What is it called?

• Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly

What services are provided?

• Assistance with activities of daily living
• Observation and reassessment
• Postural support that can be released by the resident
• Room and Board
• Social and recreational services
• Help with arrangements for incidental medical or dental care
• Limited assistance with administration of medication

Who can be admitted?

• Residents over the age of 60, or residents requiring compatible care to current residents
• Residents requiring assistance with daily activities
• Residents requiring the following treatments, as long as they are provided by the resident or other outside health professional
• Oxygen administration, intermittent positive pressure breathing therapy, colostomy or ileostomy, manual fecal impaction removal, enema, suppositories, intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intradermal injections
• Incontinent residents as long as the condition can be managed
• Residents with indwelling catheters if they can be cared for by the resident
• Residents with diabetes as long as the resident can perform glucose testing and medication administration is arranged for

Who is inappropriate?

• Must be refused admission
• Adults with certain medical conditions including:
• active, communicable tuberculosis, stage 3 or 4 pressure sores, gastrostomy, nasogastric tubes, staph or other serious infections, and tracheostomy
• Adults who need 24 hour nursing care
• Adults who need help with all activities of daily living
• Adults whose health makes them inappropriate for care in the facility
• Adults who are bedridden
• Can be evicted
• Residents who are ineligible according to admission guidelines (see above)
• Residents who fail to pay or violate other facility policies
• Exceptions to eviction
• Admission and Retention rules can be waived if the resident receives care from a hospice agency as long as the facility and agency execute an agreement and the resident’s roommate does not object
• If the facility has appropriate fire clearance or bedridden patients are expected to be ambulatory in fewer than 14 days the residents may remain in the facility

Is nurse staffing required?

•  Not specified

What training is required for direct care staff?

• Initial Training
• 10 hours
• Continuing Education
• 4 hours per year
• Direct care staff serving patients with dementia receive at least 6 extra hours of training initially and 8 hours of continuing education each year

Is public payment available?

• According to the 2007 Assisted Living State Regulatory Review, in May 2005, the California State Department of Health Services obtained a Home and Community Based Services waiver to provide a Medi-Cal benefit to persons participating in the Assisted Living Waiver Pilot Project (ALWPP).  Participants must be both Medi-Cal eligible and nursing home eligible.  They will reside in either a licensed RCFE or publicly subsidized housing. The ALWPP is being tested in three counties and has a capacity of 1000 participants over its three year life span. Qualified RCFEs in the test counties began enrolling residents under the pilot program in April 2006.

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