Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card — How to Use It Before Choosing a Facility

What the Assisted Living Report Card Shows You

The Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card, hosted by the Department of Human Services at alreportcard.dhs.mn.gov, publishes inspection data, licensing status, and regulatory actions for every licensed assisted living facility in the state. It is the only state-run tool that lets you compare facilities using objective compliance records rather than marketing brochures.

For each facility, the Report Card shows:

• License type — Whether the facility holds a standard Assisted Living Facility (ALF) license or an Assisted Living Facility with Dementia Care (ALFDC) license under Chapter 144G
• Inspection results — Findings from the most recent Department of Health survey, including any deficiencies, correction orders, or conditional license restrictions
• Complaint investigations — Substantiated complaints filed by residents, families, or staff
• Enforcement actions — Fines, conditional licenses, or license suspensions

This matters because a facility can have a beautiful lobby, a warm admissions coordinator, and a glossy brochure — and still carry a pattern of substantiated complaints about understaffing, medication errors, or resident rights violations that only the Report Card reveals.

How to Search the Report Card

Start at alreportcard.dhs.mn.gov. You can search by facility name, city, county, or license type. For families navigating dementia care, filter by ALFDC license — only facilities with this license can legally operate a secured memory care unit in Minnesota.

Once you pull up a facility's profile, look for three things:

1. License status — Active and unrestricted is what you want. A conditional license means the facility is operating under restrictions imposed by the state, which could indicate recent compliance failures
2. Recent inspection deficiencies — Read the actual findings, not just the count. A deficiency related to medication administration errors is more concerning than a documentation gap
3. Complaint history — Patterns matter more than individual complaints. Multiple substantiated complaints about the same issue — staffing levels, response times, discharge practices — indicate a systemic problem

What the Report Card Does Not Tell You

The Report Card does not include:

• Staff-to-resident ratios (these are disclosed in the facility's UDALSA form, which you must request separately)
• Actual monthly costs or fee structures
• Whether the facility accepts Elderly Waiver payments for Customized Living Services
• Quality-of-life indicators like activity programming, meal quality, or family engagement

For these details, you need the Uniform Disclosure of Assisted Living Services and Amenities (UDALSA) — an 18-page standardized document that every facility must provide before you sign a contract. The UDALSA gives you the apples-to-apples comparison on costs, staffing, and policies that the Report Card does not cover.

Using the Report Card with MinnesotaHelp.info

MinnesotaHelp.info is a companion resource that publishes provider directories and UDALSA disclosures. Use it alongside the Report Card: search MinnesotaHelp.info for facility profiles and available UDALSA data, then cross-check each facility's compliance record on the Report Card before scheduling a tour.

The Full Evaluation Framework

The Minnesota Dementia Care Guide includes a facility comparison worksheet that combines Report Card data, UDALSA disclosures, and tour observations into a single side-by-side evaluation — so you can compare memory care facilities on licensing, staffing, costs, Elderly Waiver acceptance, and the 2026 non-termination protections in one document.

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