How to Get Your Facility License as a RAL Owner | Assisted Living
Jan 10, 2025
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Success
Starting an assisted living business is exciting, but getting your facility license might feel overwhelming. Don’t worry—securing your Residential Assisted Living (RAL) license is doable with the right plan. This guide will break down the steps to help you navigate the process confidently.
Let’s dive into everything you need to know to get your assisted living facility licensed and ready to serve your residents!
Check out the video, too:
Why Do You Need a Facility License?
A facility license is more than just a legal requirement—it’s a sign of quality and safety. Licensing ensures your facility meets state standards for:
- Safety: Fire alarms, emergency exits, and proper maintenance.
- Staffing: Qualifications and training for caregivers.
- Care Standards: Policies for medication management, emergencies, and daily operations.
Operating without a license can lead to fines or even facility closure. But beyond legal compliance, having a license shows families that your facility is trustworthy and committed to providing excellent care.
Step 1: Start with Your State’s Department of Health
Your licensing journey begins with your state’s Department of Health (or equivalent agency). This is where you’ll get the most accurate and up-to-date information about licensing requirements.
- Initiate Contact: Call or email your state’s licensing department. Let them know you’re opening or buying a facility, and ask who you should speak to.
- Ask Questions: Learn about required documents, timelines, and inspections. Each state has its own rules, so it’s crucial to understand your specific requirements.
- Follow Their Guidance: They’ll direct you to the right resources, whether it’s an online portal or a person dedicated to licensing assistance.
Step 2: Understand Communication Methods
Every state handles licensing differently. Some use online portals, while others rely on email or phone.
- Portals: If your state uses one, log in often to check for updates.
- Email or Phone: Confirm the best way to reach your licensing contact.
- Stay Organized: Keep all communication in a dedicated folder to avoid missing important details.
Pro Tip: Respond quickly to any requests from licensing officials. Showing you’re reliable makes the process smoother.
Step 3: Gather Required Documentation
Here’s a list of common documents you’ll need for your application:
- Basic Info: Facility name, address, and administrator’s contact info.
- Ownership Details: Names of owners or LLC members.
- Services Provided: Specify if you’re offering memory care, assisted living, or independent living.
- Proximity to Emergency Services: Distance to the nearest hospital and emergency response time.
- Floor Plan: A map of your facility, showing resident rooms, bathrooms, and common areas.
- Fire and Safety Inspections: Certification from the fire department or another local agency.
- Policies and Procedures: A comprehensive manual detailing your facility’s operations.
- Business Entity Info: Articles of incorporation or organization.
- Lease or Ownership Documents: Proof you own or lease the property.
Step 4: Create Your Policies and Procedures
This document is the backbone of your operation, covering everything from staff training to emergency protocols.
- Start Early: Writing this manual takes time. Begin as soon as possible.
- Ask for Help: If you’re buying a facility, ask the seller for their existing manual. You can adapt it to fit your needs.
- Use Templates: Some companies sell ready-made policies tailored to state requirements, but ensure they’re customized for your facility.
Your licensing board will review this carefully, so make sure it’s thorough and accurate.
Step 5: Prepare for the Timeline
The licensing process doesn’t happen overnight. Here’s how to stay on track:
- Start Early: Reach out to your state’s Department of Health as soon as you decide to open or buy a facility.
- Organize Documents: Use cloud storage to keep everything accessible for both licensing and loan applications.
- Be Patient: Inspections, reviews, and approvals can take weeks or months.
Pro Tip: Don’t wait for licensing to start marketing. Build awareness about your facility while waiting for approval.
Build Relationships Along the Way
Forming strong connections with licensing officials can make the process smoother. Be polite, responsive, and professional in every interaction. A positive relationship with your state’s representatives can also help you down the road, whether you’re expanding or renewing your license.
Final Thoughts
Getting your RAL license is a big milestone. Here’s a quick recap to keep you on track:
- Start by contacting your state’s Department of Health.
- Understand the communication process—portals, emails, or phone.
- Gather your required documents, including a detailed policies and procedures manual.
- Stay organized, patient, and proactive throughout the process.
