Make the best senior care decision

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.

Let our care assessment guide you

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

• New Jersey has a functional if inelegant website for finding assisted living records and histories. However, the website receives regular updates without very many lulls between updates

• Visit New Jersey’s site to Search Licensed Facilities and Services.
• Select “long term care” facilities and services.
• Select preferred search method (for example, name of community) and for care type select “assisted living residences.”
• From the results page, click a providers name to access detailed information including inspections reports and deficiency citations.
• For more recent information about specific communities, contact the office of the long-term care ombudsman to see if he or she can provide information about a community you are exploring.
• Visit www.eldercare.gov to locate the appropriate long-term-care ombudsman.
• If you need to make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get records, consider browsing these state by state resources from the National Freedom of Information Coalition, which included sample state-specific FOIA letters.

Talk with a Senior Living Advisor

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 12 months
14. Website includes pricing of facility? No