40 Questions to Ask on an Assisted Living Tour: A Printable Checklist

Questions to ask on a tour

Key point: The answers that separate communities are about care and staffing numbers, the all-in price at your parent's level, and the contract's rules for increases and discharge, not the look of the building.

What a good provider should make clear: The same 40 answers written down for each community, a second unannounced visit to your favourite, and the residency agreement taken home to read.

Common mistake: Letting the tour guide lead with the dining room and the activity calendar, and leaving without the staffing numbers or the price in writing.

Questions to ask: How many care staff are on duty for this many residents during the day and overnight, and can I have that in writing?

Before the tour

• Check the community's licence and number in the directory, and whether it has secured memory care beds if you need them.
• Look up the most recent inspection; our inspection records guide shows how.
• Bring your parent's medication list and your one-page description of their day.
• Book the tour near a mealtime so you can eat there.

Care: questions 1 to 8

1. Can you meet my parent's care needs today? What would make you say you could not?
2. Who assesses new residents, and can I have the written assessment and service plan before we sign?
3. What care level would my parent start at, and what would move them up a level?
4. How are medications handled: reminders, or do staff administer every dose? Who orders refills?
5. Is there a nurse on site? During which hours, and who is on call overnight?
6. How do residents see doctors: their own physician, a visiting doctor or nurse practitioner, or both?
7. Do home health, therapy and hospice agencies come in when needed? Can we choose the agency?
8. What happens if my parent's needs grow beyond what you can provide?

Staffing: questions 9 to 15

9. How many care staff are on duty for how many residents during the day, in the evening, and overnight?
10. Are the overnight staff awake all night?
11. How long have the executive director and the wellness or nursing director been here?
12. What is staff turnover like? How many care staff have been here more than a year?
13. Do you use agency staff? How often?
14. What training do care staff complete before working alone, and in dementia care?
15. Who is my point of contact for questions about my parent's care, and how quickly do they reply?

Food and daily life: questions 16 to 22

16. Can we eat a meal here today?
17. Are there set mealtimes and a choice at each meal? What if my parent misses a meal or wants to eat in the apartment?
18. How are special diets handled: diabetic, low-sodium, soft or pureed, cultural or religious?
19. Are snacks and drinks available between meals and at night?
20. What did the activity calendar look like last month, and how many residents take part?
21. Is there transport for appointments, shopping, church and outings? What does it cost?
22. Can my parent bring furniture, a pet, or a car?

Safety: questions 23 to 29

23. How do residents call for help in the apartment and bathroom, and how fast do staff respond on average?
24. What happens after a fall? How and when is the family told?
25. When was your last state inspection, and can I see the report and your plan of correction?
26. How do you prevent and respond to wandering? Do you have secured memory care beds?
27. What is the emergency plan for a power cut, a storm or an evacuation?
28. How do you control infections, and how are families informed of an outbreak?
29. How are complaints handled, and who can a family escalate to outside the building?

Money: questions 30 to 35

30. What is the all-in monthly total at my parent's assessed care level, including medication management?
31. Do you price care by levels, points or an all-inclusive rate?
32. What is the community fee, and is any of it refundable?
33. What have your annual increases been for the last two years? How much notice do you give?
34. Which charges are extra: incontinence supplies, escorts, special diets, laundry, phone and cable?
35. Do you accept long-term care insurance, VA benefits and TennCare CHOICES? What happens if my parent's money runs out?

The contract: questions 36 to 40

36. Can I take the residency agreement home to read before we sign?
37. For what reasons can you ask a resident to leave, and how much notice do you give?
38. How much notice must we give to move out, and what is refunded?
39. What happens to the bill during a hospital stay?
40. Is there an arbitration clause, and is signing it a condition of admission?

Our residency agreement guide explains what good and bad answers to these look like.

Five more for memory care

• How many secured beds do you have, and how many care staff are on the unit at each shift?
• What dementia training do staff complete before working on the unit?
• How do you respond when a resident is agitated or tries to leave?
• How are antipsychotic and sedating medicines used and reviewed?
• What does a typical afternoon look like on the unit?

See also our memory care guide.

What to watch, not just ask

Some of the best information comes from what you see rather than what you are told.

• Residents: dressed, clean and doing something, or parked in front of a television?
• Staff with residents: do they use names, make eye contact, wait for an answer?
• Call lights and response: are calls answered quickly, or is anyone waiting?
• Smell and cleanliness in corridors and bathrooms, not just the lobby.
• Who you meet: did you meet anyone who gives hands-on care, or only marketing staff?
• Other families: if you see one, ask them how it has been.

After the tour

1. Write the answers into one table for all communities the same evening.
2. Cross off any community that could not meet your parent's needs or would not give staffing numbers or a written price.
3. Go back to your first choice unannounced, ideally at a mealtime or early evening.
4. Take the residency agreement home and read it before you sign.
5. Ask your parent what they thought. Their sense of a place counts.

Answers that should slow you down

• "We staff to need" with no numbers.
• No price until after the assessment, and no range either.
• No access to the last inspection report.
• You cannot take the agreement away to read.
• A deadline to sign or lose a special rate.
• Memory care promised by a community with no secured beds on its licence.

How to ask the hard questions politely

Families sometimes worry that asking about staffing or inspections will sour the relationship before it starts. Good communities expect these questions and answer them easily. A useful line: "We are asking every community the same list so we can compare fairly. Can you help me fill this in?" Hand over the list. If a community bristles at that, you have learned something.

A simple comparison table

After each tour, fill in one row per community. Keep it to the facts that decide the choice.

Families who use a table like this usually find the decision makes itself: one community answers more of the questions well, at a price the family can sustain.

The second, unannounced visit

Go back to your first choice without booking, ideally at dinner or between four and seven in the evening. You are looking for the ordinary day: how many staff are on the floor, how residents are doing at the end of the day, whether call bells are answered, how the dining room runs without a tour in progress. Ask at reception to sit in the lobby for twenty minutes; a good community will be comfortable with that.

If you can, talk to a resident or a visiting family member. Ask what they would change, and how quickly problems get fixed.

If you cannot tour in person

Families living away from Memphis often choose from a distance. Ask for a live video tour led by a staff member who will go where you ask, not a recorded one. Ask the same 40 questions by phone, and ask a local friend or relative to make the unannounced visit for you with this checklist.

Who to talk to on the tour

The person who books and leads your tour is usually in sales or marketing. They know the building and the prices, but they will not be caring for your parent. Ask to meet three other people before you decide:

• The executive director, who runs the community and sets its culture.
• The wellness or nursing director, who assesses residents, writes care plans and supervises the care staff. This is the person you will talk to most after move-in.
• A care aide on the floor, even briefly. How they speak about the residents and the work tells you a lot.

If the nursing director is not available, ask for a phone call before you sign. Ask how long each of them has been at this community; frequent changes of director often show up later as changes in care.