Last verified: October 2026
Who regulates senior care in Arizona?
The Arizona Department of Health Services licenses and inspects assisted living centers, assisted living homes and nursing homes; AHCCCS runs ALTCS, the Medicaid long-term care program; and Adult Protective Services and the long-term care ombudsman program protect residents.
In Pima County ADHS oversees 53 assisted living centers and 257 assisted living homes, and CMS certifies 24 nursing homes.
Which Arizona rules matter most when choosing assisted living?
Four rules come up on nearly every tour: whether the facility is a center or a home, which service levels its license allows, especially directed care for dementia, what the residency agreement must disclose, and how much notice the facility must give before ending residency.
Each has its own guide below, written from the statute, the administrative code and the agencies' own pages.
Where can you read the Arizona rules yourself?
The definitions are in A.R.S. 36-401 and the assisted living rules in Arizona Administrative Code Title 9, Chapter 10, Article 8 (R9-10-801 onward); AZ Care Check shows how those rules play out for a specific facility through its inspections and enforcement actions.
Rules change through rulemaking, so check the effective date of any section you rely on.
Arizona rules guides
- Assisted living center vs. assisted living home in Arizona — How Arizona's two sizes of assisted living license differ, what each can provide, and how many of each are licensed in Pima County.
- Supervisory, personal and directed care: Arizona's three service levels — What each Arizona assisted living service level allows, who it is for, and what it means when a Tucson facility is licensed for one but not another.
- Memory care in Arizona: what a directed care license requires — Arizona has no separate memory-care license. Here is what its directed care rules require on wandering, exits, admission limits and representatives.
- How to check a Tucson facility on AZ Care Check — A step-by-step guide to the ADHS AZ Care Check portal: license, service levels, inspections, statements of deficiencies and enforcement actions.
- Residency agreements and move-out notice in Arizona assisted living — What an Arizona assisted living residency agreement must contain and how much notice a facility must give before ending residency (R9-10-807).
- Who may run and staff an Arizona assisted living facility — Arizona's rules for assisted living managers (age, Board certification) and caregivers (age, approved training, CPR and first aid).
- Where to take a complaint about senior care in Tucson — Who handles what in Pima County: ADHS licensing complaints, PCOA's long-term care ombudsman, Adult Protective Services and elder fraud reporting.
- How Arizona nursing homes are licensed, inspected and rated — Arizona nursing homes are licensed by ADHS and certified by CMS. How the CMS Five-Star ratings work and how Pima County's nursing homes score.
Who regulates what in Arizona
| Regulates or runs | Does not | |
|---|---|---|
| ADHS | assisted living and nursing home licenses and inspections | pay for care |
| AHCCCS (ALTCS) | Medicaid long-term care payment | license facilities |
| Ombudsman (PCOA in Pima County) | resident advocacy | issue citations |
