Baton Rouge Senior AdvisorBy Baton Rouge Senior Advisor Care Team · November 6, 2026
In Louisiana, memory care is a specialized dementia care program inside a licensed ARCP, disclosed to LDH, or care in a nursing home. Ask for the written program policies and criteria, the Fire Marshal approval for locked exits, overnight staffing and proof of eight hours of yearly dementia training.
What does memory care mean in Louisiana?
Louisiana law defines a specialized dementia care program as a program or unit that separates residents with probable Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder, limiting their access to areas outside it, and that is marketed as dementia care. The program operates inside a licensed adult residential care provider. There is no separate memory care license.
That means a Baton Rouge building that cares for residents with dementia may or may not be running a program in the legal sense. Across the ten parishes, 1 licensed ARCP name memory care on the license itself; many others market dementia care without saying so on the license.
What must a program disclose and publish?
The ARCP must tell LDH when it starts and ends the program. It must keep written policies for the program that staff, residents and members of the public can see, and written criteria for who is admitted to the program and who must leave it, given to the resident and family. Exits may be locked only where residents' clinical needs require it and the Office of State Fire Marshal approves.
LDH receives the disclosures but does not publish a list. So the only way to confirm a program is to ask for its written policies, which a provider marketing dementia care must be willing to show you.
Which buildings are most likely to run one?
Programs are most common in the larger Level 3 and 4 buildings, which have the space for a separate wing or floor. These are the largest licensed ARCPs in the ten parishes by LDH capacity:
| ARCP | City | Level | Licensed residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williamsburg Senior Living Community | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 163 |
| Holly Court Assisted Living and Memory Care | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 154 |
| Francois Bend | Gonzales | Level 3 | 128 |
| Barclay House of Baton Rouge | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 126 |
| The Claiborne at Baton Rouge | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 104 |
| The Claiborne at Shoe Creek | Central | Level 3 | 100 |
| Garden View of Baton Rouge | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 78 |
| St. James Place of Baton Rouge | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 77 |
| La Plantation Retirement Community | Denham Springs | Level 3 | 73 |
| Sunrise Second Baton Rouge Assisted Living | Baton Rouge | Level 3 | 71 |
Size is not a measure of dementia care quality. A smaller building with a well-staffed 16-resident program may serve a parent better than a large building with a program on one hall.
What training must the staff have?
Staff who give hands-on care in a specialized dementia program need at least eight hours of dementia-specific training within 90 days of hire and eight hours every year after, covering the disease, communication, behavior management and supporting independence. Staff with regular resident contact who do not give hands-on care need four hours within 90 days and two a year.
Ask who teaches the course and whether night and weekend aides attend. The provider must keep attendance records, so asking to see them is reasonable.
What about staffing at night?
Louisiana sets no ratio for dementia programs, only a requirement for enough trained staff to meet residents' needs around the clock, at least one awake employee and a CPR-trained staff member on every shift. The number on the unit after midnight is the most revealing figure you can ask for, and it varies widely between buildings.
Also ask what happens when a resident's behavior escalates. Restraints are never allowed in an ARCP, so a resident who cannot be cared for without them must move, usually to a nursing home or a geriatric psychiatric unit.
How do we know when it is time for memory care?
The usual signals are wandering or trying to leave the house, getting lost in familiar places, night-time confusion that keeps a caregiver awake, unsafe cooking or driving, and a family caregiver who is worn out. A parent with mild memory loss who is calm and stays put may do well in an ordinary ARCP for a long time. A parent who is exit-seeking needs a secured setting, and Louisiana allows locked exits only with Fire Marshal approval in a disclosed program or in a nursing home.
Ask your parent's doctor about the stage of the disease and what to expect over the next year; it helps to choose a place that can serve the next stage, not just the current one.
What does memory care cost, and who pays?
No memory care median is published for Louisiana or Baton Rouge. Programs typically charge the assisted living rate plus a dementia premium. Louisiana Medicaid does not pay an ARCP, so memory care in an ARCP is paid privately, through long-term care insurance, or with help from VA pension with Aid and Attendance for eligible veterans and surviving spouses. A Medicaid-certified nursing home is the Medicaid-paid alternative when needs and finances call for it.
Ask for the written quote and the policy for raising it as needs increase, and ask what the building does when a resident's funds run low.
Frequently asked questions
Does Louisiana license memory care?
No. Memory care is a disclosed dementia program inside a licensed ARCP, or care in a nursing home.
Can memory care doors be locked?
Only where residents' clinical needs require it and the Office of State Fire Marshal approves.
Is there a Baton Rouge memory care price?
No published median exists; get written quotes and ask how the rate changes as needs increase.
Does Medicaid pay for memory care in an ARCP?
No. Louisiana Medicaid pays for nursing home care and home-based programs, not ARCP fees.
Can a resident with dementia be discharged for behavior?
Yes, under the residency agreement's termination criteria, and the resident may appeal an involuntary discharge to the Division of Administrative Law within 30 days.
Do nursing homes have memory care units around Baton Rouge?
Some nursing homes have secured units; ask each home and read its CMS data.
