Guide · Updated August 4, 2026
The 20 Questions to Ask on Every Facility Tour in Venice
A printable 20-question checklist for touring assisted-living and memory-care communities: staffing, licensing, contracts, discharge triggers and costs.
Tour three unlike communities, ask all twenty questions at each, and get the money answers in writing. A community that resents the questions has answered the most important one.
Staffing (the answers that matter most)
1. What is the staff-to-resident ratio — days, evenings, and overnight? 2. Is a nurse on site or on call overnight? 3. What is your care-staff turnover over the last year? 4. Who performs the pre-admission assessment and how often is the care plan reviewed? 5. What dementia-specific training do staff receive, and how many hours?
Licensing & safety
6. What AHCA licence does the building hold — standard, ECC, LNS — and can I verify it on floridahealthfinder.gov? 7. What needs can you legally NOT retain — what forces a discharge? 8. How are falls handled and are families notified the same day? 9. For memory care: how is the building secured, and what happens after an elopement attempt? 10. When was your last AHCA inspection and may I see the report?
Daily life
11. May I see the activities calendar for last month — and what actually ran on the weekend? 12. May we eat a meal here during the tour? 13. How are roommate or neighbour conflicts handled? 14. What is the visiting policy, stated plainly? 15. How do residents get to outside medical appointments?
Money & contract
16. At the assessed care level, what is the total monthly invoice including everything you bill? 17. What were your annual increases in each of the last three years? 18. What is the move-in/community fee and its refund terms? 19. What notice ends the contract, from either side? 20. Do you accept the Florida Medicaid LTC waiver — from day one, or after a private-pay period, and how many beds?
Reading the answers
Vague staffing numbers, refusal to show inspection reports, pressure to sign on the day, and “we handle that individually” on discharge triggers are the four red flags that should end a candidacy. Precise, documented answers — even unflattering ones — are what a well-run building sounds like. Price the winners with the cost guide and check funding in the how-to-pay guide.
Print this page and mark answers on the tour — communities take clipboard families more seriously, and so should you.
Last updated August 4, 2026. Facility details are compiled from public directory listings (US News, A Place for Mom, FALA, Yelp, carechanges.com) and were accurate at review time. Pricing, availability and licensing change — verify directly with any facility before making decisions. Reviewed against AHCA, Florida DOEA and Alzheimer's Association public guidance. This independent guide welcomes corrections.