Factors Associated With Assisted Living Facility Closure

Assisted living facilities (ALFs) have experienced rapid growth in the past few decades. The expansion in the number of ALFs may cause markets to become oversaturated, and a greater risk of unprofitable ALFs to close. However, no studies have investigated ALF closure. This study adapted a model developed for the nursing home market for the ALF market to examine the organizational, internal, and external factors associated with closure.

Data on 1,939 ALFs operating in 2013 from Florida were used to estimate a logistic regression to examine the organizational, internal, and external factors that were associated with closure between 2013 and 2015.

During the 2-year study period, 141 ALFs (7.3%) closed. Significant factors associated with increased odds of closure included fewer beds, not accepting Medicaid, and more deficiencies. Two factors (market concentration and population density) were marginally significant.

The results of this study confirm the usefulness of a model that includes organizational, internal, and external factors to predict ALF closure. These outcomes highlight the concerns that closure can affect access to community-based long-term care, especially for rural older adults, and indicate an expansion of Medicaid acceptance in ALFs could be protective against closure.