Questions to ask on a Minnesota assisted living tour

The five questions that matter more than the tour

A tour is designed. The route, the timing, the smell of the baking, the resident who happens to be practising the piano — none of that is dishonest, but none of it is evidence either. Five questions produce evidence, and you can ask all five before you ever get in the car.

Ask these five first — by phone, before you visit

Which licence do you hold: assisted living facility, or assisted living facility with dementia care? And what is your MDH licence number?
What is the base rent for the apartment we would be looking at, and what is the care charge at each tier? May I have the pricing schedule in writing?
May I have a copy of your Uniform Disclosure of Assisted Living Services and Amenities — the UDALSA — before we visit?
What is your rating on the Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card, and if you are unrated in a domain, why?
Do you accept Elderly Waiver funding, are you enrolled with DHS, and do you cap the number of waiver residents?

Minnesota has licensed assisted living through the Department of Health since 1 August 2021 under Minnesota Statutes chapter 144G, and there are two licence categories — assisted living facility, and assisted living facility with dementia care — plus provisional licences. Memory care in Minnesota is not a marketing word; it is the second licence. Source: Minnesota Department of Health — Assisted Living Licensure.

The licence and the inspection record

This is the section nobody else's checklist has, and it is the one that separates a Minnesota tour from a generic one. Every question here has a public answer you can check afterwards, which means you can tell whether you were told the truth.

Licence, regulation and record

Which of the two licence categories do you hold — assisted living facility, or assisted living facility with dementia care?
What is your MDH licence number, and is the licence current, provisional, or subject to any conditions?
Has the licence ever been provisional, suspended, or subject to a conditional licence? When, and why?
When was your last MDH inspection, and may I see the results?
Were any correction orders issued at that inspection? What were they, and what did you change?
Have there been any substantiated maltreatment findings at this facility? When, and what changed afterwards?
What is your licensed capacity, and how many residents live here today?
Who is the named assisted living director, and how long have they been in post?
Are any services here provided by a separate company under a management or service agreement, and if so which ones?

Verify the answers rather than trusting them. MDH publishes a free public licence lookup and a searchable provider directory, and it publishes complaint and survey findings separately. Sources: MDH — Verify a Facility License and MDH Office of Health Facility Complaints.

Two facts to hold while you listen. MDH monitors assisted living facilities "mainly through inspections at least once every two years," so a clean record may simply mean the last visit was a while ago. And Minnesota's market is dominated by very small homes: as of June 2025 MDH had licensed over 2,300 assisted living facilities, more than 1,200 of them with a licensed capacity of five or fewer residents. Source: MN Office of the Legislative Auditor, Assisted Living Facility Licensing (2025).

The Assisted Living Report Card

Minnesota runs its own public star-rating tool, separate from anything federal. It rates five domains — resident quality of life, family satisfaction, resident health, safety, and staffing — on a one-to-five scale, and it shows licensing survey results and substantiated maltreatment findings alongside the stars. Source: Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card (DHS).

Two things about the stars are worth understanding before you use them. They are assigned on a curve against similar facilities, grouped by size and by whether the facility is in the seven-county Twin Cities area or greater Minnesota — so three stars means "typical for its peer group", not "mediocre". And many of Minnesota's smallest facilities do not yet carry a rating in every domain. An unrated home is not a bad home; it is a home you have to check by other means, which is what the licence and inspection questions above are for.

Money and contracts

The single most useful thing you can do on a tour is refuse to accept one monthly number. Minnesota communities almost universally price rent and care separately, and the gap between "from $4,200 a month" and what a resident with real needs pays is where budgets break.

Cost, fees and the contract

What is the base rent for this specific apartment, and what does it include — meals, utilities, housekeeping, laundry, activities, cable, internet?
How is the care charge set: tiers, points, or an hourly build-up? May I see the assessment tool you use?
What tier would my mother be at today, based on what I have described, and what does that cost?
What specifically moves someone from one tier to the next, and who decides?
How much notice do I get before a tier change takes effect, and can I dispute it?
Is there a community, entrance, or move-in fee? How much, and is any of it refundable?
What did rent increase by in each of the last three years — the actual percentages, not the policy?
How much notice do you give of a rate increase, and how is it communicated?
Is medication management included, or billed separately? Priced how — per month, or per administration?
Are incontinence care and supplies included or extra?
Do you charge more if two staff are needed for a transfer? What happens if my mother reaches that point?
Is there a second-occupant fee if my father moves in too, and what does it cover?
What is billed on top that we have not discussed — guest meals, transport, salon, escorts to appointments, laundry beyond the standard?
What is the deposit, what can be deducted from it, and when is the balance returned after a move-out or a death?
May I have a complete unsigned copy of your contract to take away and read?

