Navigating the Approval Process for an RCFE

If you are interested in opening and operating a residential care facility for the elderly, there are licensing requirements that must be met. Assisted living facilities require an RCFE license issued by the Department of Social Services through the Community Care Licensing Division (CCL). Your facility won’t be allowed to accept any residents until approval of your licensing application has been granted. From the moment you submit the application, it can between three to six months to have the approval finalized.

Prepare for a Detailed Process

Although the paperwork process is a key component of the application, the most important element of the physical inspection of the facility conducted towards the end of the approval process. A CCL Regional Office representative will visit your site and ensure all elements complies with licensure requirements at both the local and federal levels. While the physical assessment of the property and facility protect the interests of the patient, employee, investor, and owner, there have been complaints in the past the CCL offices operate slowly and delay the opening of care centers due to untimely application approval.

Getting Caught in a Financial Stranglehold

New owners cannot begin to pursue licensing without having a physical facility for the administrators at the local CCL to inspect. However, the facility can’t accept potential resident applications as long as they remain unlicensed. For those who are footing the bill for the new center, it can be an expensive and devastating undertaking to continue waiting for RCFE license approval. Operating a facility without being able to generate revenue is costly. Timeliness of licensure is needed to promote the financial stability of the investor and the facility.

In order to expedite your application process, consider the following tips.

1. Have a trained and certified administrator on your team or payroll.
2. Determine and secure the physical location and facility structure.
3. Get a pre-inspection with the local fire marshal.
4. Complete a DDS orientation course.
5. Use an advising organization to help complete the RCFE application.
6. Have three to fourth months of operating costs in the bank to support your application.
7. Be patient and wait on the approval, quickly complying with any requests for paperwork or information.

 

How to Talk to Your Loved One About Assisted Care Facilities

Talking to your loved one about an assisted living facility is tough. Often, there is going to be some arguing and some fear. Here are some tips on how to deal with the conversation.

Discuss it Early

Talk about assisted living before there is a health crisis. This will help you and your loved one prepare for it. You can discuss how he or she feels about it, about what type of facility he or she prefers. The earlier you talk about it, the less likely it is to be a shock later.

Listen Carefully

For your loved one, this is probably a difficult time. Before making the decision, make sure to hear all of your family member’s worries and concerns. Use your knowledge of the facility, including its RCFE licensing to try to console your family member. However, don’t invalidate how he or she may feel about it.

Visit the Assisted Living Facility

The best that you can do is to visit the assisted living facility together. Make sure that you have done the proper research and ensure that the establishment is up to your standards, including making sure that they have RCFE licensing. Then, visit the establishment with your loved one.

When it comes to talking to your family about moving into an assisted care facility, dealing with it delicately and in an informed way is the best solution.

What You Can Learn from Online RCFE Classes

If you are considering a career as an administrator for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly, it is important to understand the training and education required to properly run them. Receiving training from qualified, experienced instructors can give you the head start you need to be successful in this challenging field of work. If you plan to earn RCFE CEU online, you may first want to learn what types of classes are available and how they can prepare you for your new career.

Becoming a certified administrator for RCFEs can help kick start your career, and since classes are available online, you can earn certification at your own pace. These classes can help you learn what is at the center of caring for your future residents, as well as business administration, medical regulations and current RCFE regulations.

If you already have your certification and are ready to train your staff, RCFE training websites, such as Assisted Living Education, can offer them training that is both comprehensive and efficient. Classes for this type of training usually include fire and evacuation procedures, dementia training and medical limitations. This type of training may include testing you can administer yourself to ensure that each staff member is up to speed on required training hours and current operating procedures.

Before you can take charge of or open a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly, you will need to understand the importance of implementing a plan of operation. RCFE CEU online classes can help you gain this knowledge and ensure that your facility is following all current regulations set by the federal government. Compliance is a vital component of a well-regulated facility, and online plan operation training can help you accomplish it.

RCFE CEU online classes and training can help you succeed as an administrator in this field, no matter if you are working toward certification or need to train your staff. Taking the time to learn about available classes may better prepare you for your future career.

What Is an RCFE and How Do You Start One?

If you’re interested in helping the elderly, you may have heard the acronym RCFE. What is an RCFE and what types of people does it serve? Read on to see if this might be a service that you want to start in your own California community and how you can get started with RCFE administrator certification as well as other additional steps.

RCFE Definition

RCFE stands for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly and they generally house people aged 60 and older. They are not a nursing home with medical care. Instead, they offer a room, food, and housekeeping as well as basic care such as help with getting dressed, eating, bathing, walking and general supervision. Elders can still have their medication in these facilities. It’s generally held centrally and given out for residents to take themselves.

Who Lives in RCFE?

If a senior citizen is unable to live by him or herself but doesn’t suffer from serious mental or physical ailments that require constant care, that person is a great candidate for RCFE. This type of housing is not considered medical and as such, they aren’t required to have doctors or nurses on staff. They simply offer a home where seniors are looked after and encouraged to socialize.

