Certified Assisted Living Director
Assisted living administrators oversee day-to-day operations and supervise clinical staff at assisted living and long-term care facilities. Many aspiring professionals begin their education by earning a bachelor's or master's degree in a field like health care administration or health sciences management.
Some schools require that incoming students have at least two-years experience in the health care industry and a bachelor's degree. Certificate programs are typically offered by 4-year colleges and universities. Most states require certification or licensure for assisted living administrators.
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Graduate Certificate Programs
An assisted living certification program in assisted living administration, which usually consists of about 15 credit hours, teaches individuals to analyze data related to aging populations. Students also learn to supervise personnel, handle the intake of new patients, and develop strategic management plans.
In these programs, students learn about the regulations and patient care procedures that relate specifically to the elderly and those suffering from age-related conditions, such as dementia. Other topics discussed in assisted living training school are:
- Alzheimer's disease and related conditions
- Management of assisted living facilities
- Strategic management principles
- The U.S. health system
- Counseling for terminally ill patients
Assisted Living Administrator Certification and Licensing
Certification or licensure requirements for assisted living administrators vary by state. Most have minimum education requirements, in addition to requiring completion of a state-sponsored training program. Several states also use the Nursing Home Administration's Residential Care/Assisted Living Examination as a required or voluntary measure of competence. Independent organizations and businesses, such as the Center for Health Services Education and Research, also offer voluntary certification for those in the profession.
A certified assisted living administrator course will prepare students for leadership roles in the field, as they learn about age-related illnesses and conditions, management techniques, counseling methods and human resource operations. Students are required to gain state certification or licensure before seeking employment.
It is important that all employees of assisted living facilities are carefully screened for any history of criminal activity or abuse. Clients who live in these facilities are vulnerable and are often unable to care for their financial assets. They also often unable to defend themselves against physical or emotional abuse. If a candidate for employment has a record of physical abuse against former clients or a record of theft or other financial crimes, it is more likely to happen again once the candidate is hired into a new facility. The federal government stipulates that elder care facilities may not hire those with such records, and there are also state government requirements that vary with each state. Individual facilities may also implement their own hiring policies that are even more stringent than those required by the government.
State Certification and Licensing Requirements for North Carolina and New Jersey
Each state has its own certification and licensing requirements for those who aspire to become assisted living facility administrators. Since the clients in an assisted living facility are able to function to some degree and are not as dependent as those in a nursing home or long-term care facility, some states do not require an assisted living administrator license. However, all candidates for this job must meet the state educational requirements and pass some sort of exam. For example:
- North Carolina: In this state, an applicant for certification as an assisted living administrator must have a high school diploma and either two years of coursework at a college or university, or sixty months minimum of supervisory experience, or a combination of the two.
- New Jersey: To be certified as an assisted living administrator in the state of New Jersey, applicants must complete the state's assisted living administrator training course and then pass the Assisted Living Competency Examination within two years of completing the course.
In both states, applicants must also pass a criminal background check.
Employment Outlook and Salary Info
Medical and health services managers held 394,910 positions in the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov). The mean annual salary for these professionals was $115,160 in May 2019. The job outlook for medical and health services managers is much faster than average, and is expected to grow 32 percent from 2019 to 2029. This is largely due to the aging population of baby boomers.