Securing your license is more than just paperwork—it’s the first step toward creating a safe, welcoming environment for your residents and their families.
Ready to start your journey? Begin your licensing process today and take the first step toward owning a thriving assisted living facility!
Ready to Take the Next Steps?
Thinking of starting your own assisted living business? Download our Business Plan Checklist to ensure your business plan covers all the critical areas needed for success. This comprehensive guide will help you navigate the complexities of creating a business plan to start and grow your assisted living business.
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:01
[Music] hey guys it's brandon gustafson welcome back to assisted living investing happy to have you on the channel today just a reminder uh we've launched assistedlivinginvesting.net we'd love to see you over on the website i've got some free resources over there i would love to have you subscribe to the newsletter for future content so you can kind of continue to to get information to help you on your journey to purchase and be an assisted living owner so you can kind of make your your
00:00:40
own assisted living facility i would love to help you on on that journey also make sure you like comment and subscribe to the channel make sure you ring the bell over here i would love to have you get on and and and just get notified when we have new content and making as you like and comment subscribe it really helps other people find the channel and it helps them get down this path that to financial freedom and it helps you kind of learn the process so that um it helps others learn the process so that
00:01:09
everybody can be successful i'd love to also see on the other social media platforms just follow me on those locations i've got links down in the bio and i'm at the end of the at the end of the video just a quick recap in our last video we went over what is an assisted living facility license and why do you need one we did an overview of what those things are uh what it looks like and today we're going to get into how do you obtain that facility license as an owner of a of an assisted living
00:01:38
facility specifically of a residential facility the process is going to look very similar if you're looking at doing something larger but a lot of this experience is coming from that perspective of a residential facility and so i really want to help you understand what what it looks like and where you can get started how you get that facility license so that you can then operate and get things up and running so first off where where do you start um that's the best place to start is at the
00:02:08
beginning right and so we're going to get into where you start uh that application process first as i mentioned in the last video you want to contact somebody at the state department of health they're going to be a great resource for you and helping connect you with the correct licensing department uh learning what that licensing process is for your state it's a great place to start uh by now you know hopefully you've started already developing a relationship with this with the state department of health
00:02:36
but that's going to be the best place for you to start and have a conversation what is the licensing process in our state and they're going to be able to give you some direction there from there many states are going to have a specific licensing department that you can then coordinate with to obtain your license so that state department of health is going to say yeah this is the process if you reach out to johnny over here he's going to be able to to help you understand the the process he's with the
00:03:03
licensing department for healthcare facilities in in our state that's a lot of the experience that i've had is kind of going through that they're going to give you the direction make you a connection and it's really going to help streamline that process for you the licensing department once you connect with with them um they'll either have like a website or they'll have like a pdf that kind of outlines what they're going to need from you to complete the application so you can receive your facility license
00:03:29
many times you'll be given contact information like phone or email of the person that can help you out just make sure that you have a good line of communication with this person as as everything that we kind of have gone through you want to make sure you're developing relationships with people maintaining those relationships is key to your success and operating your facility and closing a deal and whatever thing that you're doing making sure you have good solid lines of communication that you're responsive and
00:03:57
and developing good relationships with people is going to help you as you get through the process and trying to to open and operate your facility something of note here though that i've had the experience of is some states are going to have kind of a portal that they do communications through so they're not going to allow you to do email um unfortunately and it can be frustrating when you're dealing with this portal because sometimes they don't tell you there's a portal or sometimes
00:04:26
you're using the portal but you don't get like an email notification that tells you you have a message in the portal so you have to remind yourself to go and check it luckily the person that you're communicating with through the portal is very used to this and they're generally pretty responsive when using the portal and so the delays are generally going to come on your end uh you just have to remember you've got to go to a portal and you've got to uh interact with them there so that's
00:04:48
something to to keep keep an eye out for i would say it's probably something that you would want to have a conversation with what's the best way for us to communicate is an email can we call on phone do you have a portal um and just making sure that you're on the same page on the way that you need to communicate so that you don't have things fall through the cracks and also so you're not waiting a ton of time to get a response when in reality they responded to you already and it's just in the