How Do You Start an RCFE?

To start an RCFE, you’ll have to jump through a lot of hoops. You or another person in charge will need to complete RCFE administrator certification as well as a licensing orientation. You’ll need to find a home that meets state guidelines, choose your business structure and complete a facility application as well. Approval can take several months.

Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly can be a benefit to your community if they’re run correctly. They give seniors who can’t live on their own a place to go where they’ll receive the help they need to continue a full and playful life. If you’re thinking of starting one, you can get your RCFE administrator certification online and in person through a reputable service.

Steps to Take Towards RCFE Certification

Residential Care for the Elderly (RCFE) is a rapidly growing field perfect for those with a caring and responsible personality looking to build a career that makes a difference. Taking RCFE certification classes can start you on a path to your future as an administrator and give you the necessary skills to succeed as a leader in the industry.

Class Registration

Registering for RCFE certification classes is the first step in getting officially certified. Class schedules are typically offered year round and include online and in-class sessions. In California, a total of 80 hours of training is required for certification, so plan accordingly. Online classes will need to be completed prior to completing in-class sessions, but online classes can begin at the time of enrollment.

Online Training

Twenty hours of online training is required to pass the training programs offered. As these classes can be started right away, it can be beneficial for the person enrolled to complete most if not all of the training hours prior to in-person classes starting.

Classes

Live classes tend to last for six days. They start in the morning and last until the evening, so it may be best to enroll for classes when you know you can commit to the time requirements.

The overall training will include essential information about laws, conduct, business operations and patient care. All required core knowledge should be covered by a qualifying RCFE certification classes.

Applying for Certification

After receiving proof of completion for a program, you will prepare to take the state certification exam. In order to pass, you will need to receive a score of 70% or higher. The exam consists of one hundred questions and is open book. You should receive your score within seven days of completion of the exam and will be able to submit your application packet and congratulatory letter to the Administrator Certification Section if you pass your exam.

Committing to RCFE certification classes can be a life changing experience that brings great opportunity to individuals looking to expand their career in the field of residential care. With the help of state-approved training, you can make a difference in the lives of senior citizens in need.

RCFE Licensing Allows You to Help Those in Need

Elder care is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States today. As medical care breakthroughs facilitate healing unheard of even 20 years ago, people are living longer, and thereby requiring specialized care in their beyond-the- golden years. RCFE licensing is certification dedicated to understanding the needs of extended elder care and how best to keep these people healthy and happy.

The horror stories of elder abuse in convalescent homes have prompted strict regulation in extended living care and facilities. These people require special treatment, simply because of their frailty alone. Proper licensing educates you in the regulations by which you will be bound when you embark upon your career, and it helps you understand the administrative aspects of elder care as well.

Running an extended care facility or even a residential care business is not an easy undertaking, but it is incredibly rewarding, which is why many people seek a career in this industry. What you will be doing is ensuring the comfort of patients who will remind you of your grandparents; patients who are looking to spend their remaining years under the protection of RCFE licensing.

These people are oftentimes terminal and in need of constant care or simply in need of assistance with the things that they can no longer do for themselves; things such as bathing, getting dressed, preparing healthy meals. Imagine the joy of helping an elderly person feel good about him or herself. After all, nobody wants to lay dirty in a bed all day.

It’s been proven that something as simple as bath and dress assistance helps heal these wonderful people. When you feel better about yourself, you feel better. Securing RCFE licensing will give you an opportunity to make someone else’s day, and nothing can be more rewarding than reminding these pillars of society that they are still important, even if they are older than most.

Obtain RCFE Licensing to Open the Doors of Your Facility

When the aging and elderly population face the decision to enter a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE), it is not an easy choice nor one to be made hastily. Aside from managing the costs involved, they want a facility that is appealing, well maintained and legitimate, i.e., that it meets all RCFE licensing criteria as set forth by the individual state in which they operate.

Those looking to purchase an existing RCFE or open new RCFEs generally must obtain sufficient licensing to conduct business legally and effectively. The last thing anyone wants are violations or complaints about their caregiving business or its employees, which can taint or ruin your reputation. Also, you will typically want to provide services that attract a wide range of residents. Having the capability to serve those with dementia and hospice residents, for example, will often help keep an RCFE occupied. Assisted living education classes are usually available to help you succeed in obtaining RCFE licensing.

Seek out a provider of RCFE licensing, classes and other assisted living products and services whose teachers represent experienced industry professionals. They ought to generally be able to offer assistance in completing the overall licensing application. Sometimes this application alone seems so complex and confusing that it takes weeks and months to complete. Let them handle the heavy lifting and submit your application with peace of mind.

Additionally, the right provider can offer administrator certification training, caregiver and medication training, occupational safety and health compliance training, continuing education for registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses and more. Applicants might even be able to take a combination of some live and online classes.

It needn’t be a daunting task to get RCFE licensing. Experts who are well informed and experienced in assisted living education can make the process look easy by providing you with all the tools needed to successfully manage your own facility.