Delaware doesn't issue a separate memory care license. Dementia care is delivered inside assisted living and nursing homes, and a dementia-care disclosure law requires any facility advertising it to put in writing what it can actually do.
In This Guide
- Key Takeaways
- How Delaware Regulates Memory Care
- What the Disclosure Tells You
- What It Costs and Who Pays
- How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Delaware Regulates Memory Care
When you start calling facilities, "memory care" gets thrown around as if it were one licensed thing you could shop for and line up side by side. In Delaware it isn't. The state never created a separate memory-care license. Instead, dementia care is delivered within the buildings the state already licenses, assisted living facilities and nursing homes, and a secured memory-care unit lives inside one of those frameworks rather than under a license of its own. Knowing that before your first tour changes what you look for, because it tells you the label on the door isn't the protection. The protection lives elsewhere.
Here's the structure. Assisted living in Delaware is licensed by the Department of Health and Social Services through its Division of Health Care Quality under Title 16 of the Delaware Administrative Code, regulation 3225. Delaware uses a single assisted-living license rather than acuity-based tiers, and the rule limits which residents a facility may admit or keep: it generally may not serve residents who need more than intermittent skilled nursing, who have medication needs it cannot manage, or whose behaviors it cannot safely handle. So a secured dementia unit is something an assisted living facility or a nursing home offers within that license, not a separately licensed category you can verify by name.
Because the license alone won't tell you what a given facility can do for dementia, Delaware made the facility tell you itself. The state's distinctive protection is the dementia-care disclosure law in Title 6 of the Delaware Code, Chapter 25K. Any facility that advertises or markets that it provides Alzheimer's or dementia care must give consumers a written disclosure, provided to applicants before admission and updated when its policies change. The effect is that "memory care" in Delaware isn't a marketing label you have to take on faith. A facility that uses the words has to hand you a document that says, in writing, what it can and can't do. Your job is to ask for it and read it.
That said, the disclosure describes a facility's plan; it doesn't certify a level of medical care. If your loved one's dementia comes with heavy medical needs, that matters, because an assisted living facility may not be set up to provide the skilled nursing a person eventually requires, and the rule's own admission limits make that explicit. A secured assisted-living unit is a dementia setting, not a substitute for a nursing home.
What the Disclosure Tells You
Once you know to ask for the disclosure, the next question is what it actually has to contain. The statute spells out five things, and read in order they make a fair, concrete checklist for a visit.
The disclosure must describe the facility's care philosophy and mission, its policy on psychotropic medications, the resident population and the levels of symptoms it can manage, its staffing plan and dementia-care training, and a complete fee schedule for dementia-care services. Each of those is something a strong dementia setting should be able to talk about specifically for your family member, not in glossy generalities. The psychotropic-medication policy and the symptom-level item deserve the closest read, because they're where dementia care most often succeeds or fails day to day: they tell you whether the facility leans on sedating medication, and whether it can actually handle the behaviors your loved one has now or is likely to develop.
One thing the law does not do is set a single number you can quote back. It requires the facility to disclose its staffing plan and its dementia-care training; it does not fix a statewide staff ratio or a specific number of training hours. So when you read the staffing and training section, don't expect a magic figure. Ask the facility to describe its plan in concrete terms, what the training covers, who receives it, how many staff are on the floor overnight, and weigh the specifics against what you see on your tour.
| What the disclosure must describe | What to ask, and what to check on a visit |
|---|---|
| Care philosophy and mission | Ask how that philosophy shows up in daily routines, and watch whether staff actually work that way |
| Psychotropic-medication policy | Ask when medication is used for behavior versus other approaches, and how families are told before it starts |
| Population and symptom levels it can manage | Ask whether it can handle your loved one's current symptoms and likely progression, or whether a move comes later |
| Staffing plan and dementia training | Ask what the training covers, who receives it, and how many staff are on the floor, including overnight |
| Fee schedule for dementia care | Ask what the base rate includes, what memory care adds, and what triggers an increase as needs grow |
The fee-schedule item is worth pressing on, because it's the one the statute requires the facility to put in writing in full. A complete fee schedule lets you see the base rate, what dementia care adds on top, and how charges climb as care needs grow, before you sign anything. If the facility can walk you through its disclosure point by point and answer for your loved one specifically, that's a far better sign than a polished brochure that talks around the details.
What It Costs and Who Pays
Cost is usually what families brace for, and there's no clean single number for memory care in Delaware. The state doesn't publish one, and because memory care here is delivered within assisted living or a nursing home rather than as a separately surveyed setting, the industry surveys that track senior-care prices don't break it out the way they break out assisted living overall.
