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Guides and updates

Written for families in your metro, sourced against your state's and federal data.

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This section publishes guides on senior care in your metro, covering state licensing, costs, Medicaid waivers, hospital discharge, and local resources.

HomeGuides and updates
Short answer

This section publishes 25 guides on senior care in your metro, covering state licensing, what care costs, Medicaid waivers, hospital discharge navigation, and local resources. New guides publish Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

August 28, 2026

Check Page One: The Indiana Insurance Policy That Shields Your Parent's Savings From Medicaid

Indiana adds Medicaid asset protection to qualifying long-term care policies at no extra cost. One boxed paragraph on page one tells you whether your parent has it, and the purchase year decides how much it is worth.

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August 26, 2026

Noblesville Has Two Very Different Housing Stocks. That Matters More Than It Sounds Like.

Noblesville's population has grown more than 10% since 2020 and 11.3% of residents are 65 or older. But the city is really two markets: a 19th-century downtown near the courthouse square, and newer development on the edges. The difference changes what aging in place actually requires.

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August 24, 2026

PathWays, RCAP, and the Waitlist: What Indiana Medicaid Actually Pays For in Assisted Living

Indiana runs two separate Medicaid programs for someone living in a licensed assisted living community, not one. Here's what the PathWays Waiver covers, what RCAP covers, why the two don't automatically travel together, and what the waitlist numbers actually look like this month.

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August 21, 2026

CICOA's Resource Center: What One Phone Call Actually Gets You

CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions is the single Area Agency on Aging for Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, Boone and Hancock counties. Here is what its Resource Center, CareAware, Meals & More, Way2Go and Flourish programs actually do, and when each one applies.

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August 19, 2026

What to Actually Check on an Assisted Living Tour in Indianapolis

A tour is a sales pitch with better lighting. Before you fall for the chandelier, confirm the building's actual license status, whether it takes PathWays or RCAP, and what the dementia disclosure really covers.

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August 17, 2026

Meridian-Kessler and Butler-Tarkington: What Aging in a 1920s Foursquare Actually Involves

Meridian-Kessler and Butler-Tarkington are two of Indianapolis's most walkable, most beautiful, and least accessible neighborhoods for an older resident living alone. Here is what that trade-off actually looks like.

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August 14, 2026

In Hendricks County, the Communities Are on the East Side and the Help Is in Danville

Hendricks County's senior living communities cluster in Avon and Plainfield, near the Marion County line. The county's transportation, respite care, and in-home help run out of Danville, twenty minutes west. Families keep finding one and missing the other.

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August 12, 2026

Indiana Changed Who Decides If Your Parent Qualifies for a Waiver. Here Is Who You Call Now.

Since July 1, 2025, a statewide contractor called the Level of Care Assessment Representative -- not your Area Agency on Aging -- conducts the assessment that gates Indiana's Medicaid waivers. Here is the new sequence, the timelines, and what CICOA still does.

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August 11, 2026

Nobody Holds a Care Conference in Indiana Assisted Living. Here Is What You Get Instead.

Nursing homes owe families a federally mandated care planning process. Indiana assisted living owes something narrower: a semiannual evaluation and a service plan your parent signs. Knowing the difference is how you stay in the room.

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August 7, 2026

Before You Sign: What an Indiana Assisted Living Contract Is Legally Required to Tell You

Indiana law lists fifteen things an assisted living contract must contain and four sentences it must say. It also lets the building write exceptions into most of them. Here is how to read the paperwork before your mother moves in.

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August 5, 2026

Hancock County Is Growing Faster Than It Is Building Senior Care

Hancock County was Indiana's second-fastest-growing county in 2025, and most of that growth landed in McCordsville and Fortville. Nearly all of its senior living sits in Greenfield instead. Here is what that gap means for a family looking east.

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July 31, 2026

The State Program That Isn't Medicaid: How Indiana's CHOICE Program Pays for Help at Home

Indiana funds an in-home services program with no income limit called CHOICE. Most Indianapolis families have never heard of it. Here is who qualifies, what it actually pays for, and why the waiting list is the part that matters most.

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July 29, 2026

Your Parent Got a Discharge Notice From Their Community. Here's What Indiana Law Actually Requires.

Indiana law limits why a licensed Residential Care Facility can make a resident leave, and spells out exact notice periods and appeal rights. Here's what the notice your family received is supposed to say, and what happens if it doesn't.

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July 27, 2026

Will Indiana Take the House? What Medicaid Estate Recovery Actually Does

Indiana recovers what Medicaid paid for a person's care after age 55, and the family home is squarely in scope. Here is what the state can claim, what it cannot touch, and the two deadlines that catch families off guard.

