Providing Your Family Health Care With Care.

 

An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently.

 

The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is similar to a retirement home, in the sense that facilities provide a group living environment and typically cater to an older adult population. 

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Assisted living exemplifies the shift from "care as service" to "care as business" in the broader health care arena predicted more than three decades ago. A consumer-driven industry, assisted living offers a wide range of options, levels of care, and diversity of services and is subject to state rather than federal regulatory oversight and rules.

 

What "Assisted living" means depends on both the state and provider in question: variations in state regulatory definitions are significant and provider variables include everything from philosophy, geographic location and auspice, to organizational size and structure.

 

Assisted living evolved from small "board and care" or "personal care" homes and offers a "social model" of care (compared to the medical model of a skilled nursing facility).

 

The assisted living industry is a segment of the senior housing industry and assisted living services can be delivered in stand-alone facilities or as part of multi-level senior living community. The industry is fragmented and dominated by for-profit providers.