Admission and Discharge Practices Among Assisted Living Communities: The Role of State Regulations and Organizational Characteristics

Background And Objectives: A better understanding of factors associated with assisted living admission and discharge practices can help identify communities that are more likely to allow residents to age in place. This study examined how state regulations and assisted living organizational characteristics related to community admission and discharge practices for bathing, getting out of bed, and feeding.

Research Design And Methods: Using data from a representative sample of 250 assisted living communities in seven states and a database of assisted living state regulations, we employed multilevel logistic regression models to examine regulatory and organizational correlates of assisted living community admission and discharge practices for 3 activities of daily living (bathing, getting out of bed, and feeding).

Results: States' regulations were not associated with assisted living community admission and discharge practices. However, assisted living communities above the median in the number of personal care staff members per resident were 17% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.5%, 27.1%) more likely to admit residents who needed assistance with feeding and 25.4% (95% CI: -37.7, -13.2) less likely to discharge these residents. For-profit communities were more likely to admit residents with bathing and feeding limitations.

Discussion And Implications: Organizational characteristics (e.g., for-profit affiliation, staffing levels) may, in part, drive admission and discharge practices, especially related to different care needs. The ability to house residents with advanced care needs may be influenced more by the organizational resources available to care for these residents than by states' admission and discharge regulations.