Minnesota Memory Care Licensing and Chapter 144G Requirements

What Chapter 144G Changed About Memory Care in Minnesota

Minnesota overhauled its assisted living regulation with Chapter 144G, the Minnesota Assisted Living Licensure Law, which established a unified licensing framework for the first time. Before this law, "memory care" in Minnesota had no consistent regulatory meaning — facilities could market themselves as memory care without meeting any specific standards.

Under Chapter 144G, the Minnesota Department of Health now issues two distinct license categories: "Assisted Living Facility" and "Assisted Living Facility with Dementia Care" (ALFDC). The distinction matters because it determines staffing requirements, physical environment standards, and the protections your parent receives.

The ALFDC License: What It Requires

A facility licensed as an Assisted Living Facility with Dementia Care must meet stricter standards than a standard assisted living license. The key requirements include:

Secured environment. ALFDC facilities must maintain secured units that prevent residents with exit-seeking behavior from leaving unsupervised. This includes secured outdoor spaces where residents can safely spend time outside.

Dementia-specific staffing. Direct-care staff in ALFDC facilities must complete 8 hours of initial dementia training within their first 80 working hours — half the time allowed for staff in standard assisted living (160 working hours). Supervisors face the same 8-hour requirement within 120 working hours. All staff, including housekeeping and dining workers, must complete at least 4 hours of dementia training.

Ongoing training. Every employee must complete 2 hours of ongoing dementia training and 1 hour of de-escalation training annually, regardless of role.

24/7 awake staffing. Memory care units must have awake staff on duty around the clock — not just on-call staff sleeping on premises.

How to Verify a Facility's License

Before touring any facility, check its actual license status with the Minnesota Department of Health. The Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card is the public database where you can look up any licensed facility's inspection history, complaint record, and license type.

Specifically verify:

• The facility holds an ALFDC license (not just a standard assisted living license with a "memory care wing")
• Whether the facility has had any enforcement actions related to its dementia care programming
• The facility's survey history for staffing compliance

A facility marketing itself as "memory care" without the ALFDC license isn't necessarily breaking any rules — the marketing term isn't regulated the same way the license category is. But it means the facility isn't held to the higher staffing and environment standards.

The Bill of Rights and Discharge Protections

Chapter 144G also codified the Minnesota Assisted Living Bill of Rights, which applies to all licensed facilities including memory care. Key protections include the right to come and go freely (within the safety parameters of a secured unit), the right to visitors, and the right to participate in care planning.

Starting January 1, 2026, Minnesota law prohibits facilities from terminating a resident's contract solely because the resident transitions from private-pay to public funding through the Elderly Waiver. This means a facility cannot discharge your parent just because their savings ran out and they need to switch to Medicaid-funded Customized Living Services. If the resident meets the clinical and financial criteria and the provider is licensed to deliver Customized Living Services, the facility must cooperate with the county to transition the payment structure.

Home and community-based service providers are also barred from requiring a person to be under guardianship as a condition of continuing services.

What to Ask During a Facility Tour

When evaluating a memory care facility, go beyond the marketing materials and ask specifically:

• "Do you hold an ALFDC license from the Department of Health?" (not just "are you licensed")
• "How many direct-care staff are on the memory care unit overnight?" (awake staff, not on-call)
• "Do you accept the Elderly Waiver for Customized Living Services, and what's your current private-pay requirement before accepting waiver funding?"
• "Can I see your most recent UDALSA disclosure?" (the Uniform Disclosure of Assisted Living Services and Amenities — an 18-page standardized document facilities must provide before you sign any contract)

The Minnesota Dementia & Memory Care Guide includes a facility comparison worksheet designed around these Chapter 144G requirements, so you can evaluate multiple facilities against the same standards rather than relying on each facility's self-selected selling points.

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