What you 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 Delaware runs a median of about $8,558 a month (roughly $102,690 a year), well above the national median of about $70,800 a year. Memory care costs more than that base, here as everywhere, because a secured dementia setting means more staff time, dementia-specific training, and a building designed for safety. How much more depends on the facility, its size, and how much care your loved one needs. Treat memory care as a premium on top of that assisted-living figure, and be wary of any source quoting one precise statewide memory-care number.
For context on the rest of the care continuum, the same survey put a semi-private nursing-home room in Delaware at about $14,174 a month (roughly $170,090 a year) and a private room at about $14,889 a month (roughly $178,668 a year), among the most expensive in the country. In-home care also runs above the national line, with a home health aide and homemaker services each running about $77,792 a year. These are industry-survey medians, not government figures, and prices vary within the state and climb as care needs grow. Use them to set expectations, then get a specific written quote, the disclosure law's fee schedule, from any place you're serious about.
Paying for it is where families often get caught off guard. Assisted living in Delaware is largely private-pay for room and board, and Medicaid does not pay the room-and-board portion. What it can do is help with the care: Delaware Medicaid can cover assisted-living services through its Diamond State Health Plan-Plus managed long-term-care program for members who qualify. Dementia care runs for years and the bill is steep, so it's worth checking eligibility and planning early rather than assuming the whole cost is yours alone to carry.
How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
You don't have to become an expert in dementia regulation to make a sound decision. You have to get the disclosure, read it against what you see, and ask the questions the statute hands you.
- Ask for the written dementia-care disclosure up front. Any Delaware facility advertising Alzheimer's or dementia care must give it to you before admission, so request it early rather than waiting for a sales packet. A place that markets memory care but won't put its philosophy, medication policy, and capabilities in writing is telling you something.
- Read the population and symptom-level section against your loved one. The disclosure has to state which residents and which symptom levels the facility can manage, so confirm it can handle your family member's current symptoms and likely progression rather than discharging them when things get harder.
- Press on the psychotropic-medication policy. The disclosure must spell out the facility's policy on these medications, so ask when they're used for behavior, what's tried first, and how families are informed. Watch how staff de-escalate distress on your visit.
- Pin down staffing and training in concrete terms. The law requires the facility to disclose its staffing plan and dementia training but sets no fixed ratio or hour count, so ask what the training covers, who gets it, and how many staff are on the floor, including overnight.
- Get the full fee schedule in writing. The disclosure has to include a complete fee schedule for dementia care, so use it to see the base rate, what memory care adds, and what triggers an increase. Bring the contract home and read the refund and discharge terms without a salesperson in the room.
Tour at least a couple of places. The goal isn't a flawless one. It's a facility whose disclosure you've read closely, whose staffing and training you've pinned down in plain terms, and whose plan for medication and behavior you've checked against what's actually happening inside the building.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Delaware doesn't issue a separate memory care license. Dementia care, including secured memory-care units, is delivered within the assisted-living and nursing-home licensing frameworks under Title 16 of the Delaware Administrative Code. Assisted living itself is licensed by the Delaware Division of Health Care Quality under regulation 3225 on a single license, with memory care provided inside it.
It's a statute in Title 6 of the Delaware Code, Chapter 25K that requires any facility advertising Alzheimer's or dementia care to give consumers a written disclosure before admission. The disclosure must describe the facility's care philosophy, its psychotropic-medication policy, the resident population and symptom levels it can manage, its staffing plan and dementia training, and a complete fee schedule for dementia-care services, and it must be updated when policies change.
Ask for the written dementia-care disclosure that Title 6 Chapter 25K requires, and read it closely rather than relying on how the place markets itself. Then confirm the facility is licensed by the Delaware Division of Health Care Quality, and check the disclosure's claims about staffing, medication policy, and the symptoms it can manage against what you see on a visit.
There's no reliable single statewide figure for memory care alone. Use the assisted-living base as your anchor, about $8,558 a month per the Genworth/CareScout 2024 survey, and expect memory care to run higher because of the added staff time, dementia training, and secured setting it requires. The disclosure law entitles you to a complete written fee schedule, so use it to see the base rate and what memory care adds before you sign.
Medicaid does not pay the room-and-board portion of assisted living in Delaware, so that part is largely private-pay. Delaware Medicaid can cover assisted-living services through its Diamond State Health Plan-Plus managed long-term-care program for members who qualify, which helps with the care costs even though it doesn't cover room and board. Because an assisted living facility may not provide skilled nursing care, a resident with heavier medical needs may eventually move to a nursing home, where Medicaid's nursing-facility coverage can apply for those who qualify. It's worth checking eligibility early rather than assuming the entire bill is private-pay.
Learn More
Find personalized help requesting a Delaware facility's dementia-care disclosure and checking its staffing 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.