West Virginia regulates memory care through the Alzheimer's Special Care Standards Act (W. Va. Code 16-5R), a disclosure law, not a separate memory-care license. Any facility marketing an Alzheimer's special care unit must put its approach in writing. This guide explains what that disclosure has to cover, what to check on a visit, what it costs, and who pays.

In This Guide

How West Virginia Regulates Memory Care

When you start calling around, "memory care" gets used as if it were one licensed thing you could shop for and line up side by side. In West Virginia it isn't. The state never created a separate memory-care license. Instead it regulates dementia care through a disclosure law that runs across facility types. Knowing that before you tour a single place changes what you look for, because it tells you where the real protection lives: in a document the facility is required to give you.

Here's the structure. Dementia care in West Virginia is governed by the Alzheimer's Special Care Standards Act, West Virginia Code Chapter 16, Article 5R. The law doesn't create a new kind of building you license just to provide memory care. It reaches across the settings that already exist, including nursing homes, assisted living residences, personal care homes, adult day care, and home health, and lays a single rule on top of any of them that markets dementia care.

That rule is a disclosure requirement, and it's the heart of the law. Under Section 16-5R-4, any facility that markets a special Alzheimer's or dementia care unit or program has to disclose, in writing, the form of care that distinguishes what it offers from the care provided to other residents. The point is to stop "memory care" from being a marketing label and turn it into a set of claims a family can actually read and hold the facility to. The state reviews these disclosures at license renewal, so the document isn't a one-time brochure; it's a standing description the facility has to keep accurate.

The underlying license belongs to the facility, and for most memory care in West Virginia that license is an Assisted Living Residence. Those residences are licensed and monitored by the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) under W. Va. Code 16-5D and the legislative rule 64 CSR 14. A residence has to hold that license to operate at all. So a memory-care setting carries two things you can check: the facility's license, and, layered on top of it, the special-care disclosure required by 16-5R. If your loved one's dementia comes with heavy medical needs, the license type matters, because an assisted living residence may not be set up to provide the level of skilled nursing a person eventually requires.

What the Disclosure Tells You

The written disclosure is where the word "memory care" stops being a sales pitch and becomes something you can pin down. Because West Virginia requires any marketed special care unit to put its approach in writing, you don't have to take a tour guide's reassurance on faith. You get a document, and you can read it before a visit and again after, checking it against what you actually saw.

The Alzheimer's Special Care Standards Act sets out what the disclosure has to address. It must describe the unit's treatment philosophy and mission; its practices for screening, admission, discharge, assessment, and care planning; its staffing and the training its staff receive; the physical environment and design features of the unit; the activities it provides; and how it involves families in care. Each of those is something a family genuinely needs to understand, and each one hands you a fair, specific question to bring on a visit.

What the disclosure must describe What to ask, and what to check on a visit
Treatment philosophy and mission Ask how that philosophy shows up day to day, then watch how staff actually speak to and handle residents
Screening, admission, and discharge criteria Ask exactly what would trigger a discharge or transfer, so a later move doesn't blindside your family
Assessment and care planning Ask how often care plans are reviewed and how the plan shifts as dementia progresses
Staffing and staff training Ask what the dementia training covers, who receives it, and whether new staff complete it before working alone
Physical environment and design Walk the space, see how exits are managed, and check whether the design truly supports a resident who may wander
Activities Ask to see a real day's schedule, and whether activities are adapted as cognition declines
Family involvement Ask how the unit communicates changes and how families take part in care planning

The screening and discharge criteria deserve the closest read. Families are often caught off guard months in, when a facility decides it can no longer meet a resident's needs and the whole search starts over at the worst possible moment. Reading those criteria up front, while you still have choices, spares you that. The same goes for the design and the activities: a strong dementia unit is built so a resident can move and stay safe at once, and a real day there has structure rather than a television and a hallway. Look for whether what's described on paper is what's actually in use when you walk through.

