Questions to Ask on a Senior Living Facility Tour

A facility tour is designed to make a good first impression -- a nice lobby, a friendly greeting, fresh flowers in the common area. None of that tells you how residents are actually cared for on a Tuesday night when no one's touring. These are the questions that do.

Staffing

The single biggest driver of quality of care is staffing -- ask specifically, not just "do you have enough staff."

• What's the staff-to-resident ratio, and does it change overnight or on weekends?
• What's your staff turnover rate? High turnover often means residents are cared for by people who don't know them well.
• Who administers medications, and what's their training/licensure?
• What happens if a staff member calls in sick -- is there a reliable backup plan, or does the floor go short-staffed?

Care and health

Understand exactly what triggers a change in care level, cost, or a required move.

• How do you assess what level of care a resident needs, and how often is that reassessed?
• What happens if my family member's needs increase — is there a point where they'd have to move to a different level of care?
• How do you handle a medical emergency, and how quickly can you get a resident to a hospital?
• Can I see the facility's most recent state inspection report, and is there anything on it you'd want to explain?

Daily life

This is where you find out what daily life is actually like, not just what the activities calendar says.

• Can I see a typical daily schedule, and can I visit unannounced at a different time to see it in action?
• What's the food actually like -- can I eat a meal here, and are dietary restrictions genuinely accommodated?
• How do you handle disputes or complaints from residents or families, and can I talk to a current resident's family?
• What's included in the base rate, and what costs extra -- get this in writing, not verbally.

Before you decide

Pull the facility's actual state inspection and, for nursing homes, CMS rating data yourself before finalizing a decision -- see our guide on how to read an inspection report. A tour tells you how a place presents itself; the inspection record tells you what regulators actually found.