A Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF) is a residential setting where 5 or more unrelated adults live together and receive room and board, supervision, and support services, plus up to 3 hours of nursing care per week per resident. CBRFs are licensed under Wis. Admin. Code ch. DHS 83 by the DHS Bureau of Assisted Living.
What this means in practice
Most communities that market themselves as 'assisted living' or 'memory care' in the Milwaukee metro are, legally, licensed as CBRFs. The 3-hours-per-week nursing-care ceiling matters because it caps how much hands-on medical support a CBRF can legally provide before a resident needs to move to a higher level of care like a nursing home. CBRFs must also file a program statement identifying which client groups they serve (including, in many cases, residents with dementia) and must provide dementia-specific staff training within 90 days of hire if they serve that population. Ask to see a facility's current program statement and its most recent DQA survey before signing an admission agreement.
Related questions
- Does Wisconsin have one 'assisted living license' like some other states?
- What is an RCAC and how is it different from a CBRF?
- What is an Adult Family Home (AFH) in Wisconsin?
- Does a Wisconsin nursing home need a different license than assisted living?
- How do I check whether a Milwaukee-area facility's license is current?
- Who licenses and regulates senior care facilities in Wisconsin?
- What happens if I have a complaint about a Milwaukee-area facility's care?
