Assisted Living in Mississippi

Mississippi’s lower cost of living is reflected in its median monthly assisted living costs, which range from approximately $2,500 to $5,000 per month. ^[01] This range is an estimate based on A Place for Mom’s internal data, which reflects how much families we referred actually paid our assisted living partners in Mississippi.

The varying prices of assisted living are based on several factors including:

• Room size and design
• Services and amenities
• Admission fees

Another factor that affects the cost of personal care homes in Mississippi is an individual’s specific care needs. For example, assisted living facilities are typically more expensive than residential care homes because they offer a higher level of care.

Location can also impact how much families pay for assisted living. Facilities in larger cities — like Jackson or Gulfport — are likely to be more expensive.

Planning for care early often allows families to consider a wider range of payment options. And paying for senior care is usually done using a variety of payment methods.

Mississippi’s Department of Health refers to assisted living facilities as personal care homes, either “Personal Care Home – Assisted Living” or “Personal Care Home – Residential Living.” The main difference is that residential living homes are unable to admit residents who can’t move about independently. The Department of Health defines all personal care homes as facilities that support individuals who require the following services:^[07]

• Personal care
• Health care and monitoring
• Support with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), like cooking, cleaning, and medication management

Only assisted living facilities are required to have a registered nurse on the premises at least eight hours each day.

All Mississippi personal care homes are required to renew their licenses annually and are subject to inspections every 24 months. Mississippi doesn’t offer assisted living inspection reports online, but the Directory of Mississippi Health Facilities maintains a current list of licensed facilities.

The following examples highlight specific requirements that both licensed assisted living and residential care homes in Mississippi must follow:^[08]

• Facilities must provide personal care services such as support with bathing, dressing, and grooming.
• Facilities are required to have at least one direct care staff for every 15 residents from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and one awake direct care staff member for every 25 residents between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
• Rooms or apartments must provide at least 80 square feet per resident.
• Annual medical evaluations are required for each resident.
• Residents who self-manage medication may be monitored by unlicensed staff, but medication administration must be performed by a licensed staff member.

Ease of access to Mississippi assisted living records

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy – or difficult – it is to find important assisted living records and reports, and compiled tips to help you in your search.

States with the most transparent records allow you to look up important information about each assisted living facility online, including inspections, complaints, survey results, violations, capacity, and whether the facility accepts Medicaid.

Access to Mississippi assisted living records: Basic

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of Mississippi is basic. Key findings that informed this rating include:

• Mississippi does not make information about inspections, violations and complaints available online.
• Mississippi is in the lowest quartile for assisted living transparency.

How to look up Mississippi assisted living licenses and records

• Visit the website of Mississippi’s Department of Human Services for basic information.
• Contact the office of your local long-term care ombudsman to see if he or she can provide information about a community you are exploring.
• Visit the US Administration on Aging’s Eldercare Locator to locate the appropriate long-term-care ombudsman.
• If you do need to make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get records, consider browsing these state-by-state resources from the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

How we arrived at our Mississippi rating

We developed a standard methodology for state data collection and evaluation, and based our rating primarily on the objective, state-specific accessibility criteria outlined in these questions:

1.   Are licensed assisted living communities listed online in any form? Yes
2.   If Yes to #1, is the information updated frequently? No
3.   If Yes to #1, is the list of licensed communities searchable? No
4.   Does the state post inspections, complaints, survey results, or violations online? No
5.   If Yes to #4, is the information updated frequently (within 90 days)? No or N/A
6.   If Yes to #2 and #4, is the enforcement information included in the same place as licensed communities? No or N/A
7.   If Yes to #4 and No to #6, are violations and inspections searchable at all? No
8.   Is information about special licensing for care shown? Yes
9.   Is capacity shown? No
10. Are payment types shown (e.g., Medicaid, private pay)? No
11. Is the administrator/contact name shown? Yes
12. Can the state fine a facility? Yes
13. What is the frequency of inspections? [Every 24 months]
14. 14. Does the website include pricing of facilities? No