Assisted-living facilities that offer memory-care services in Arizona may soon be subject to additional requirements designed to prevent seniors from wandering away unsupervised and dying in the heat.
Proposed rules under review by the Arizona Department of Health Services would require reporting and training.
The action comes after a new law was passed that requires state regulators to write new standards for facilities that offer memory care. Until this year, Arizona never had a law that defined “memory care,” despite many assisted-living facilities marketing themselves as offering highly specialized care for people with dementia.
The ABC15 Investigators found at least a dozen people since 2017 have wandered out of Arizona care facilities and died in the heat. The long-term care industry refers to unsupervised wandering, where a person leaves the facility, as an “elopement.”
Now, for the first time, the term “elopement” would be defined under the proposed state rules. Assisted-living facilities that offer memory-care services would be required to immediately investigate elopements and notify the state health department within one business day. Right now, there’s no required reporting and no state agency tracks elopements.