How to check a community's record yourself
Before touring or signing anything, verify a community's actual license status directly with the state -- don't rely on a facility's website claims alone.
- MDH Health Care Provider Directory -- MDH's free, daily-updated public lookup tool. Search by provider type ("Assisted Living Facilities" or "Assisted Living with Dementia Care Facilities"), county, city, or name to confirm current license status, address, and administrator of record. Search the MDH Health Care Provider Directory.
- Minnesota Assisted Living Report Card -- a public quality tool showing Resident Health, Safety, and Staffing ratings drawn from MDH survey results, updated quarterly. View the Assisted Living Report Card (for nursing homes specifically, use the separate Nursing Home Report Card).
- File or check a complaint -- MDH's Office of Health Facility Complaints takes complaints against licensed facilities at 651-201-4200 (Twin Cities metro) or 1-800-369-7994 (greater Minnesota), during normal MDH business hours. This is different from the 24/7 abuse-reporting line (MAARC) covered elsewhere on this site.
What to actually look at once you are in there
Pulling the record is easy. Reading it usefully is the part nobody explains.
- Match the license type to your parent's needs, not just to today. Ask directly about admission and retention criteria.
- Check the licensee name against the operator. Ownership turns over regularly, and buildings are often marketed under a brand that differs from the license holder.
- Read deficiency narratives, do not count citations. A missing signature and an injured resident can appear in the same document, formatted identically.
- Look for repetition across surveys. One citation is an incident. The same finding across consecutive surveys is a pattern.
