Assisted Living Facilities in California

Official name: Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE)

Common name: Assisted living facilities

What Assisted Living Facilities in California Offer

• Individual living units (single rooms to multiroom apartments with kitchen; some facilities have shared living units)
• All meals, usually in a common dining area
• Medication management
• 24-hour on-call assistance
• Personal care services, including assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, and bathing
• Social and exercise activities
• Special care programs (such as memory classes and special monitoring) for residents requiring memory care

Note: Some facilities also offer respite care and other special services.

Cost for Assisted Living in California

Median monthly fees: $3,500 (higher for residents requiring memory care)

State of California Requirements for Assisted Living Facilities

• Outside home healthcare or personal care assistants -- usually hired by families or residents -- are permitted to provide services that aren't part of the facility's duties
• An initial and at-least yearly assessment of each resident's functional capacity, to determine level of care needed
• Special staff training and facility safety features if Alzheimer's/dementia residents are present
• 24-hour awake on-duty staff are required if there are 16 or more residents or Alzheimer's/dementia residents

State of California Oversight of Assisted Living Facilities

• The California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division (916-651-3456) inspects and licenses facilities, registers, and may investigate resident complaints.

How to Resolve Problems or Offer Feedback

• Call a long-term care ombudsman at 800-231-4024 (the state's 24-hour office); the phone number of the local ombudsman is posted in each facility; no charge for their services.
• Call the California Senior Care Office for the area where the facility is located (no charge for its services).
• Rate and review assisted living facilities.

How to Pay for Assisted Living

• Most assisted living is paid for privately, by the resident and/or his or her family.
• For low-income residents in a few counties, the California Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) program pays some of the cost of services provided by the facility. The amount depends on the level of services. Monthly charges for room and board are capped at just below the state's basic Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment. Resident must have income and assets low enough to qualify for the state's Medicaid program. The program currently operates only in Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, and Sonoma Counties. Not all assisted living facilities in these counties participate; participating facilities limit the number of ALW residents.
• Low-income veterans or surviving spouses of veterans may be eligible for Aid and Attendance or other payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help pay for assisted living.
• Some assisted living facilities offer sliding scale fees, making a higher level of care available to families that might not otherwise be able to afford it. Be sure to ask -- or ask a geriatric care manager in the area if he or she knows which facilities offer sliding scale fees.

Help Finding and Choosing Assisted Living

• Use the form at the top of this page to start your search for assisted living in California.
• Call (866) 824-8174 to speak to a Family Advisor to get (free) help with your search.
• Hire a geriatric care manager (most have extensive local knowledge about assisted living facilities in a particular geographic area, including space availability, resident needs assessments, sliding scale fees, and resident satisfaction). To find a geriatric care manager, see Caring.com's Geriatric Care Manager Directory.
• To compare assisted living to board and care, skilled nursing, and other long-term residential care communities, see Residential Care Options: How to Decide.
• For details about assisted living facilities in other U.S. states, see Assisted Living Regulations.