That last one is not a favour you are asking for. Under Minnesota law an assisted living facility must "offer to prospective residents and provide to the Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care a complete unsigned copy of its contract." If a community will not hand you an unsigned contract, that is itself an answer. Source: Minn. Stat. § 144G.50 — assisted living contract requirements.

For an anchor on what any of this should cost: Minnesota's median assisted living cost was $69,900 a year — about $5,825 a month — in Genworth's 2024 Cost of Care Survey, the most recent survey to publish Minnesota figures. Source: Genworth, 2024 Cost of Care Survey — Minnesota. Our guide to what assisted living actually costs in Minnesota explains why online estimates vary so wildly.

Care, staffing and who is actually in the building at 3am

Staffing is the thing every family asks about and almost nobody asks about usefully. "What is your staff-to-resident ratio?" invites a flattering daytime number. These questions are harder to answer vaguely.

Care and staffing

How many care staff are on duty right now? How many at 3am on a Sunday?
Is a nurse in the building, on call, or neither — and at which hours?
Who assesses my mother, how often is the assessment repeated, and do we get a copy?
Do we get a written service plan, and are we involved in writing it?
How do you respond to a call light overnight, and what is your typical response time?
What happens if my mother falls at 2am? Walk me through it, step by step.
What is your caregiver turnover in the last twelve months?
Do you use agency or temporary staff? On how many shifts in a typical week?
How long have the current care staff on this floor been here?
What training do care staff receive before they work a shift alone, and how much of it is dementia-specific?
Who do I call at 9pm with a concern, and who answers it the next morning?
How do you communicate a change in my mother's condition to family — call, portal, email? How quickly?
How do you handle a hospital transfer and the return afterwards? Is the apartment held, and is rent charged while she is away?

Ask the last one on the list even if it feels premature. A hospital stay is the most likely disruption in the first year, and "is the apartment held, and do we keep paying" is a question with a large number attached to it.

Medication

Medication management is where a great deal of quiet risk lives, and where a surprising amount of the bill lives too. Treat it as its own section.

Medication questions

Who administers or assists with medications — a nurse, or trained unlicensed staff under nurse delegation?
How are medications stored, and who has access?
What is your process when a dose is missed or refused, and who is told?
Have you had medication errors in the last year? How many, and what changed as a result?
Do you require us to use a particular pharmacy? Can we keep our own?
Who orders refills and tracks that they arrive, and what happens when one does not?
Can my mother keep and self-administer any of her own medications if she is able?
How are eye drops, inhalers, injections, patches and creams handled — are any of those billed differently?
Who coordinates with her doctor when a prescription changes?

Daily life — the part that decides whether she is happy

Safety questions get asked. Happiness questions get skipped, and then they turn out to be the ones that mattered. Ask these of staff, and if you can, ask a version of them of a resident or a visiting family member.

Food, routine and the texture of the day

May we eat a meal here? Not a scheduled tasting — a normal lunchtime.
What happens if she does not like what is on the menu? Is there an alternative, always?
Can you accommodate a specialised diet — diabetic, low-sodium, pureed, allergies, cultural or religious requirements?
Are meals at fixed times, or is there flexibility? What if she wakes at 10am?
Can she have food in her apartment? A fridge? A kettle?
What is actually on the activity calendar this week, and how many people came to yesterday's activity?
What happens for someone who does not want group activities?
Can she keep her own furniture, a pet, a car? What are the rules?
How do residents get to medical appointments? Is transport included, scheduled, or charged?
Are there restrictions on visiting hours, and can family visit overnight?
How do you help a new resident settle in the first month? Is anyone assigned to her?
What religious or cultural services are available, and can outside clergy visit?
What is the wifi and mobile signal like in the apartment we are looking at?

What happens when her needs increase?

The most expensive mistake in this decision is not overpaying. It is choosing a community that cannot keep her, and having to move a frail person a second time. Ask these questions while everything is still easy.

