Assisted Living in Indiana

Assisted living in Indiana provides Indiana residents, often called “Hoosiers,” access to highly-rated services and amenities in the comfort of their community. Indiana is in the humid subtropical climate region, meaning its winters are pretty moderate and its summers are hot and humid, especially further south. The state boasts diverse landscapes with low valleys and small lakes in the center, vast plains and limestone caverns in the south, and sand dunes along Lake Michigan in the north.e

With a relatively low cost of living and a fair mix of large cities and charming small towns, Indiana is a great state to call home. While Indiana is well-known for hosting The Indy 500, a prestigious automobile race held in Indianapolis, the state has plenty more to offer. Piquing the interest of sports enthusiasts, Indiana is home to the Hoosiers men’s basketball team. Indiana also boasts a number of outdoor recreation opportunities and family-friendly activities, including the Indiana Dunes National Park and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

Indiana’s average cost of assisted living is about $4,600 per month, which is slightly lower than the national average of about $5,100 per month. However, because assisted living costs can vary depending on several factors, Indiana’s cost of assisted living ranges from as low as $2,800 up to about $6,700 per month, according to A Place for Mom’s proprietary data.^[01]

Typically, assisted living costs increase as floor plan size increases, care levels become more advanced or specialized, and amenities become more luxurious. All these factors contribute to the nearly $4,000 difference between cost figures in Indiana. Additionally, assisted living costs are generally higher in locations that have a higher cost of living. Overall, Indiana’s cost of living is less than the national average, leading to the lower average cost of assisted living in the state.^[02]

The assisted living costs above reflect actual prices paid by families referred to one of A Place for Mom’s partner communities in Indiana. Our figures take into account all fees paid, including care, services, and amenities. Most people cover these costs using a combination of payment methods, which are covered in the following section.

More and more seniors will require long-term care at some point in their lifetimes, which is why planning ahead for the costs is important. Fortunately, there are a variety of financial aid programs that can help your family pay for senior care. Most families use some combination of personal savings, Medicare, Medicaid, and VA health care benefits to cover the costs of a loved one’s assisted living.

In Indiana, the licensure term for assisted living communities that provide medication administration and nursing care is “residential care facility.” The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) regulates licensed assisted living facilities. Any facility that provides residential nursing care or administers physician-prescribed medications must be licensed as a residential care facility.^[06]

However, if a facility only provides personal care services, such as meals and housing, but doesn’t provide medication administration or nursing care, the facility isn’t required to be licensed. Such facilities are referred to as “housing with services establishments.” Although licensure isn’t required, these establishments are required to register with the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Division of Aging.^[06]

The IDOH runs the residential care facility licensing and certification program and enforces the rules for these facilities. The IDOH staff assess facilities’ compliance by investigating any complaints and conducting health and safety surveys.^[07]

Here are a few examples of the specific requirements that assisted living communities licensed as residential care facilities in Indiana must follow:^[06]

• Residential care facilities must provide personal care and assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as eating and bathing, based on an individual’s needs and preferences.
• The facility is required to provide at least three meals per day every day of the week, along with regular access to appropriate activities and social programming.
• Each resident can select their own attending physician and contract for on-site health care services.
• Each facility can choose whether it provides medication administration, residential nursing care, or both. These services must be outlined in their policy manual.
• There must be at least one staff member awake at all times, and they must be CPR- and first-aid certified.

Ease of access to assisted living records in Indiana

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy — or difficult — it is to find important assisted living records and reports, and 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 Indiana assisted living records: Exceptional

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

• Indiana has in-depth information about assisted living and other health providers available through a single convenient search form.
• Assisted living records in Indiana are highly transparent, having met all but one of the transparency criteria.

How to look up Indiana assisted living licenses and records

• Visit Indiana’s Health Care Providers Consumer Information page.
• To use the search bar, follow these steps:
  • In the search bar, click the down arrow and select the “Residential Care Facilities” filter to limit your search to assisted living providers.
  • Enter the name of the facility into the search bar. The provider will show up on the state map.
  • Click on that provider and then click “View Consumer Report” to view a report on any complaints filed, inspections conducted, and the licensure of the facility.
• To use the provider list menu, follow these steps:
  • Select the “Residential Care Facilities” heading.
  • Select the county you want to search within.
  • Select a provider name. The provider will show up on the state map to the left.
  • Click on that provider and then click “View Consumer Report” to view a report on any complaints filed, inspections conducted, and the licensure of the facility.

How we arrived at our Indiana rating

We developed a standard methodology for state data collection and evaluation, and 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? Yes
3. If Yes to #1, is the list of licensed communities searchable? Yes
4. Does the state post inspections, complaints, survey results, or violations online? Yes
5. If Yes to #4, is the information updated frequently? [within 90 days] Yes
6. If Yes to #2 and #4, is the enforcement information included in the same place as licensed communities? Yes
7. If Yes to #4 and No to #6, are violations / inspections searchable at all? Yes or N/A
8. Is information about special licensing for care shown? Yes
9. Capacity shown? Yes
10. Payment types shown, [e.g. Medicaid, private pay]? Yes
11. Administrator / Contact name shown? Yes
12. State may fine facility? Yes
13. Frequency of inspections? Every 15 months
14. Website includes pricing of facility? No