Assisted Living in Connecticut

Connecticut defines assisted living as managed residential communities that provide assistance with activities of daily living and nursing services for seniors 55 and older. Residents are often independent and active but may require increased supervision and support. The median cost of assisted living in Connecticut is $6165 each month, which equals approximately $73,980 per year according to A Place for Mom’s internal data.Assisted living is a more affordable senior living option than memory care or nursing homes. And while assisted living is a more expensive than independent living or group home communities in Connecticut, it does offer a higher level of care services than those options.

Assisted living in Connecticut has a median cost of $6,165 per month, which is $2,165 higher than the national median, according to A Place for Mom’s internal data.

Pricing varies from facility to facility and is often dependent on several factors, including location, services and amenities offered, and an individual’s specific care needs. For example, a community located in an area with a higher cost of living will typically be more expensive. Additionally, luxury amenities such as private rooms, gourmet dining, and communities with opulent décor and finishes are often reflected in higher prices.

Most families pay out of pocket for assisted living room and board fees. However, it’s possible to offset some care service and medical costs with Medicare, Medicaid, or private health insurance policies.

There are many ways to pay for assisted living when families plan ahead, and it’s common for families to combine several payment methods, such as public assistance, long-term care insurance, and private pay. The following tabs outline the most common types of payment methods and benefit resources used by seniors to pay for assisted living in Connecticut. For additional tips and ideas, visit our complete guide to paying for long-term care.

Connecticut’s Department of Public Health (DPH) regulates assisted living but does so in a way that’s different from many states. DPH doesn’t license “assisted living facilities” but rather Assisted Living Service Agencies (ALSA). Once licensed, these agencies can provide assisted living services only in a Managed Residential Community (MRC), which are also subject to DPH regulatory requirements.

ASLA’s requirements regarding services and care include the following:^[01]

• Designated office on a MRC site
• Inclusive admissions criteria
• Care plan or service program
• Client assessments as often as necessary but not less than every 120 days
• Coordinate services with the client, family, and other appropriate individuals
• Refer clients to appropriate professionals or agencies when necessary
• Retain a supervisor who is a registered nurse
• 24/7 on-call registered nurse

MRCs are allowed to contract with outside ALSAs or create their own ASLA to provide services inside their facility. However, most MRCs and ASLAs in Connecticut are under the same ownership structure according to a 2021 audit.^[02] Before an MRC can contract with an ASLA to provide services, it must meet DPH regulatory requirements by providing certain core services, which include:^[01]

• Three regularly scheduled meals per day
• Regularly scheduled housekeeping, laundry service, and transportation for certain needs
• Maintenance service for the living units
• Social and recreational programs
• 24-hour security and emergency call systems in each living unit

The Facility Licensing and Inspection Section (FLIS) is responsible for inspecting, certifying, licensing assisted living in Connecticut. Current license status and inspection reports can be found using the Connecticut state license lookup tool. Here are a few tips for navigating the site when looking up licensing and inspection information:

• Choose Assisted Living Service Agency in the “License Type” menu.
• Enter the name of the organization you are looking for in the “Business Name/BDA” box.
• Choose Connecticut from the “State” drop-down menu.
• Click the “Submit” button.
• Click the blue details button on the left side of results to read inspection reports.

All other boxes can be left blank.

Ease of access to Connecticut assisted living records

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy — or difficult — it is to find important assisted living records and reports, and we compiled tips to help you in your search.

States with the most transparent records allow you to look up important information about each assisted living facility online, including inspections, complaints, survey results, violations, capacity, and whether the facility accepts Medicaid.

Access to Connecticut assisted living records: Moderate

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of Connecticut is moderate. Key findings that informed this rating include:

• Connecticut has fairly transparent records but was marked down on a few criteria, including for the relative infrequency of required inspections (every two years).
• Connecticut is one of a handful of states where the state doesn’t have the authority to fine an assisted living community.

How we arrived at our Connecticut rating

We developed a standard methodology for state data collection and evaluation, and we based our rating primarily on the objective, state-specific accessibility criteria outlined in these questions:

1. Are licensed assisted living communities listed online in any form? Yes
2. If Yes to #1, is the information updated frequently? YesYes
3. Does the state post inspections, complaints, survey results, or violations online? Yes
4. If Yes to #4, is the information updated frequently (within 90 days)? Yes
5. If Yes to #2 and #4, is the enforcement information included in the same place as licensed communities? N/A
6. If Yes to #4 and No to #6, are violations and inspections searchable at all? No
7. Is information about special licensing for care shown? Yes
8. Is capacity shown? No
9. Are payment types shown (e.g., Medicaid, private pay)? No
10. Is the administrator/contact name shown? No
11. Can the state fine a facility? No
12. What is the frequency of inspections? Every 6 months
13. Does the website include pricing of facilities? No