How to Qualify In Each State For Assisted Living Administrator
Requirements Vary
Requirements for becoming an assisted living/residential care administrator vary widely and are evolving daily as most state legislatures continue to set new and higher requirements.
A National Examination Is Available
A national examination over the five assisted living knowledge areas has been established by the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators (NAB). This 150 question national examination covers the five knowledge areas: management, resident care, regulatory issues, human resources and finances. To date it is required only by Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina and Idaho, but five or ten years from now most, if not all, states will likely require passing this national examination.
The Best Source Of State-By-State Information
State by state information on requirements for becoming an assisted living administrator is available by state on this website, but the most comprehensive information on requirements to become an assisted living administrator is published for all the states in the current edition of Seniors Housing State Regulatory Handbook, published by www.seniorshousing.org. Get yourself a copy from them ($75.) to have an up-to-date national overview including who to contact in each state.
Not Available Yet In Colleges
To date, only a couple of junior colleges and one or two four-year colleges have developed studies in assisted living.
If You Want To Qualify Yourself With A Certificate
If you want to qualify yourself with a Certificate from this website on the knowledge base required by the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators you can:
- Click to take the course LTCE 405-06 on this website, OR
- take the state of North Carolina required 15-lesson course LTCE 120, also on this website (no on-campus days required).
If You Need Approved CEUs In Assisted Living
If your state requires taking a certain number of continuing education units (CEUs) to qualify yourself to either become or continue to qualify as an assisted living/residential care administrator you can take any combination of the CEU courses on this website numbered LTCE 821 - 873 or 720 - 740.
Approved By The National CEU Approval Body
These CEU courses have been approved by the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators' National Continuing Education Review Service (NCERS) committee. These courses also cover the nationally recommended knowledge base for assisted living/residential care administrators. ALWAYS CHECK FIRST WITH YOUR STATE AUTHORITY ON THE ACCEPTABILITY OF THESE CEUs BY YOUR STATE........
Our Recommendation
Our recommendation is that you:
- Obtain and meet your state's requirements and while doing so
- Get a Certificate in Assisted Living Administration from this website to prepare your self for the field and the national examination
- Then take the national examination established by the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators as the appropriate minimum knowledge base for becoming a competent assisted living administrator. The exam can be arranged through the website www.nabweb.org.
Our Rationale For This Recommendation:
Complex Care Needs: Because of (1) demographic changes such as fewer family caregivers available, (2) residents typically entering assisted living only when seriously deteriorating health forces them to, and (3) government cost-saving pressures, assisted living facilities are caring for residents who 10 years ago required 24 hour nursing care in intermediate care nursing homes.
New Training Needs: This means that, at minimum, the assisted living administrator and staff of today must be able to recognize and take appropriate action when residents are exhibiting signs of catastrophic health events such as strokes, heart attacks, dangerous weight losses, a dangerous insulin deficiency, symptoms of pneumonia or a highly infectious disease such as scabies, TB or MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Failure to do so is already resulting in an increasing number of successful lawsuits against assisted living facilities who fail to understand how to give sophisticated quality health and personal care. Preventable in-facility acquired pressure sores and other preventable health deterioration, for example, occur in facilities daily and are increasingly the focus of expensive successful lawsuits against facilities normally naming the administrator and resident care director in the suits.
In light of the increasing complexity of today's assisted living residents the administrator must be a sophisticated professional who understands the residents' health and social needs and is able to lead and motivate staff to give quality care. Learning the nationally recommended knowledge base will provide this.
Why Get A Certificate From This Website And Pass The National Examination?
To Put Yourself Ahead Of The Curve......By
- assuring yourself that you have obtained the necessary knowledge to be a competent assisted living administrator, and
- demonstrating to any employer that you have taken the initiative to professionally qualify yourself by
studying the knowledge base of this rapidly developing field and
passing the national examination.
The National Assisted Living Examination
The National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators (NAB) (Click here to learn more about the NAB) has developed five national domains of practice (the minimum knowledge base) for assisted living administrators.
Understanding the National Residential Care / Assisted Living Examination
The national examination consists of 150 questions in the one-best-answer format. Questions are written by administrators from across the United States at what are called "item writing workshops" usually conducted twice each year. NAB has about 2000 items or questions in its computer-based bank of questions. Several versions of the 150 question national examination are developed each year, assuring that anyone retaking the national examination will have a new test each time.
Subject Areas Covered by the National Residential Care / Assisted Living Administrators Examination
The five subject areas of the national examination are the five areas covered by the textbook Assisted Living Administration: The Knowledge Base by James E. Allen. The percent of questions in each test area is as follows:
21% management 31 questions
18% personnel 27 questions
18% finance 27 questions
13% environment 20 questions
30% resident care 45 questions
What Must One Score to Pass the National Residential Care / Assisted Living Administrators Examination?
One must give about 65% to 70% correct answers to pass. The number of correct answers varies with each exam based on a scaled score which is tied to the difficulty level of each exam version.
What Percentage of Candidates for the National Residential Care / Assisted Living Administrators Examination Pass?
The national residential care / assisted living examination was first given in 1999, hence little trend data is available. However, the pass / fail rates on Exam form 6445201 administered 10/14/99 parallels long-term experience with the national nursing home exam: 80% of first time candidates passed and 46% of repeat test takers from earlier in 1999 passed.