When needs change

What are the specific circumstances in which you would say you can no longer meet her needs?
Can you support a two-person transfer? A hoist? A wheelchair full time?
Can you manage incontinence care, catheters, oxygen, wound care, insulin, a feeding tube?
What happens if she develops dementia after moving in — can she stay, and does that require a different licence?
Do you accept hospice, and can she die here? What does that require?
How many residents left last year because their needs increased beyond what you could provide?
Do you have a higher level of care in this building or on this campus, and is a move there guaranteed or subject to availability?
If she needs a level of care you cannot provide, what help do you give the family to find somewhere else?

The sixth question is the one that gets the honest answer. Any community will tell you it supports "aging in place". A number for how many people left last year because it did not work is much harder to spin.

If dementia is part of the picture

In Minnesota this is a licensing question first. "Assisted living facility with dementia care" is a distinct MDH licence category, not a wing with a keypad on the door. If a community markets memory care, ask which licence it holds. Source: Minnesota Department of Health — Assisted Living Licensure.

Dementia care specifically

Do you hold the assisted living facility with dementia care licence? May I see it?
Is the dementia care a secured unit, a programme within the general building, or both?
What dementia-specific training do staff receive, how many hours, and how often is it refreshed?
What is the staffing overnight in the dementia area specifically?
How do you handle exit-seeking, and what physically prevents someone leaving unsafely?
What is your approach when a resident becomes distressed or agitated? Talk me through the last time it happened.
What is your policy on antipsychotic medication, and how many residents in the dementia area are currently prescribed one?
How is the environment designed for dementia — signage, contrast, lighting, outdoor access, a safe place to walk?
How do you support family — is there a support group, a named contact, education?
At what stage would you say you could no longer care for her, and what happens then?

Ask the antipsychotic question. It is uncomfortable, and the reaction to being asked tells you almost as much as the answer.

Elderly Waiver and Medical Assistance

Ask these even if you are paying privately today, because most people who need assisted living for several years do not pay privately for all of them. The first five come almost verbatim from DHS's own recommended list. Source: Minnesota DHS, "Elderly Waiver services in assisted living" (DHS-7935-ENG, 7-2024).

Funding questions, in DHS's words

"Does this setting accept funding from the Elderly Waiver?"
"Does the assisted living have a limit on the number of Elderly Waiver recipients it will serve at a given time? Does the assisted living have a waiting list?"
"Do I have to pay privately for my services for a certain amount of time before I can use the Elderly Waiver to pay?"
"What will my rent be if the Elderly Waiver pays for my services?"
"Will I have to change rooms and/or have a roommate if I begin receiving Elderly Waiver services?"
Are you enrolled with the Department of Human Services, so the Elderly Waiver can pay you directly?
If she moves in private-pay and later qualifies for the waiver, does anything change about her apartment, rent or services?

DHS states that "not all assisted living facilities accept residents receiving Elderly Waiver services; some limit the number of residents in facilities who are receiving Elderly Waiver services," and that the provider "must be enrolled with the Department of Human Services in order for the Elderly Waiver to be able to pay them." Our full guide to which Minnesota assisted livings accept the Elderly Waiver turns these into a phone script. Source: Minnesota DHS, "Elderly Waiver services in assisted living" (DHS-7935-ENG, 7-2024).

How the contract ends

Nobody wants to discuss leaving on the day they are deciding to arrive. Ask anyway — a community that answers these calmly and precisely is telling you it has nothing to hide, and the answers are checkable against Minnesota law afterwards.

Ending the contract

On what grounds can you terminate the contract, and how much notice do we get for each?
What is the pre-termination meeting process here, and who attends?
If we appeal a termination, do housing and services continue while the appeal is pending?
How much notice must we give if we want to leave, and how is the final month billed?
What happens to the deposit and any prepaid rent on a move-out or a death?
How long do we have to clear the apartment after a death?
Have you terminated any resident contracts in the last two years? How many, and on what grounds?

Check the answers. Minnesota sets statutory notice periods for terminating an assisted living contract — 30 days for nonpayment and for a contract violation, and 15 days where a resident poses a danger to others or to staff or where the facility cannot meet the resident's needs — along with a defined pre-termination meeting process, an appeal window, and a requirement that the facility keep providing contracted housing and services during an appeal. Source: Minn. Stat. § 144G.52 — termination of an assisted living contract. This is general information, not legal advice; if you receive a termination notice, call the Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care.

