Memory care near me: what these homes are actually approved for

Worth noticing: every one of these is a large community, the smallest at 45 beds. Not one six-bed house in the county carries the approval in the record we read — which is a feature of this county rather than a rule about small homes, since in Riverside some six-bed houses do hold it. Confirm any approval with the home in writing, and look the licence up yourself in the state’s Care Facility Search.

Searching in another county? Senior Placement Anaheim covers Orange County and Senior Placement Riverside covers Riverside County and the Inland Empire.

Is memory care a different kind of licence in California?

No, and almost nobody is told this. California does not license “memory care”. A home advertising it holds the same licence as any other residential care home for the elderly — an RCFE — so the words on the brochure describe a service being sold, not a standard the state inspects against. What the state does record are specific approvals, and those decide whether a particular home can accept a particular person.

Then what should I actually be checking?

Whether the home is approved for what your relative actually does. If she tries to leave, the approval that matters is delayed egress — the locks, alarms and staffing a home needs before it can accept somebody at risk of walking out. Across the 380 licensed homes in San Diego County the state's record states that approval for 27. For the rest the record says nothing, which is a question to ask rather than an answer.

Why are all of them large communities?

On the record in San Diego County, they are. Every home here with a stated delayed-egress approval is a large community; not one six-bed house in the county carries it in the record we read. That is not true everywhere — in Riverside some six-bed houses do hold it — so it is a feature of this county rather than a rule about small homes. It also means that if a secured setting is genuinely needed here, the realistic options are larger buildings.

Does my mother need a secured building at all?

Often not, and being sold one she does not need is expensive and isolating. A great deal of dementia is not wandering dementia: somebody who repeats questions, loses track of medication or can no longer manage a kitchen safely may do far better in a six-bed house with the same few faces every day than behind a keypad. The question is not how advanced the diagnosis is, it is whether she tries to leave and whether she would be safe if she succeeded.

How do I check a home's record myself?

Every licensed home has a public record: licence status, licensed beds, how many times the state visited, the citations it issued and how many complaints were substantiated. All 380 homes in the county are on our registers with those figures, and you can look up any licence number yourself in the state's Care Facility Search. Read a citation count next to the visit count beside it — a home visited forty times will show more findings than one visited four.

Does Medicare pay for memory care?

No. Medicare's own long-term care page opens with the sentence “Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care”, marks it not covered and says you pay all costs. A dementia diagnosis does not change that. Medicare does pay a limited rehabilitation stay in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital admission, and it pays for hospice, including for advanced dementia. The residence itself comes from private funds, a long-term care policy, Medi-Cal and its waivers, or VA benefits.

Do you charge families to help?

You never get an invoice. A home pays us a commission when somebody we introduce moves in. Almost nobody in this industry bills families, so “free” does not distinguish anyone — we would rather tell you who does pay, and have you ask us about that relationship whenever we recommend something.

Last reviewed October 21, 2026. Figures are re-checked against their sources whenever this page is revised.