Assisted Living Move-In Requirements in California

Assisted living communities and board and care homes are licensed in California as residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs). The rules for admission are in Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, and they are the same for a six-bed home and a large community.

Section 87456 says that before accepting a resident, and to evaluate whether the person is suitable, the home must do four things.

1. 1

   Interview the applicant

   The home interviews your parent and the responsible person, if there is one. It must give enough information about itself for everyone to make an informed decision.

2. 2

   Perform a pre-admission appraisal

   The home compares your parent's needs with what it is allowed and able to provide.

3. 3

   Obtain and evaluate a recent medical assessment

   This is the form families know as the physician's report.

4. 4

   Execute the admission agreement

   The written contract between the resident and the home.

The medical assessment is the document a home must obtain before it accepts a person as a resident. California's Department of Social Services says it must be made within the last year and signed by a licensed medical professional acting within the scope of their practice. The department gives a physician, physician assistant and nurse practitioner as examples.

The state's form is the LIC 602A. A regulation change that took effect on January 1, 2025 renamed it from Physician's Report to Medical Assessment and removed the word physician so that other licensed medical professionals can complete it. The department describes the form as a courtesy, which means a home can use its own form if it collects what the regulation asks for.

• A physical examination, with diagnoses.
• The result of an exam for communicable tuberculosis, and for other infectious or contagious diseases.
• Medical history and current status, including height, weight and blood pressure.
• Current prescribed medications, and whether the home should store them centrally.
• Physical limitations and any medically necessary diet.
• Ambulatory status. California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) explains non-ambulatory as needing help to leave the building in an emergency.
• Cognitive conditions, such as mild cognitive impairment, and any known behavioral expressions.

Yes, as part of the medical assessment. The regulation asks for the result of an examination for communicable tuberculosis, and a home may not accept a person who has active communicable tuberculosis. The department's 2025 guidance explains the reason: people who live in shared settings such as RCFEs are at higher risk of exposure.

The regulation does not set a separate time window for the TB exam. Its stated window is that the medical assessment was made within the last year. Homes often have their own policy on which test they accept and how recent it must be, so ask each home on your list before you book the appointment. Your parent's doctor decides which test is right and can tell you how long the result takes.

The appraisal is the home's own work, separate from the doctor's form. The regulations say the prospective resident, or the responsible person, must be involved in it. If a placement agency has already completed a needs assessment, the home is to obtain it and include it.

• Daily abilities: bathing, dressing and grooming, using the toilet, moving in and out of a bed or chair, continence and eating.
• Physical condition: vision, hearing, speech, walking, diet limits and medications.
• Mental condition: whether the person tends to wander, is confused or forgetful, or can manage their own money.
• Social factors: likes, dislikes, interests and activities.
• Safety: since 2025, whether the person or other residents would be at risk if the person had access to certain items the home must otherwise store safely.

The admission agreement must be signed and dated by the resident, or the resident's representative, and by the home no later than seven days following admission. The home must give you a copy when it is signed. CANHR notes that homes must make blank copies available to the public, so you can read it well before move-in day. If the home charges a pre-admission fee, CANHR says it must give you a written statement describing the costs the fee covers.

California's bill of rights for RCFE residents says a resident must be told, in writing and at or before admission, of all rules governing residents' conduct and of any limits on the home's ability to meet a resident's needs. It also gives residents the right to receive written information about advance health care directives.

Our guides on the admission agreement and on the care assessment go further into each document. This page is the checklist.

The regulations require a meeting, before admission or within two weeks after it, to prepare a written record of the care your parent will receive and their preferences. Bring your notes to it. For the day itself, families usually bring the following. Ask the home for its own list, because room sizes and house rules differ.

• The completed medical assessment, if the doctor gave it to you and did not send it to the home.
• A current medication list with doses and times, and the medications themselves in their pharmacy-labeled containers.
• The names and phone numbers of the doctor, dentist and pharmacy. State law gives residents the right to choose their own physicians and pharmacies.
• Insurance and Medicare cards, and copies of any power of attorney or advance directive.
• Emergency contacts, in the order the home should call them.
• Glasses, hearing aids and batteries, dentures, a walker or wheelchair, each labeled with a name.
• A week or more of comfortable clothing, labeled, and a few familiar things: photographs, a blanket, a favorite chair if the room allows it.

Hamssa Benrekia is a senior living placement specialist in Torrance. She helps families in the South Bay and Harbor area of Los Angeles County find licensed homes, whether that is assisted living placement or a smaller board and care home. She goes on tours with the family and helps them talk terms with the home, and she checks in after the move. Her help is free for families.

She can tell you what the homes on your list usually ask for, so the forms are started before you need them. Contact Hamssa to talk it through. For the rest of the decision, see the California Assisted Living Placement Guide.