In Maryland, memory care has a precise legal name: an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit inside a licensed Assisted Living Program. The state requires the program to get written approval before it opens such a unit and to give your family a Special Care Unit Disclosure Form before admission. This guide walks through that form, what memory care costs, and how to use the form to vet a place.

In This Guide

What Memory Care in Maryland Is

When you start calling places, "memory care" gets used as though it's one licensed thing you can shop for. In Maryland it isn't a separate license. It's a specific kind of unit inside an Assisted Living Program, and the state has an exact name for it: an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit.

An Assisted Living Program in Maryland is licensed by the Maryland Department of Health through its Office of Health Care Quality. Programs are sorted by how much care a resident needs, from Level 1 (low, occasional help) up to Level 3 (high, extensive and frequent help). A Special Care Unit is a part of that program set up specifically for residents with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and the state treats it as a distinct thing the program has to be approved to operate. That's what "memory care" usually means here on the ground.

What sets a Special Care Unit apart from a regular wing isn't a marketing label. It's a binding rule in the state's regulations, COMAR 10.07.14.32, that the program can't operate the unit at all without two things first: written approval from the Maryland Department of Health, and an approved Special Care Unit Disclosure Form. The disclosure form is the document that turns a sales pitch into something you can hold the place to, and it's the single most useful tool you have walking in.

One thing to settle early is how you'll pay. Assisted living in Maryland is mostly private-pay, but two public programs can help. Maryland Medicaid's Community Options Waiver can cover assisted-living services for people who qualify and meet a nursing-facility level of care, and Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR), run through the Maryland Department of Aging, gives partial financial help to lower-income older adults. (SOAR absorbed the former Senior Assisted Living Subsidy in 2026, so a family who searched for "SALS" is now looking for SOAR.) In both cases the resident usually still pays toward room and board.

Your Protection: the Special Care Unit Disclosure Form

What many families don't realize going in is worth understanding up front. A program can't just open a locked dementia wing and start admitting people. Before it operates an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit, Maryland makes it get written approval from the Department of Health and complete a Special Care Unit Disclosure Form that the state has to approve. That form has to be in your hands before admission, posted with the facility's license, and given to anyone who asks for it.

The form isn't a formality. The regulation spells out what it has to tell you, and each line is a question you'd otherwise have to fight to get answered.

The form must describe Why it matters to your family
How the unit's care differs from the rest of the program This is the heart of it. It tells you what you're actually paying a premium for, instead of taking "specialized dementia care" on faith
Staff training, including at least six hours of advanced cognitive-impairment training Sets a floor for the people caring for your parent. You can ask whether staff exceed it and how training is kept current
Admission and screening criteria Tells you who the unit is set up to serve, and signals when a resident's needs may outgrow what it can handle
Assessment and service-planning protocols Shows how the unit decides what care your parent needs and how it updates that plan as dementia progresses
The unit's activities Dementia-specific programming is a real difference between units. The form lets you compare it rather than guess
The unit's fees Puts the cost of the special-care level in writing, so an advertised base rate can't hide what dementia care adds

The training line is worth pausing on. The regulation sets at least six hours of advanced cognitive-impairment training as the floor for a Special Care Unit, on top of the general training assisted-living staff already get. That's a minimum, not a target. A good unit will train well past it and keep training current, so the form is your opening to ask how much training staff actually get and how often.

The fees line and the care-differences line work together. A place can advertise a low base rate, but the disclosure form has to lay out the unit's fees and exactly how its care differs from the standard program. Read those two sections side by side and you can see whether the premium you're being quoted matches the care you're actually getting. If a program is slow to hand you the form, or hands you a vague one, that tells you something on its own. The state designed the form so you wouldn't have to take the program's word for any of this.

What Memory Care Costs in Maryland

Cost is usually what families brace for, and we'll be straight with you: there's no clean single number for memory care in Maryland. 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 CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey (released March 2026), the most recent state-level data, assisted living in Maryland runs a median of about $7,165 a month (roughly $85,980 a year), well above the national figure. Memory care costs more than that, here as everywhere, because a Special Care Unit means heavier staffing, the added cognitive-impairment training the state requires, a secured layout, and dementia-specific programming. How much more depends on the program, its size, and the level of care, and prices run higher in the Washington-DC and Baltimore suburbs than in rural Maryland. Treat memory care as a premium on top of the assisted-living base rather than a fixed figure, and be skeptical of any source quoting one precise statewide number for it.

This is where the disclosure form earns its keep. Because the form has to state the unit's fees in writing, you're not stuck comparing headline rates. For context, the same survey put a semi-private nursing-home room in Maryland at about $12,927 a month and a private room at about $14,448, both well 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. Ask each program 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.

Most families pay for this privately. If your parent qualifies for Medicaid and meets a nursing-facility level of care, the Community Options Waiver may help cover assisted-living services, and Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR) can offer partial financial help for lower-income older adults, though both leave the resident contributing toward room and board and run on their own applications.

