"GUIDING PRINCIPLES" FOR ASSISTED LIVING COMMUNITIES

VCAL (6/18/2008)

The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) has unveiled a comprehensive set of Guiding Principles for assisted living communities, focusing on individual centered care as the foundation to develop and improve services.  The principles establish a strong philosophical foundation for the many policy and operational issues facing the assisted living profession today and in the future.  According to David Kyllo, Executive Director of NCAL, “Our intent is to provide a framework to help assisted living communities to provide assistance with physical activities and health-related needs, while also striving to meet the social, emotional, cultural, intellectual and spiritual needs of their residents.”

NCAL developed these guiding principles to assist providers, residents, family members and staff in providing quality care and services and promote full disclosure of information to prospective family members and residents.  NCAL’s guiding principles focuses on the residents’ right to be fully informed regarding fees, policies, and services, as well as ensuring that an assisted living community maintains consistent marketing and communication with its resident agreement and policies.  NCAL also provides comprehensive guidelines on providing quality services and care in assisted living communities, focusing on the importance of creating and maintaining performance objectives, data collecting, benchmarking, measuring resident, family and staff satisfaction, and workforce development.

NCAL’s “Guiding Principles” Resources can be found at:

Guiding Principles for Assisted Living

Principles for Providing Information to Consumers

Guiding Principles for Quality in Assisted Living