00:05:13
portal you got to go find it um so that's something you'll want to be aware of so what kind of documents and information do you need um when you're going through the application process as i've as i've mentioned several times already um this is going to depend on the state and the different requirements that your state has a different type of facility you're you're in so take all this with a grain of salt your state is likely going to have their own requirements the type of facility
00:05:39
that you're doing within your state is going to have its own requirements so get familiar with with what those are what that application process looks like in your specific state but i did want to give you kind of a good overview of some of the types of things that you will likely need to give them in the application process none of this is anything that you've got to go really find and do a lot with but it's good to kind of have this information as you go through the process as somewhat of a
00:06:06
checklist so that you know what to expect as you're going into this so some of those items are like general information so they're going to want to know your business name addresses phone and fax number email contact information the contact person uh that type of information they're going to want to know just kind of that general business information you're going to want to know like the type of care that is being provided the types of residents that will be served like are they are they
00:06:34
memory care residents that need assistance with dementia or are they residents that are generally able to kind of do a lot of their own care by themselves more of an independent living type situation uh you know what type of resident are you gonna have in the home um your ownership disclosure so if you're partnering with somebody you're gonna need to put in there who is in the the ownership group of of your organization they'll want administrator information the license number for your
00:07:02
administrator contact information for the administrator as well they'll want to know like proximity to different services like how close are you to a hospital ambulance emergency services physician services those types of things they're going to want to know a little bit about you know how close are you to some of these things just in case you have an emergency need to get to an emergency room they'll want to see a floor plan um and that could be something that is professionally done or i even i like
00:07:29
in idaho we just did kind of a basic drawing of what that floor plan looked like and that sufficed a building inspection often times this is done by them it's done by the state or the fire department or both in some cases and they'll go through and they'll make sure that everything is up to code and that there are no issues there is something else that you'll need to do which is something you might have to wait on from them generally they're going to be pretty quick but especially during terms like covid they
00:07:59
can get backed up and so that can take some time they'll want uh the articles of organization so things like for your legal entity when you set that up they'll want that information uh if you have a lease agreement they'll want to see what that lease agreement looks like and then the the big thing is policies and procedures they'll want that and that's going to be probably the most time consuming thing that you have to do but you need it to operate your facility it's going to help you have things run
00:08:26
smoothly once you have the facility in place but it's something that they're going to need oftentimes for that licensing process and they'll have to review that and make sure that it's that it's good and everything is up to code and up to date and that you're going to be able to operate your facility in such a way that uh provides appropriate care for your residents timeline um i'm coming at this one from the point of view of your purchasing a facility but it's it's similar
00:08:53
when you're just kind of starting a facility once you've determined that you're going to purchase that facility or even start that facility you'll want to reach out to the department of health to determine what their requirements are and what that application process is going to look like so as soon as you've decided what it is even you know you're starting your own facility um you still want to reach out to them and start having a conversation start learning what that process is going to look like
00:09:16
what's the timeline going to look like that's going to give you the best idea of what it looks like in your specific state and situation so start off with that many times many of those documents that are required by the state in the licensing process are actually going to be very similar to the ones that are required by a lender so if you're purchasing an existing facility a lot of the information you've given to your lender that they're using to underwrite is is going to be a lot of
00:09:45
the same stuff so you're going to have it already there put together so i can't stress this enough i know i've talked about this in previous videos once you kind of get that needs list from your lender you start working on your facility license you might want to look at future deals acquiring more facilities building your portfolio have a folder in your google drive in in your cloud-based um area that has all of that information because you're going to use it frequently um there's going to be a lot of documents
00:10:15
that you're going to need and you want to have them in the same spot so you don't have to go find them every single time somebody asks you for them make sure you put them in the same location so it's easy to find easy to update and easy to get off and that's going to just help you through your process and in communicating and getting things out to them now the longest part of this process if you don't already have it in place is going to be putting together your policies and procedures so this is a
00:10:41
