") and the THC Retirement Savings Plan
(the "THC Plan") were merged into the Plan on December 31, 1999.  All remaining
unissued Shares under the TheraTx Plan and the THC Plan are being deregistered
separately on post-effective amendments to Registration Nos. 333-61387 and 333-
63185, respectively.


                                   SIGNATURES

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 (the
"Securities Act"), the Company certifies that it has reasonable grounds to
believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Post-Effective
Amendment to the September 1998 Registration Statement on Form S-8 and has duly
caused this Post-Effective Amendment to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, on
the 26th day of June, 2001.

                                          KINDRED HEALTHCARE, INC.



                                              /s/ Richard A. Lechleiter
                                              ------------------------------
                                          By: Richard A. Lechleiter
                                              Vice President, Finance, Corporate
                                              Controller and Treasurer

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Post-
Effective Amendment has been signed by each of the following persons in the
capacities indicated, on the 26th day of June, 2001.



                                  

             Signature                                              Title
             ---------                                              -----

        /s/ Edward L. Kuntz
-----------------------------------
          Edward L. Kuntz               Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President
                                                        (Principal Executive Officer)

/s/ James Bolin
-----------------------------------
James Bolin                                                       Director

/s/ Garry N. Garrison
-----------------------------------
Garry N. Garrison                                                 Director

/s/ Isaac Kaufman
-----------------------------------
Isaac Kaufman                                                     Director

/s/ John H. Klein
-----------------------------------
John H. Klein                                                     Director

/s/ David Tepper
-----------------------------------
David Tepper                                                      Director

/s/ Richard A. Schweinhart
-----------------------------------
Richard A. Schweinhart                        Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
                                                        (Principal Financial Officer)

/s/ Richard A. Lechleiter
-----------------------------------
Richard A. Lechleiter                    Vice President, Finance, Corporate Controller and Treasurer
                                                       (Principal Accounting Officer)