Arizona
A license is required for any residential care institution that provides supervisory care, personal care or directed care services on a continuous basis. Facilities with 10 or fewer residents are assisted living homes and those with 11 or more are assisted living centers, each licensed for one or more of those three service levels. Adult foster care homes (1-4 ALTCS or VA residents, with the manager living in the home) are a type of assisted living facility. HB 2764 (2024), effective July 1, 2025, created a memory care services designation with required dementia training; rules implementing it now appear in the code (R9-10-816 and R9-10-122 to -126).
License categories
Assisted living home (10 or fewer residents)Assisted living center (11 or more residents)Adult foster care home
Key laws
A.R.S. ยง 36-401
Definitions (assisted living facility, home, center; service levels) — official text
A.A.C. R9-10, Article 8
Assisted Living Facilities — official text
A.A.C. Title 9, Chapter 10
Health Care Institutions: Licensing (full chapter, Supp. 26-1) — official text
Key requirements
- Manager must hold an assisted living facility manager certificate from the Arizona Board of Examiners for Nursing Care Institution Administrators and Assisted Living Facility Managers (adult foster care home managers exempt)
- Caregivers must be 18 or older and complete an approved caregiver training program (or meet specified alternatives)
- Fingerprinting requirements apply to staff and to others living on site in assisted living homes
- Facilities offering memory care: 8 hours of initial memory care training and 4 hours annually for staff, plus 4 extra hours for managers (HB 2764)
Sources
- https://www.azdhs.gov/licensing/residential-facilities/index.php
- https://www.azleg.gov/ars/36/00401.htm
- https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/licensing/residential-facilities/article-8.pdf
- https://apps.azsos.gov/public_services/Title_09/9-10.pdf
- https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/2R/summary/S.2764HHS.DOCX.htm
- https://nciaboard.az.gov/
- https://nciaboard.az.gov/news/dhs-memory-care-training-updates
- https://app3.azdhs.gov/PROD-AZHSComplaint-UI