New report on residential care and assisted living–get it while it’s hot

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Residential Care and Assisted Living Compendium: 2007

Robert Mollica and Kristin Sims-Kastelein, National Academy for State Health Policy
Janet O’Keeffe, RTI International
November 30, 2007
http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2007/07alcom.htm

This compendium describes regulatory provisions and Medicaid policy for residential care settings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It updates an earlier report completed in 2005 with data for 2004.

The original intent for this edition of the compendium was to provide data for 2006. However, due to the increased availability of current data on states’ websites, we were able to collect data for 2007. Information was collected between February and August 2007 by reviewing state websites and regulations and calling key state contacts to verify information. Section 1 provides an overview of residential care and assisted living policy. Section 2 presents six tables, which compare states’ policy in selected areas. Section 3 provides summaries of each state’s regulations and policy for residential care settings, including assisted living facilities (ALFs).

The 2004 edition of the compendium differed from prior editions in that it used “residential care setting” or “residential care facility” (RCF) as the generic terms for all types of group residential care settings, rather than the term assisted living. The 2007 edition continues the use of these terms. Although many states use the term assisted living generically to cover virtually every type of group residential care on the continuum between home care and nursing homes, for many stakeholders the term assisted living still represents a unique model of residential care that differs significantly from traditional types of residential care such as board and care. When discussing state statutes and regulation, the compendium uses the terms that each state uses.