A step-by-step process for finding the right nursing home, assisted living community, or long-term care facility — plus a printable checklist for your visits.
Choosing a long-term care facility for yourself or a loved one is a big decision, and it can be hard to know where to start. The process below breaks it into six manageable steps. Each one builds on the last, so it's worth working through them roughly in order rather than jumping straight to visiting facilities.
Start with what kind of help is actually needed — daily living assistance, nursing care, memory care, or therapy — and what matters to the person, like location, meals, religious connection, or staying close to family.
Talk to doctors, social workers, friends, and your local Area Agency on Aging about their experience with specific facilities. Use those recommendations, plus your own search, to narrow down a handful of options.
Call first to check cost, availability, and any waitlist. Then visit in person — and go back a second time, unannounced, on a different day or time. Staffing and atmosphere can look very different outside a scheduled tour.
Ask about staffing ratios, turnover, medical oversight, and — if relevant — dementia care training. Independently verify the facility's license status rather than relying on what you're told during the tour.
Get detailed, written information on pricing and what's included. Ask directly whether Medicare, Medicaid, or long-term care insurance will cover any portion of the cost.
Once you've chosen a facility, read the full contract before signing — more than once if needed — and ask about anything that isn't clear. It's easier to ask questions now than to resolve confusion later.
This process is adapted from the National Institute on Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health)'s guide, "How To Choose a Nursing Home or Other Long-Term Care Facility". Their full guide includes additional detail on each step and is worth reading directly.
Before you decide, it's worth checking a facility's official record — not just what's presented during a tour.
Bring this list with you on tours — a printed copy or just this page on your phone. Using the same checklist at every facility makes it much easier to compare them afterward.
This checklist was independently written for Utah Senior Care Finder, organized around the general categories covered in Medicare's official "Questions to Ask When You Visit a Nursing Home" checklist (CMS-12130) — their version goes into significantly more detail and is worth bringing along as well.