document that i think for us in idaho it's like 300 pages our one in colorado is probably around 200 it's a long document it goes through every single scenario that you could ever imagine and think of it's going to go through every single one of those you need to have that document in place it's going to be a part of your process so if you don't already have it get started on it today there are companies where you can buy kind of done for you policies and procedures i've never used them what
00:11:12
i've ended up doing in my situation is talked to the previous owners and received their policies and procedures and then just adjusted them to to meet my needs and that has worked for us but you also you know if you're not lucky enough to to be able to find a seller that's willing to share that with you um one of your best bets is going to be either networking with an existing owner to see if the they're willing to share that information with you or getting with one of these organizations online that can kind of
00:11:42
give you some of that information but it's still going through a review process you're still going to probably end up having to need to make a bunch of edits to it to make sure that it's up to snuff and and gets you everything you need to do comment down below if having a video on policies and procedures would be of interest to you it's not something that i'm super familiar with or comfortable with it's something i've handed off a lot to my administrators but i know it's a key
00:12:09
part in getting things up and running and i'm sure there are a lot of questions around policies and procedures and i'd love to make some content around that so i can help you in the process so comment down below if that would be something that's interesting to you another thing that you you might have to do is wait on inspections i mentioned this a little bit earlier in the video but you might have to wait on the state or the fire department to do an inspection and you know this could take
00:12:31
two to ten weeks just kind of depending on on how backed up they are i would say just in general it's reasonable to think that once you start that application you know day one to the time that you have everything turned in and it's ready for review four to eight weeks is probably reasonable to think in every situation that's going to be different it's going to be dependent on your state and and their backlog of work and things like that how long it's going to take you to get
00:13:01
the policies and procedures ready and ready to turn in uh but that's i would say that's probably about right four to eight weeks is how long uh once you've given everything to them um for the application they're generally going to be pretty quick to turn it around they do this regularly but just understand they might come back to you with corrections especially around the policies and procedures in one of our states we had to do a lot of revisions on the policies and procedures and it took us
00:13:31
a lot of time to get that in place and it was really stressful we were doing it during the holidays it was just a lot of work uh trying to get it in place the state was wonderful to work with they were very understanding and helping us get through the process but it was a lot of work and and took a lot of patience on our part and on their part but we were able to get through it now as i mentioned because there might be revisions you're going to want to start this process of obtaining your facility
00:13:56
license as quickly as possible once you've decided yeah i want to have a facility reach out to the state and and start the process start learning exactly what they need start working on your policies and procedures you might not even have the deal this specific location that you want to to to work at or the facility that you want to own but getting started in this process is something you want to do as quickly as possible because you just don't know how long it's going to take you also depending on the state
00:14:24
they may be willing to let you operate under the previous owner's license for a time while you're completing your application in colorado they let us do this and it was extremely helpful so we were able to purchase the facility we operated under the the previous owner's license while we work on getting our license in place so we did that for about two months and then um we submitted our application they were actually able to turn around the review and and give us our facility license in
00:14:50
short order and we got things in place and everything was running smoothly we didn't have to skip a beat we had issues on the medicaid side of things but that's that was separate from this facility license and so we were able to get that in place which was extremely helpful so to recap today we've been talking about how to obtain your facility license as an assisted living facility owner we went over where to start some of the documents and information you might need and then what that timeline uh looks
00:15:17
like i hope that that information was helpful for you i please comment down below if you have questions i need clarification on the timeline uh the process i'd love to hear from people that own facilities in different states apart from the ones that that i own mine in and that i've looked at operating in because i know things are different in each state and i think people are going to to learn a lot from the comments that you put in down below make sure you like the video give me a big thumbs up uh comment down below uh
00:15:47
subscribe ring that bell um over here and i would love to have you on the on the video next time we're going to be getting into legal entities uh with the caveat that i am not a professional i'm not an attorney but we'll start getting into how i set my entities up uh what that process looks like how i how i have things structured because i know that's something that is also scary for people as they get started in this business so i'd love to share that information with you again
00:16:15
make sure you like comment subscribe follow me on my other social media platforms and make sure you visit assistedlivinginvesting.net we'll love you over there for the free resources and to join the mailing list for future content thanks for watching today and we'll see you next time have a great one [Music] you
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