You asked (1) how many private assisted living facilities there are in Connecticut, (2) how many people live in them, (3) how many private non-government-subsidized assisted living apartment units are available; (4) how many people had to leave these facilities in the past five years due to insufficient funds, and (5) how many of these people went to nursing homes.

SUMMARY

Connecticut has 85 private assisted living facilities. We surveyed them concerning the other information you asked about as no central information source exists; 37 (44%) answered. The responding 37 facilities house over 3,700 residents in about 3,400 apartments. In the past five years, 221 people moved out of these 37 facilities due to insufficient funds. Of these, 178 (81%) went to nursing homes.

PRIVATE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SURVEY

The Department of Public Health (DPH) licenses assisted living service agencies (ALSAs) that provide the services at the facilities but does not license the facilities themselves. It maintains a list of the ALSAs and the facilities they serve (both private and government-subsidized), but no further details that would answer your questions.

We were able to identify 85 private, non-government-subsidized assisted living facilities in Connecticut from the DPH list by excluding those we knew are government subsidized. We sent these 85 a brief survey, asking your questions. Some are free-standing rental facilities, some are part of larger campuses that include independent living, and some are part of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) that provide a continuum of housing situations from independent living to nursing home care for as long as a person lives, usually in exchange for a sizeable entrance fee and monthly payments.

Because assisted living is a program of services that can be provided in a number of differently structured settings in Connecticut, rather than a type of apartment designated exclusively for assisted living, it was difficult to determine the number of assisted living residents and assisted living apartments. For instance, some locations have “independent living” apartments, where people start out without assisted living services, which can be added later when the need arises without their having to move to a specifically designated assisted living apartment. Others do have specific apartments designated for assisted living and require people to move when they need a larger amount of such services; these often listed a much smaller number of assisted living apartments than their total resident population. When asked for their resident population and number of assisted living apartments, some facilities provided us with their total number of residents and apartments, with the caution that only a certain percentage of these are currently receiving services.

We found no official central source that could accurately tell us how many people live in private assisted living facilities and how many units of assisted living facilities exist in the state. An estimate of around 5,000 people and 5,500 units with about a 90% occupancy rate was offered by Chris Carter, executive director of the Connecticut Assisted Living Association, at a February 22, 2007, Select Committee on Aging public hearing.

Only 37 (44%) of the 85 facilities surveyed responded.

Table 1 shows that the responding facilities had 3,764 residents and 3, 407 apartments (couples lived in some of the apartments, but most were occupied by one person). In the past five years (2002-2006), 221 people moved out of these 37 facilities because they did not have enough money continue to reside there. Of these, 178 (81%) went to nursing homes.

Connecticut has a small program to assist people in these private facilities who run out of money. The maximum number currently allowed in this program is 75. There are 293 people on the waiting list. More information on that program can be found in OLR Report 2006-R-0810.

Table 1: Private Assisted Living Facility Survey Data

Table 1: -Continued-

*Note: Covenant Village at Cromwell is a faith-based continuing care retirement community that provides a subsidy to current residents who find themselves with insufficient funds. There have been 55 such people in the past five years, but none had to move out because the facility provided the subsidy. If they had not received the subsidy all 55 would probably have ended up in a nursing home, according to the responder.

East Hill Woods is A CCRC that responded they have 20 designated assisted living suites and another roughly 30 people receiving services in independent apartments.

Spring Meadows has 150 apartments (44 designated assisted living and 107 independent with about 30% currently receiving services).

At the Mews 27 people in 86 apartments are currently receiving assisted living services.

Whitney Center is a CCRC which has a total of 176 independent living apartments where about 30 to 40 people are currently receiving assisted living services, but all of them could potentially receive services at some point. In addition, there are 6 apartments specifically designated for people from the community who are not members of the CCRC, for a total of 182. The campus also has a nursing home which is not counted in these figures.

HN: ts