In Colorado, memory care isn't its own licensed category. It's dementia care provided inside an Assisted Living Residence, often in a secured unit. That one fact reshapes how you read every brochure, and this guide walks through the rules that protect your parent, what the care costs, and how to vet a place against standards you can actually ask about.
In This Guide
- Key Takeaways
- What Memory Care in Colorado Is
- Colorado's Dementia Protections
- What It Costs
- How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Memory Care in Colorado Is
When you start calling places, "memory care" gets used as if it names a license. In Colorado, it doesn't. The state licenses one residential category for this kind of care, the Assisted Living Residence, and memory care is the dementia-focused version of it, usually delivered in a secured unit so a resident who tends to wander can't leave unsupervised. There's no separate "memory care facility" certificate to look for on the wall. What you're really comparing is ALRs, some of which run a dedicated dementia wing and some of which fold dementia care into the general population.
That matters for two reasons. First, it means the same baseline rules that govern assisted living in Colorado govern your parent's memory care too, with extra dementia requirements layered on top. The residence is licensed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, CDPHE for short, through its Health Facilities Division. Second, it means you can't judge a place by whether it calls itself "memory care." You judge it by whether it actually runs a secured, dedicated dementia setting with trained staff, which is something you can confirm directly on a tour.
The money question splits along the same line as standard assisted living. Most ALRs are private-pay. But an ALR that has also been certified by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing as an Alternative Care Facility, an ACF, can receive Medicaid reimbursement for the assisted-living-level care it provides to an eligible resident through the Home and Community-Based Services waiver for the Elderly, Blind, and Disabled, with the resident still paying room and board out of income. Not every residence holds the ACF certification, so if your family is counting on Medicaid, confirm a specific place has it before you fall in love with the building.
Colorado's Dementia Protections
Here's what's worth understanding about Colorado specifically. Because memory care lives inside the assisted-living license, the state has built its dementia safeguards into that framework rather than into a standalone rulebook, and it's strengthening them.
The protection in force today is staff training. Senate Bill 22-079 requires CDPHE to adopt rules making assisted living residences provide dementia training to the staff who give direct care to residents. That's a meaningful floor: it means the aides and caregivers spending the most time with your parent are required to have dementia-specific training, not just general assisted-living orientation. When you tour, you can ask who has completed it and how recently.
The second protection is coming but not yet active, and it's worth knowing about because it changes what you'll be handed when you shop. Colorado has directed CDPHE to create a standardized dementia care services disclosure form, and the timeline is fixed by law.
| Protection | What it requires | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SB22-079 staff training | CDPHE rules requiring ALRs to provide dementia training for direct-care staff | In force |
| Dementia care services disclosure form (CDPHE creates it) | A standardized form spelling out each facility's dementia training beyond the minimum and its criteria for placing, transferring, or discharging residents with dementia | CDPHE must create it by July 1, 2027 |
| Facility use of the disclosure form | Every dementia care facility completes the form, gives it to prospective residents, publishes it online, and keeps a copy on site | Required from October 1, 2027 |
Read the timeline carefully, because it's easy to misread. CDPHE must build the disclosure form by July 1, 2027, and dementia care facilities must start completing and sharing it on October 1, 2027. Today, in 2026, that form doesn't exist yet, so don't expect a facility to hand you one. What's useful now is knowing what it will eventually require facilities to put in writing: their dementia-specific training beyond the statutory minimum, and their criteria for placing, transferring, or discharging a resident living with dementia. Those are exactly the questions you can ask a place to answer in plain language today, well before the form makes the answers mandatory.
What It Costs
Cost is usually the thing families brace for, and we'll be straight with you: there's no clean single number for memory care in Colorado. The state doesn't publish one, and because memory care isn't its own surveyed category, the industry surveys that track senior-care prices don't isolate it the way they isolate assisted living.
What we do have is a solid anchor for the base. Per the Genworth/CareScout 2024 Cost of Care Survey, the most recent state-level data, assisted living in Colorado runs a median of about $5,877 a month (roughly $70,521 a year), close to the national figure. Memory care costs more than that, here as everywhere, because dementia care means heavier staffing, the dementia training the state requires, a secured environment built to keep someone from wandering off, and specialized programming. How much more depends on the facility, its size, and the level of care, and prices run higher in the Denver metro and mountain-resort areas than in rural counties. Treat memory care as a premium on top of the assisted-living base rather than a fixed figure, and be skeptical of any source that quotes one precise statewide number for it.