What to do after the tour

The tour is the middle of the process, not the end. These are the steps that catch what a visit cannot.

After you leave

Write your notes in the car, before the next tour. Three tours blur into one by the evening.
Verify the licence number and status yourself on the MDH lookup, and read the complaint and survey findings.
Look the facility up on the Assisted Living Report Card and read the domain scores, not just the headline.
Read the UDALSA. If you were not given one, ask again in writing — you are entitled to it before you sign.
Read the unsigned contract at a kitchen table, slowly, with someone else.
Visit again unannounced, at a different time of day.
Call the Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care on 1-800-657-3591 with anything that troubled you. It is free and it does not sell anything.
Score every community you saw against the same list before you compare prices. Comparing prices first anchors you to the wrong thing.

Two guides pick up where this one stops: what the facility must give you before you sign, and how to check a Minnesota provider's licence and inspection record.

And when you are ready to build the shortlist, search every provider we list, browse assisted living across Minnesota, or go straight to a city — Minneapolis, Saint Paul or Rochester.

Questions people ask

What should I ask on an assisted living tour in Minnesota that I would not ask anywhere else?

Five Minnesota-specific things: which of the two MDH licence categories the facility holds — assisted living facility, or assisted living facility with dementia care; its licence number so you can verify it; a copy of the UDALSA disclosure it must give you before you sign; its Assisted Living Report Card rating; and its Elderly Waiver acceptance policy, including any cap on waiver residents.

Source: Minnesota Department of Health — Assisted Living Licensure

Can I ask an assisted living for a copy of the contract before I sign?

Yes, and Minnesota law requires it to be offered. Under Minn. Stat. § 144G.50, an assisted living facility must offer prospective residents a complete unsigned copy of its contract, and must also provide one to the Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care. Take it away and read it somewhere other than the sales office.

Source: Minn. Stat. § 144G.50 — assisted living contract requirements

How do I check a Minnesota assisted living's inspection record after a tour?

The Minnesota Department of Health publishes a free licence verification tool and a searchable provider directory, and publishes complaint and survey findings separately through the Office of Health Facility Complaints. MDH monitors assisted living facilities mainly through inspections at least once every two years, so check the date of the last inspection as well as its result.

Source: MDH Office of Health Facility Complaints

What is the Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card, and why do some facilities have no stars?

It is Minnesota's own free rating tool at alreportcard.dhs.mn.gov, rating five domains — resident quality of life, family satisfaction, resident health, safety and staffing — from one to five stars. Ratings are assigned on a curve against similar facilities grouped by size and by Twin Cities versus greater Minnesota. Many of the smallest facilities do not yet carry a rating in every domain, so an unrated home is not a bad home.

Source: Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card (DHS)

Is memory care a different licence in Minnesota?

Yes. Minnesota has two assisted living licence categories: assisted living facility, and assisted living facility with dementia care. Memory care here is a distinct state licence rather than a marketing term, so ask which licence a community holds and verify it with MDH before you rely on how the brochure describes the unit.

Source: Minnesota Department of Health — Assisted Living Licensure

What questions should I ask about the Elderly Waiver on a tour?

DHS publishes its own recommended list: does this setting accept Elderly Waiver funding; is there a limit on the number of Elderly Waiver recipients served at a given time and a waiting list; do I have to pay privately for a period first; what will my rent be if the waiver pays for my services; and will I have to change rooms or have a roommate once the waiver starts paying.

Source: Minnesota DHS, "Elderly Waiver services in assisted living" (DHS-7935-ENG, 7-2024)

What should I ask about being asked to leave?

Ask on what grounds the facility can terminate the contract, how much notice applies to each, what the pre-termination meeting process is, and whether housing and services continue during an appeal. Minnesota sets statutory notice periods — 30 days for nonpayment or a contract violation, 15 days where a resident is a danger or the facility cannot meet their needs — so you can check the answers against the law afterwards.

Source: Minn. Stat. § 144G.52 — termination of an assisted living contract

Sources

This guide was last checked against these sources on August 14, 2026. RightCare MN is a Minnesota care directory, not a clinical, legal, or financial adviser — this is general information, not advice about your situation. Programs, rates, and rules change; confirm anything you are relying on with the agency directly before you act on it.