Licensing and Certification of Assisted Living and Personal Care Homes in Texas

State licensing law requires that all long term care facilities or establishments which furnish food and shelter to four or more persons, unrelated to the owner, and provides personal care services and minor treatment under the direction and supervision of a physician, or services which meet some need beyond basic provision of food, shelter, and laundry, must be licensed.

There are four types of facilities that are required to be licensed; Nursing Facility, MR Facility, Adult Day Care Facilities, and Personal Care Facilities. Each facility that meets these basic criteria must apply for a license to operate, properly complete a multi-page license application, pay the required licensure fee, and pass a health and life safety code inspection by Long Term Care Regulatory staff. Only after acceptable compliance with these eligibility requirements will a license to operate for one or two years be issued. For a facility to retain it's license, the results of any inspection, survey, follow-up or complaint/incident investigation must indicate that the facility is in substantial compliance with the current state licensure rules. "Source: Texas Department of Human Services"

Assisted Living (often licensed as "personal care" in Texas) bridges the gap between the independent living and nursing home care by serving those who need daily assistance, but not constant nursing care. The facility may stand alone or be part of a retirement community or nursing home. Assisted living facilities support and enhance independence, often delaying the need for more intensive nursing home care.

Assisted living facilities are warm, friendly places best suited to the older adult who needs daily personal assistance but not nursing care. Typical services to choose from include daily meals, weekly housekeeping, laundry, shopping and scheduled transportation. Assistance with eating, medication, bathing, dressing and using the bathroom are available when needed. If the facility is not licensed, some of these services would have to be offered through a Home Health Agency. Charges in assisted living facilities usually reflect the level of service used, the size of one's room or apartment, and whether the facility is modest or more luxurious. In addition to basic charges, there may be extra charges for some services. The vast majority of assisted living is paid for by residents and their families. However, some services may also be covered by Medicaid through the Texas Department of Human Services

There are Two Types of Licensed Facilities - Type A and Type B

Type A Facilities
In a Type A facility a resident must be physically and mentally capable of evacuating the facility unassisted in the event of an emergency. This may include the mobile non-ambulatory, e.g., persons in wheelchairs or electric carts having he capacity to transfer and evacuate themselves in an emergency. They do not require routine attendance during nighttime sleeping hours and must be capable of following directions under emergency conditions.

Type B Facilities
In a Type B facility a resident may require staff assistance to evacuate; be incapable of following directions under emergency conditions; require attendance during sleeping hours; not be permanently bedfast, but may require assistance in transferring to and from a wheelchair.

This is an excerpt from the book Elder Options of Texas, “Serving Travis, Bastrop and Hays County Areas”. Elder Options of Texas is an Austin based company, owned and operated by Cheryl Culbertson, that specializes in creating and publishing resource directories featuring selected Texas Counties. The purpose of these resource directories is to make locating senior housing, healthcare related options and community services in these areas, a lot easier. For more information, check out the web site at: http://www.elderoptionsoftexas.com/tbh_excerpts/personal_care_homes.htm#personal_care_homes

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