Assisted Living Facilities in Texas

A Caregiver's Guide to Assisted Living Facilities in Texas

What they're called

Official name: Assisted Living Facilities

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 or shared (up to four persons) living units (from single rooms to multiroom apartments) with some cooking facilities; bathrooms may be shared
• All meals, usually in a common dining area
• General supervision
• Assistance with administration and management of medications
• Personal care services, including assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, bathing
• Social and exercise activities

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

What they cost

Median monthly fees: $3,210 (higher for residents requiring memory care)

State of Texas requirements

• There are two types of assisted living facilities, offering care to residents with differing levels of need:
  • In a Type A facility, a resident must be mentally and physically able to evacuate the facility unassisted in an emergency; the resident must be capable of following directions and must not require routine attendance during sleeping hours.
  • In a Type B facility, a resident may need staff assistance to evacuate the facility and require attendance during sleeping hours; a resident may require assistance in transferring to and from bed but may not be permanently bedfast.
• A resident may contract with outside licensed agencies to provide home healthcare.

State of Texas oversight

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (800-458-9858 or 512-438-3161) oversees assisted living facilities.

How to resolve problems or offer feedback

• Contact the Texas long-term care ombudsman program at 800-458-9858; this is a free service to help residents informally resolve problems with a facility.
• To register a complaint about a facility, contact the Texas Consumer Rights and Services Department on its website, or call 800-458-9858.
• Rate and review assisted living facilities.

How to pay for assisted living in Texas

• Most assisted living is paid for privately by the resident and/or his or her family.
• For Medicaid-eligible low-income residents, the Texas Star + Plus program is a type of Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO) that includes some coverage of personal care services provided in participating assisted living facilities.
• 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), 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.