Incomplete and Inadequate: Information Lacking for Seniors Looking for Assisted Living

As the iconic baby boomer generation reaches upwards of 74 years of age, more and more individual will require long-term care. This can range from residing in a nursing home, staying at their house and being visited regularly by provider or families, or moving into an assisted living facility. With the increase in assisted living residences across the country, it is important to understand how much information about these facilities are provided to consumers.

Unlike nursing homes which are federally regulated, each state is responsible for setting licensing requirements and quality standards for assisted living residences within their jurisdiction. Each state is required to provide free data of licensed facilities to the public. Private search databases may not be objective, but instead utilized for marketing purposes. The websites of these assisted living facilities may not easily provide critical information to the public, such as reports of state-required quality inspections, listing of accepted insurance plans, the availability of staff personnel, and even the overall cost of the care.

More than two-thirds of states did not say whether their residences offered memory care, and the increase in elderly patients requiring care due to Alzheimer’s and dementia is dramatically increasing. But not all websites had only negative reviews: California listed inspection updates, Florida itemized activities offered in each residence, and Arizona posted plain-language summaries of inspection results. Overall, more is needed so that consumers can make the appropriate decisions for their individual situations, but improving the information on the websites might require new or revised state regulations.

See Lindsay J. Peterson & Kathryn Hyer, Incomplete and Inadequate: Information Lacking for Seniors Looking for Assisted Living, The Conversation, February 14, 2020.

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.