Levels of Long-Term Care
This information is provided to help consumers make "informed" choices for living arrangements for the elderly and disabled. The levels of institutional care in South Dakota include nursing facilities, assisted living centers, adult foster care homes, residential living centers, congregate housing, and community living homes. Home health services are also available.
Nursing Facilities
Nursing Facilities are licensed by the state and may be certified by Medicare and/or Medicaid. They may admit and retain individuals who require nursing care provided by licensed nurses. They have a medical director and are staffed with licensed nurses. Visit Medicare's Nursing Home Compare site for a list of nursing facilities in South Dakota, along with recent survey information.
Assisted Living Centers
Assisted Living Centers are licensed by the state to provide personal care and services beyond basic food, shelter, and laundry. They may admit and retain only those who do not require more than intermittent nursing care by a licensed nurse. Licensure may include special approvals to offer medication administration, care of the cognitively or physically impaired, oxygen administration, and therapeutic diets. The posted license indicates which approvals are granted. They may also provide home health agency services for short-term skilled services for a specific medical reason.
Adult Foster Care Homes
Adult Foster Care Homes are family residences licensed by the state where aged, blind, physically disabled, developmentally disabled, or socially/emotionally disabled adults can obtain personal care, health supervision services, and household services in a family atmosphere.
Residential Living Centers
not licensed but required to register with the state to provide services, for compensation, for two or more elderly or disabled persons not related to the owner. May admit and retain persons who do not require more than meals, room, and daily living services.
Congregate Housing
Congregate Housing offers an assisted independent living environment for elderly or handicapped individuals who may be functionally impaired or socially deprived but are in good health (not acutely physically ill). It provides residential accommodations, central dining, and related facilities and support services needed to achieve, maintain, or return to a semi-independent lifestyle and to prevent premature or unnecessary institutionalization as the individual ages.
Community Living Homes
Community Living Homes are family-style residences whose owners or operators provide individualized and independent residential community living supports for compensation to at least one unrelated adult, but no more than four adults. They provide one or more regularly scheduled health-related services, either administered directly or in collaboration with an outside health care provider. Community Living Homes are licensed by the state. This term does not include any setting certified or accredited through Chapter 34-20A, Title 27A, or Title 27B.
Hospice
Hospice is an alternative approach to caring for terminally ill individuals, emphasizing palliative care (medical relief of pain) rather than curative or restorative care. Hospice care addresses not only medical needs but also the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of the patient, as well as the emotional needs of the patient’s family. The goal of hospice programs is to keep the patient at home with family and friends as much as possible.