For context, the same survey put a semi-private nursing-home room in Colorado at about $10,038 a month and a private room at about $11,650, both above the national medians. Those are industry-survey figures, not government numbers, so use them to set expectations, then get a specific written quote from any place you're serious about. The advertised figure is almost always a base rate. Ask each facility what the base includes, how it charges as care needs grow, how it reassesses care as dementia progresses, and how often rates rise. Two places with the same headline price can land far apart once the dementia-care fees are in.
If your parent's resources are limited, the Medicaid path is what changes this picture. An ALR certified as an Alternative Care Facility can bill Medicaid through the HCBS waiver for the Elderly, Blind, and Disabled for the assisted-living-level care it provides, while your parent pays room and board out of income. The trade-off is that your choice narrows to residences holding that certification, so ask early whether a place you like is an ACF.
How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
You don't have to become an expert in dementia care to make a good decision. You have to confirm the right setting and ask the right questions, and Colorado's rules give you sharp ones.
- Confirm it's a licensed ALR running real dementia care. Since there's no separate memory-care license, ask to see that the residence is a CDPHE-licensed Assisted Living Residence, and ask whether dementia care is in a dedicated, secured unit or mixed into the general population. A secured, dedicated setting is the thing the word "memory care" is supposed to mean.
- Ask about dementia training by name. Colorado requires ALRs to provide dementia training for direct-care staff under SB22-079. Ask which staff have completed it, how recently, and how the place handles the day-to-day reality of dementia: what it does when a resident becomes agitated, tries to leave, or stops eating.
- Ask the disclosure-form questions early. The state's dementia disclosure form won't be in use until October 1, 2027, but the answers it will require are fair to ask for now: the facility's dementia training beyond the minimum, and its criteria for placing, transferring, or discharging a resident with dementia. Get those in writing if you can.
- Match the pitch to what you see. On a tour, go once around a mealtime, when staffing and the mood of a place are hardest to stage. Watch how aides speak to residents who are confused or upset, and ask how the unit keeps someone from wandering out and how it handles a medical change at 2 a.m.
- Get the costs in writing, and settle the Medicaid question. Ask for a written breakdown of the base rate, what dementia care adds, how care levels get reassessed, and what triggers an increase. If you may rely on Medicaid, confirm the residence is certified as an Alternative Care Facility. Then bring the admission agreement home to read the refund and discharge terms without a salesperson in the room.
Tour at least a couple of places. The goal isn't a perfect one. It's a place whose limits you understand going in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is memory care a separate license in Colorado?
No. Colorado doesn't license "memory care" as its own category. Dementia care is provided inside an Assisted Living Residence, the residential category CDPHE licenses, usually in a secured unit dedicated to residents with dementia. So when you compare places, you're comparing ALRs and how each one handles dementia care, not shopping for a separate kind of facility.
Does Medicaid pay for memory care in Colorado?
It can, through one route. An Assisted Living Residence that's also certified as an Alternative Care Facility can bill Medicaid for the assisted-living-level care it provides through Colorado's Home and Community-Based Services waiver for the Elderly, Blind, and Disabled, while your parent pays room and board out of income. Not every residence holds that certification, so confirm a specific place is an ACF before counting on coverage.
How much does memory care cost in Colorado?
There's no reliable single statewide figure for memory care alone. Use the assisted-living base as your anchor, about $5,877 a month per the Genworth/CareScout 2024 survey, and expect memory care to run higher because of the heavier staffing, dementia training, and secured setting. Costs run higher in the Denver metro and mountain-resort areas than in rural counties, and the advertised rate is usually a base that rises as care needs grow, so get a written breakdown from any place you're considering.
Are memory-care staff in Colorado trained for dementia?
They're required to be. Senate Bill 22-079 directs CDPHE to require assisted living residences to provide dementia training for the staff who give direct care to residents. When you tour any place, ask which direct-care staff have completed that training and how recently, and ask how the facility puts it into practice when a resident is agitated, tries to leave, or stops eating.
What is Colorado's dementia care disclosure form, and is it available yet?
It's an upcoming protection, not yet in force. Colorado has directed CDPHE to create a standardized dementia care services disclosure form by July 1, 2027, and beginning October 1, 2027, every dementia care facility must complete it, give it to prospective residents, publish it on its website, and keep a copy on site. The form will spell out a facility's dementia training beyond the minimum and its criteria for placing, transferring, or discharging residents with dementia. Until then it doesn't exist, so ask facilities those questions directly.
Learn More
- Assisted Living in Colorado
- Nursing Homes in Colorado
- Assisted Living vs. Memory Care in Colorado
- Memory Care vs. Nursing Home in Colorado
- Home Care vs. Home Health in Colorado
- Caregiver Burnout: Signs and Support
- Medicaid Planning Strategies
Find personalized help comparing memory care in Colorado at brevy.com.
The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.