How to Vet a Special Care Unit

You don't have to become an expert in dementia care to make a good decision. You have to get the disclosure form in your hands and ask it to do its job.

1
Step 1

Ask for the Special Care Unit Disclosure Form before anything else

A program operating an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit must give you this form before admission and post it with its license. If a place that markets "memory care" can't produce one, ask whether it's actually approved to run a Special Care Unit at all.

2
Step 2

Read the care-differences section first

This is where the form has to explain how the unit's care differs from the rest of the program. Compare it against what the salesperson told you, and against the standard program's care, so you can see what the premium buys.

3
Step 3

Check the training line, then push past the minimum

The form has to disclose staff training, including at least six hours of advanced cognitive-impairment training. Ask how much training staff actually get beyond that floor, how often it's refreshed, and how many trained staff are on the unit at night.

4
Step 4

Match the fees to the care

Read the unit's fees and its care-differences sections together, and ask for a written breakdown of the base rate, what dementia care adds, how care levels get reassessed, and what triggers an increase. Bring the admission agreement home to read the refund and discharge terms without a salesperson in the room. Discharge terms matter more in dementia care, where needs change and a program may decide it can no longer meet them.

5
Step 5

Verify the license and look at the admission criteria

Check the program's licensing status with the Office of Health Care Quality, which licenses every Assisted Living Program in the state. Then read the form's admission and screening criteria so you know who the unit is built to serve, and tour once around a mealtime, when staffing and the mood of a place are hardest to stage.

Tour at least a couple of places. The goal isn't a perfect one. It's a unit whose care, training, and fees you understand going in, because the form put them on paper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit in Maryland?

It's the state's term for memory care: a special-care setting for residents with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, operated inside a licensed Assisted Living Program and governed by Maryland regulation COMAR 10.07.14.32. A program can't run one without written approval from the Maryland Department of Health and an approved Special Care Unit Disclosure Form describing how the unit works.

What is the Special Care Unit Disclosure Form, and why does it matter?

It's a document the state requires before a Special Care Unit can operate. It has to describe how the unit's care differs from the rest of the program, its staff training (including at least six hours of advanced cognitive-impairment training), its admission and screening criteria, its assessment protocols, its activities, and its fees. The program must give it to your family before admission, post it with the license, and hand it to anyone who asks, which makes it your single best tool for comparing places and holding one to what it promised.

Does Medicaid pay for memory care in Maryland?

Memory care here lives inside an Assisted Living Program, and assisted living is mostly private-pay. If your parent qualifies for Maryland Medicaid and meets a nursing-facility level of care, the Community Options Waiver may cover assisted-living services, and Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR) can give partial financial help to lower-income older adults. In both cases the resident usually still contributes toward room and board, and each runs on its own application.

How much does memory care cost in Maryland?

There's no reliable single statewide figure for memory care alone. Use the assisted-living base as your anchor, about $7,165 a month per the CareScout 2025 survey, and expect memory care to run higher because of the heavier staffing, added cognitive-impairment training, and secured setting. Prices run higher in the DC and Baltimore suburbs than in rural Maryland, and the advertised rate is usually a base that rises as care needs grow, so use the disclosure form's fees section and get a written quote from any place you're considering.

How much dementia training do Special Care Unit staff need?

Maryland regulation sets at least six hours of advanced cognitive-impairment training as the floor for Special Care Unit staff, on top of the general training assisted-living staff already receive, and the disclosure form has to state what training the unit provides. Treat six hours as a minimum, not a goal, and ask each unit how much training staff actually get beyond it and how often it's refreshed.

Learn More

Care TypesMemory Care by StateMemory care is specialized assisted living for dementia. What it costs, who pays (Medicare doesn't), and how the rules change by state, with a guide to yours. Care TypesAssisted Living in MarylandAssisted living in Maryland runs about $7,165/month. What an Assisted Living Program is, its care levels, what it costs, and how Medicaid and SOAR can help. Care TypesNursing Homes in MarylandNursing homes in Maryland in 2026: what a skilled nursing facility costs, how to check a facility's quality, and how Maryland Medicaid pays for long-term care. Care TypesHome Care vs. Home Health in MarylandHome care vs. home health in Maryland: home health is skilled care Medicare covers, home care is non-medical help it won't, and what an RSA license covers. CaregiverCaregiver Burnout: Signs and SupportHow to recognize caregiver burnout, why it happens, and what actually helps, from respite care to evidence-based programs like REACH II and Powerful Tools. MedicaidMedicaid Planning StrategiesSee which assets you keep, how the 5-year look-back works, and the legal moves that qualify you for Medicaid long-term care without losing the house. Care TypesAssisted Living vs. Memory Care in MarylandAssisted living vs. memory care in Maryland: safety and cognition drive the choice. Maryland assisted living runs about $7,165 a month; memory care costs more. Care TypesMemory Care vs. Nursing Home in MarylandMemory care vs. nursing home in Maryland: how skilled-nursing need and who pays differ. Memory care is private-pay; a nursing home runs about $12,927 a month.

Find personalized help comparing memory care in Maryland 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.

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