What It Costs and Who Pays

Cost is usually what families brace for, and there's no clean single number for memory care in West Virginia. The state doesn't publish one, and because memory care here is delivered within a licensed facility rather than as a separately surveyed category, the industry surveys that track senior-care prices don't break it out the way they break out assisted living.

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 West Virginia runs a median of about $5,600 a month (roughly $67,200 a year), which sits a bit below the national median of about $70,800 a year. Memory care costs more than that base, here as everywhere, because dementia care means more staff time, dementia-specific training, and a setting built 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 upper end, the same survey put a semi-private nursing-home room in West Virginia at about $149,650 a year and a private room at about $154,395, both well above the national figures, since West Virginia's nursing-home costs are among the highest in the country. Those are industry-survey medians, not government figures, and prices vary across the state and climb as care needs grow. 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 what it includes, how the facility charges as care needs grow, how it reassesses care as dementia progresses, and how often rates rise.

Paying for it is where families often get caught off guard. Assisted living in West Virginia is largely private-pay. West Virginia Medicaid does not pay an assisted living resident's room and board, and the state's Aged and Disabled Waiver is built to support people in their own homes and communities rather than to fund assisted living. 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 care to make a sound decision. You have to get the disclosure in hand, hold it up against what you see, and ask the questions it hands you.

  1. Ask for the written disclosure. Any unit in West Virginia that markets Alzheimer's or dementia care has to disclose its approach in writing, so request it early and read it before you tour. A facility that hesitates to hand over a document it's required to provide is telling you something.
  2. Confirm the underlying license. The disclosure describes the dementia care, but the facility still has to hold a valid license to operate, in most cases an Assisted Living Residence overseen by the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification. Confirm that license with OHFLAC, not just with the facility, and remember an assisted living residence may not be licensed for skilled nursing care.
  3. Pin down staffing, training, and assessment. The disclosure has to describe staffing, staff training, and how the unit assesses and plans care, so ask what the training covers, who gets it, whether new staff complete it before working alone, and how often each resident's care plan is reviewed. Specific answers are a good sign; vague reassurance isn't.
  4. Read the screening and discharge criteria closely. The disclosure has to spell out screening, admission, and discharge practices, so know exactly what would force a move before you sign anything.
  5. Get the costs in writing. Ask for a written breakdown of the base rate, what memory care adds, how care levels get reassessed as dementia progresses, 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, whose license you've verified with the state, and whose promises you've checked against what's actually happening inside the building.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. West Virginia doesn't issue a separate memory care license. Dementia care is regulated through the Alzheimer's Special Care Standards Act (W. Va. Code 16-5R), a disclosure law that applies across facility types, so memory care is delivered inside an already-licensed facility rather than under a license of its own. The facility itself is licensed by the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, most often as an Assisted Living Residence.

It's a written statement that any facility marketing an Alzheimer's or dementia special care unit or program must provide, describing the form of care that distinguishes it from ordinary care. It has to cover the unit's philosophy and mission; its screening, admission, discharge, assessment, and care-planning practices; its staffing and staff training; its physical environment and design; its activities; and how it involves families. The state reviews it at license renewal, so it's meant to stay accurate, not sit in a drawer.

Ask for the written special-care disclosure before you tour, read it closely, and check it against what you see on a visit. Then confirm the facility's underlying license with the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification rather than relying on how the place markets itself.

There's no reliable single statewide figure for memory care alone. Use the assisted-living base as your anchor, about $5,600 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 advertised rate is usually a base that rises as care needs grow, so get a written breakdown from any place you're considering.

Largely, assisted living in West Virginia is private-pay, and West Virginia Medicaid does not pay an assisted living resident's room and board. The state's Aged and Disabled Waiver is built to support people in their own homes and communities rather than to fund assisted living, so it isn't a path to paying a memory-care facility's bill. Because an assisted living residence 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 and reading a West Virginia special care unit's disclosure 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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Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.