Assisted Living Licensing

All San Diego County care facilities must have assisted living licensing in good standing. The license is an RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly).

This same license is required for large assisted living communities, memory care communities and small board and care homes.

(Skilled nursing facilities have different licensing requirements.)

Assisted living licensing is through Community Care Licensing, a Department of Social Services. The provisions of these licenses are set out in the California Code of Regulations Title 22.

By law, RCFEs are to be inspected at least once a year.

Over the past several years, regulation and enforcement of San Diego RCFE licenses has improved.

But the county still doesn’t have the resources and workforce needed to properly oversee the large quantity of licensees here in San Diego.

One important part of our job at Elder Answers is to review the licensing inspection reports for every RCFE we refer families to.

The basic information we rely on is found on this government website, but other important details we discovered with:

• Facility and home visits
• Conversations with RCFE administrators
• Past history with the facility
• Feedback we receive from families helped with placement in the past

When you visit any assisted living, always ask for the report from their most recent inspection.

The majority of the assisted living communities and homes in San Diego do a fine job and have assisted living licensing reports that are acceptable, even exceptional.

Learn more about common assisted living citations here.