Assisted Living Facilities in Colorado

A Caregiver's Guide to Assisted Living Facilities in Colorado

What they're called

Official name: Assisted Living Residences

Common name: Assisted living facilities

To compare assisted living to board and care, skilled nursing, and other long-term residential care communities, see Residential Care Options: How to Decide.

What they offer

• Individual living units (from single rooms to multiroom apartments with kitchen; some facilities have shared living units)
• All meals, usually in a common dining area
• Medication management
• Personal care services: assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, and bathing
• Social and exercise activities
• Special care programs for residents with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia (most facilities)
• Some facilities: A special extended congregate care license allows more extensive ADL assistance and nursing services to frail residents
• Some facilities: A special limited nursing services license allows extra nursing services

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

What they cost

Median monthly fees: $3,287.50 (higher for residents requiring memory care)

State of Colorado requirements

• Residents are permitted to contract directly for services with an outside home healthcare agency.
• Facility may contract with outside home healthcare agency to provide some services to residents.

State of Colorado oversight

Department of Public Health and Environment, Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division (303-692-2800) licenses and regulates assisted living facilities.

How to resolve problems or offer feedback

• Contact the Colorado Long-Term Care ombudsman; the phone number for the ombudsman assigned to a facility must be posted in the facility itself, or contact the local office of the Area on Aging and ask for the long-term care ombudsman.
• File a complaint with the Colorado Health Facilities Division of the Department of Public Health at 800-886-7689, ext. 2800; ask for the "ALR surveyor on phone duty."
• Rate and review assisted living facilities.

How to pay for assisted living in Colorado

• Most assisted living is paid for privately, by the resident and/or his or her family.
• For certain low-income Colorado residents with few assets, a Medicaid home and community-based services "waiver" program can pay for some of the cost of services in an assisted living residence. The amount the program pays varies depending on the resident's income. Not all assisted living facilities participate in this program, and those that participate may limit it to a small number of their living units.
• Low-income veterans or surviving spouses of veterans may also be eligible for Aid and Attendance or other payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which can 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 a facility

• 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 Senior Living Directory.
• For details about assisted living facilities in each of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, see A Caregiver's Guide to Assisted Living Facilities.