Last verified: October 2026
What are the three assisted living service levels in Arizona?
Arizona licenses assisted living at three service levels defined in A.R.S. 36-401: supervisory care services, personal care services and directed care services. Each license lists the levels a facility may provide, and a center often lists a bed count for each.
Supervisory care is general supervision, daily awareness of resident functioning, ability to intervene in a crisis and help self-administering prescribed medications. Personal care is help with activities of daily living that need no professional skills, including coordinating intermittent nursing and medication administration by a licensed nurse. Directed care is programs and services, including supervisory and personal care, for people incapable of recognizing danger, summoning assistance, expressing need or making basic care decisions.
Sources: A.R.S. 36-401.
Who needs personal care rather than supervisory care?
A resident who needs hands-on help with bathing, dressing, toileting or medications needs personal care, while supervisory care fits someone who mostly needs oversight, crisis help and reminders to take their own medications.
Personal care also covers coordinating intermittent nursing and having a licensed nurse administer medications. The rule for personal care facilities adds a limit: they may not accept or keep a resident who is unable to direct their own care, which is the point where directed care is required.
Sources: A.A.C. R9-10-814.
When does someone need directed care in Arizona?
Someone needs directed care when they can no longer recognize danger, summon help, express their needs or make basic care decisions, which in practice describes most people with moderate to advanced dementia.
Directed care is the license level Arizona uses for memory care. In Pima County 39 of 53 assisted living centers and 257 of 257 homes hold it. A facility licensed for directed care must also have a designated representative for each resident who cannot direct their own care.
Sources: A.A.C. R9-10-815.
Why does the service level on a license matter to families?
It decides whether a facility may keep your parent as needs grow: a center licensed only for supervisory and personal care must give notice and help arrange a move once a resident needs directed care, while a facility licensed for all three levels can keep the resident in place.
14 Pima County centers hold no directed care license. If your parent has early memory loss, ask any such center what happens when care needs change, and compare it with centers that hold all three levels.
How can you see which levels a Tucson facility holds?
Open the facility's record on AZ Care Check, the ADHS public portal, which lists each licensed service level and, for most centers, the number of beds assigned to it; our directory reproduces those levels and bed counts for every Pima County facility.
Bed counts by level change when a facility modifies its license. AZ Care Check shows recent modification inspections, for example a center converting directed care beds to personal care beds, in its inspection list.
Sources: AZ Care Check.
Arizona service levels compared
| Supervisory | Personal | Directed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main need | oversight and reminders | hands-on daily help | cannot direct own care |
| Medication | help self-administering | may be administered by a nurse | administered as in personal care |
| Typical resident | independent but frail | needs help bathing or dressing | moderate to advanced dementia |