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July 24, 2026

What a 150-Year-Old Neighborhood Means for Aging in Place: Irvington's Housing Stock, Explained

Irvington's Victorian and Craftsman homes are part of what makes it one of Indianapolis's most walkable historic neighborhoods -- and part of why aging in place there takes more planning than it does in a newer subdivision.

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July 22, 2026

VA Aid and Attendance: How Indianapolis Veteran Families Actually Use This Benefit

A federal pension add-on can cover a real slice of assisted living or in-home care for wartime veterans and surviving spouses. Here is what it pays in 2026, who actually qualifies, and where central Indiana veterans get help applying for free.

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July 2, 2026

911, Adult Protective Services, or the Ombudsman? Knowing Which One to Call

Three different systems handle three different kinds of concerns for Indianapolis-area seniors. Calling the wrong one wastes time a family may not have.

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June 29, 2026

Why Winter Is Often When Indianapolis Families Finally Make the Call

Central Indiana's ice, short daylight and holiday visits combine every year to turn a slow-building concern into an urgent one. Here is why, and how to use that moment productively instead of reactively.

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June 25, 2026

Six Questions That Actually Separate Two Communities in Greenwood

After a few tours in Johnson County, every community starts to blur together. These are the specific questions that reveal real differences, not marketing differences.

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June 22, 2026

The Real Math on In-Home Care in Marion County

At Indiana's 2025 median of $35 an hour, in-home care costs more than families expect, faster than they expect. Here is the actual crossover point where a licensed community becomes the cheaper option.

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June 18, 2026

Boone County Is Changing Fast. Its Senior Care Options Are Starting to Catch Up.

The LEAP Lebanon Innovation District is bringing large-scale manufacturing and data-center investment to Boone County. For senior care, that growth is arriving alongside the county's smallest current supply in the metro.

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June 15, 2026

A Practical Guide to Hospital Discharge Planning at Indianapolis's Major Health Systems

IU Health, Ascension St. Vincent, Community Health Network, Franciscan Health and Eskenazi Health each discharge thousands of patients a year into senior care. Here is what to expect and ask at each.

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June 11, 2026

Hamilton County's First Wave of Aging Homeowners Is Reshaping Senior Care in Carmel and Fishers

Carmel and Fishers built explosively in the 1990s and 2000s. Those original homeowners are now in their 60s and 70s, and the county's senior-care supply is only starting to catch up.

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June 8, 2026

The Document Indiana Law Requires Every Memory Care Unit to Show You

Indiana does not certify memory care the way some states do. Instead, it requires a specific written disclosure under state law -- and most families touring a community have never asked to see it.

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June 4, 2026

Why a Closed-Looking Avon Community Is Actually Open: A Lesson in Verifying Senior Care Listings

Search for senior living in Avon and you may find a listing marked permanently closed. It isn't. Here's what happened, and why every family should verify a facility the same way we did before trusting a name online.

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Questions families ask

What license does Indiana require for assisted living?

Indiana licenses assisted-living-type communities as Residential Care Facilities (RCF) under 410 IAC 16.2-5 and Indiana Code 16-28-2, issued by the Indiana Department of Health. It is a single license type -- Indiana does not tier assisted living into Type A/Type B categories the way Texas does.

Does Indiana require every assisted living community to be licensed?

No. Under 410 IAC 16.2-5-0.5(c), a community that provides only room, board, housekeeping and activities -- without administering medication or providing nursing care -- is not required to hold a Residential Care Facility license at all. Some buildings marketed as assisted living in Indiana may carry no state license, so always confirm directly.

Does Indiana require a separate license for memory care?

No. Indiana requires a written Alzheimer's and Dementia Special Care Disclosure under Indiana Code 12-10-5.5, not a separate state certification. Communities must file the disclosure and meet training requirements, but there is no distinct 'certified memory care' license to check for.

How do I check a facility's Indiana license and inspection history?

Use the Indiana Long Term Care Survey & Inspection Public Search at hoosierusa.isdh.in.gov, run by the Indiana Department of Health. Nursing homes also carry a federal CMS Care Compare star rating; assisted living (Residential Care Facilities) does not.

What's the difference between Indiana's Residential Care Facility and Comprehensive Care Facility licenses?

A Residential Care Facility (RCF) is Indiana's assisted-living-type license, covering personal care, medication administration and ADL help, not 24-hour skilled nursing. A Comprehensive Care Facility is Indiana's nursing-home license, for residents who need 24-hour licensed nursing care.

What Medicaid waiver pays for assisted living in Indiana?

Indiana's PathWays Waiver, part of the Indiana PathWays for Aging program launched July 1, 2024 for Hoosiers 60 and older, can pay for care services inside a licensed Residential Care Facility that holds a waiver provider agreement. It does not cover room and board -- that runs through a separate program, RCAP.

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