Sarasota Senior AdvisorBy Sarasota Senior Advisor Care Team · September 2, 2026
Florida's new s. 429.076 requires assisted living facilities that serve or advertise memory care to get a memory care services license once AHCA adopts rules, due by June 1, 2027. 63 ALFs in Sarasota and Manatee list memory care on their AHCA profiles today; ask each whether it will apply.
What did Florida change in 2026?
For years, the words memory care meant whatever a Florida assisted living facility's marketing department wanted them to mean. The only legal standard was s. 429.178, Florida Statutes, which applies to a facility that advertises special care for Alzheimer's disease: an awake staff member at all hours if it has 17 or more residents, activities designed for people with cognitive impairment, a safe physical environment and staff who have completed the state's dementia training.
Chapter 2026-102, Laws of Florida, created s. 429.076 and with it a new category on the assisted living license: memory care services. Any ALF that serves one or more memory care residents, or holds itself out as providing memory care, will need that license on top of its standard license. AHCA must adopt the rules by June 1, 2027. Facilities licensed before the rules take effect then have six months to obtain the license; facilities licensed afterward need it before they serve memory care residents at all.
How many local facilities does this affect?
AHCA's facility profiles let each ALF report whether it runs a memory care program. In Sarasota and Manatee counties, 63 of the 128 licensed assisted living facilities report one, 57 of them licensed for 17 or more residents. The table shows where they are by mailing address.
| City or community | ALFs listing memory care | All licensed ALFs |
|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | 25 | 58 |
| Bradenton | 16 | 31 |
| Venice | 11 | 20 |
| Lakewood Ranch | 5 | 6 |
| North Port | 2 | 5 |
| Palmetto | 0 | 2 |
| Englewood | 2 | 4 |
| Nokomis | 2 | 2 |
That profile flag is self-reported, so it is a list of facilities that will need to decide what to do, not a list of facilities that meet any particular standard.
What will the new rules have to cover?
The statute sets the agenda for AHCA's rulemaking. The rules must cover policies and procedures for memory care, standardized admission criteria for memory care residents, the minimum care, services and activities, staff training that meets or exceeds the dementia training in s. 430.5025, safety requirements including at least one awake staff member at all hours, physical plant standards, and contract terms that spell out the memory care services a resident will receive.
The rules must also list words a facility may not use in advertising without the license. The statute names memory care, memory care facility, memory care services, dementia care, dementia care facility, Alzheimer's care and Alzheimer's care facility. A facility without the license may still describe supportive services it offers to people with dementia, as long as it avoids those terms and keeps copies of its ads for AHCA to review at renewal.
What happens if a facility does not get the license?
This is the part families should understand before choosing. A facility already serving memory care residents when the rules take effect can keep serving them without the license only if it shows AHCA it cannot reasonably obtain one, notifies residents and caregivers in writing that they may move, helps them find a licensed facility on request, stops accepting new memory care residents and amends each remaining resident's contract to describe the services provided.
In practice, a building that markets memory care in 2026 and decides not to apply could stop admitting memory care residents within a year or two. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to ask.
What should you ask on a tour this year?
Ask whether the facility intends to apply for the memory care services license when AHCA's rules are final. Ask whether it currently advertises special Alzheimer's care under s. 429.178, and if so, how many staff are awake on the memory care wing at 2 a.m., not in the building as a whole. Ask what share of current caregivers have finished dementia training. Then look at the inspection history.
Across the 79 larger ALFs in the two counties with posted inspection histories, AHCA cited the dementia training tag (ZZ875 or CZ875) 21 times in the visits shown. A citation is not a verdict on a building, but a training citation at a memory care community is worth a direct question about what changed.
How should you compare two memory care communities today?
Until the license exists, compare the things the new rules will eventually require, because they are the things that matter most anyway. Ask each community for its written admission criteria for its memory care area, a typical week's activity calendar for residents with dementia, the number of staff on the memory care wing on each shift, and the dementia training records for those staff. Ask how the doors are secured and how often staff check on residents overnight.
Then ask what the contract says about memory care services specifically. The new law will require licensed facilities to spell those services out in the resident contract; a community that can already show you that language in writing is ahead of the curve.
Frequently asked questions
Does Florida already license memory care?
Not in practice yet; s. 429.076 takes effect through AHCA rules due by June 1, 2027, and until then s. 429.178 governs ALFs that advertise Alzheimer's care.
Will my parent have to move when the law takes effect?
Not necessarily; a facility that obtains the license can keep serving memory care residents, and one that cannot must notify residents and stop admitting new ones.
Is AHCA's memory care flag a license?
No; it is program information reported by the facility on its AHCA profile.
When will the new memory care rules be adopted?
The statute requires AHCA to adopt them by June 1, 2027; facilities licensed before then have six months after the rules take effect to obtain the license.
Can an unlicensed ALF still serve people with dementia?
Yes; residents with dementia who meet admission criteria can live in any ALF, and a facility offering only optional supportive services to all residents does not need the memory care license.
