Arizona Senior Care
How is assisted living regulated in Arizona?
In Arizona, assisted living facilities are licensed and regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services, which licenses facilities by size and by the level of care they provide.
Written by Ryan Michael, Founder of RAL Transitions
The answer
Assisted living in Arizona is regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), under the state's assisted living facility rules. Facilities must be licensed, and the license reflects both the size of the facility and the highest level of care it provides.
Arizona licenses facilities by size: an Assisted Living Home serves ten or fewer residents in a residential setting, while an Assisted Living Center serves eleven or more in a larger setting. Licenses are also classified by the level of care provided, from supervisory care to personal care to directed care. A distinct memory care subclass exists for facilities providing memory care services.
Licensed facilities must comply with requirements covering resident rights, staffing, food service, safety, and abuse reporting, and each facility must designate a manager with a current assisted living facility manager certificate. Families can ask a community for its license and inspection history.
Practical next steps
- Ask each community for its license type and level-of-care classification
- Ask to see the facility's inspection history and any citations
- Confirm the manager holds a current assisted living facility manager certificate
- Ask which level of care the community is licensed to provide
Arizona context
ADHS licenses and oversees all assisted living facilities in Arizona. This matters for families in the Greater Phoenix area because it gives you a consistent way to compare communities: the license tells you the facility's size and the level of care it is approved to provide.
Arizona's rules also created a distinct memory care licensure subclass effective July 1, 2025, so families looking for dementia care can identify communities licensed specifically for memory care.
Relevant RAL Transitions services
Sources and references
- Arizona Department of Health Services, Residential Facilities
- ADHS, Article 8: Assisted Living Facilities
This answer is practical guidance for families, not medical, financial, or legal advice. Eligibility for any benefit or program depends on each person's situation.
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