Questions to Ask an Assisted Living Facility Before You Sign

The tour will be beautiful. Fresh flowers in the lobby, a chef pointing at the dining room, an activities calendar taped to a bulletin board with more color-coded events than your parent has attended socially in a decade. None of that tells you what happens on a Tuesday at 2 a.m. when your parent needs help getting to the bathroom and presses the call button. That's what these questions are for.

Bring a notebook, ask every question on this list, and write down the answers — not your impression of the answers. Two facilities that "felt about the same" on tour often turn out to be very different once you compare notes side by side.

Care & Staffing Questions

• What is the actual staff-to-resident ratio, on day shift and overnight? Ask for a number, not "we're well-staffed."
• How is a care plan built, and how often is it reassessed? Needs change; the plan should change with them, not stay frozen from move-in day.
• What happens when a resident's needs increase — is there a point where they'd have to move out? This matters enormously in Illinois specifically (more below).
• Who administers medication, and what's the process if a dose is missed?
• What's the response time for a call button, and is that response time measured or just estimated?
• Is there a nurse on-site, or on-call? What hours?
• How does the facility handle a medical emergency — is there a relationship with a specific hospital or EMS protocol?

Cost Questions

• What is included in the base rate, and what triggers an additional charge? Get the full fee schedule, not just the headline number — level-of-care tiers, medication management fees, and incontinence care are common add-ons that don't show up in the advertised price.
• Is there a community fee or move-in fee, and is it refundable if the placement doesn't work out?
• How often does the rate increase, and by how much historically?
• Is a rate increase announced with advance notice, and how much?
• If my parent's level of care increases, how is the new rate determined?

Safety Questions

• What's the facility's emergency evacuation plan, and when was it last drilled?
• What security measures are in place for residents with cognitive decline who may wander?
• How are falls documented and reported to family?
• What's the facility's infection control policy, particularly around seasonal illness?

Activities & Life Questions

• What does a resident's actual day look like — not the printed calendar, but who typically participates?
• Can residents come and go, have visitors on their own schedule, and personalize their space?
• What's the food program — can you sit in on a meal before committing?
• Is there transportation for appointments, and what does it cost?

Discharge Policy — Ask This One Directly

Every facility has conditions under which they can require a resident to leave, and this is one of the most important — and most overlooked — questions on the whole list. Ask specifically: under what circumstances would you ask my parent to move out? Get this in writing before you sign anything, not verbally on the tour.

If you're touring facilities without having first confirmed that assisted living is the right level of care — as opposed to home care or a Supportive Living Facility — some of these tours may turn out to be a detour. Our Illinois care decision guide can help you narrow the search before you invest more time touring.

Illinois-Specific Questions

Illinois draws a sharp regulatory line that most families don't know to ask about, and it directly affects how long a facility can be your parent's home.

• Is this facility licensed as Assisted Living under the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), or is it a Supportive Living Facility (SLF) certified through HFS? These are two different regulatory categories with very different rules and very different costs — licensed Assisted Living is private-pay only, while SLFs are Medicaid-funded with room-and-board capped around $874/month. If Medicaid may be part of the picture eventually, this single question changes the entire financial calculus.
• Does this facility fall under the ADL exclusion rule? Illinois-licensed Assisted Living facilities generally cannot retain residents who need total assistance with two or more activities of daily living (ADLs) — meaning a facility that looks perfect today may be legally required to discharge your parent later if their needs progress past that threshold. Ask directly how the facility handles residents approaching that line, and whether they have a sister nursing facility or SLF for that transition.
• If this facility offers memory care, has it filed the Alzheimer's Special Care Disclosure required by Illinois? This disclosure spells out staffing, training, and programming specific to dementia care — ask to see it, not just hear about it.
• Is the facility's IDPH licensing and inspection history available, and can I review it? Illinois maintains inspection and complaint records; a facility with nothing to hide will have no problem pointing you to them.
• What is the current cost benchmark I should be comparing this quote against? Illinois assisted living runs a median of roughly $5,836/month private-pay, and memory care typically runs $7,000–$10,500/month — if a quote is dramatically below or above that range, ask why.

Questions About the Contract

By the time you're reviewing a lease or admission agreement, most of the emotional decision-making is already done — which is exactly when it's easiest to skim past terms that matter. Before signing, ask:

• What is the notice period for the resident or family to terminate the agreement, and is any portion of the community fee refundable on early departure?
• What happens to the monthly rate if my parent is hospitalized for an extended stay — does the room stay held, and at what cost?
• Is there an arbitration clause, and what does it mean for resolving a future dispute?
• What's the specific process and timeline if the facility decides a resident needs to be discharged for a change in condition? Get this spelled out in writing, not summarized verbally.
• Are there any restrictions on bringing in outside caregivers to supplement facility staff, if your family later decides more one-on-one support is needed?

What to Do With the Answers

Touring three or four facilities and asking this same list at each one is genuinely tedious, but it's the only way to compare on substance instead of impression. Facilities that are strong on paper sometimes feel underwhelming in person, and facilities with beautiful common areas sometimes come up short on staffing ratios or discharge policy specifics. Write every answer down the same day you get it — details blur fast once you've toured a second or third community, and the facility that "felt right" isn't always the one whose answers actually hold up on paper.

If a facility hesitates or gives vague answers to more than one or two of these questions, treat that as data, not an oversight to explain away. A well-run facility answers these questions confidently because they already know their own numbers.

Bring the List, Not Just Your Gut

The tour is designed to make you feel good about the decision. These questions are designed to make sure the decision is actually good — and the two aren't always the same thing. Write the answers down at every facility you visit, and compare them side by side before deciding anything.

Not sure assisted living is even the right call yet? Get the complete toolkit and work through the decision before you tour a single facility.

See more Illinois guides →