New set of rules for Arizona memory care facilities to be voted on this week

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Desert Southwest has the fastest growth rate for Alzheimer’s diagnoses in the country. A package of new rules and minimum standards for memory care facilities across Arizona is up for a big vote on Tuesday.

When HB 2764 was signed into law last year, these rules and standards were required to be set.

“It was a shattering moment,” recalled Diane Hyink.

It was the summer of 2022 when Hyink found out her father, Chris Wunderlich III, had Alzheimer’s. Hyink and her sister started looking for a memory care facility for their dad. The first memory care facility he was in, Diane says her dad attempted suicide, wandered away from the facility, and ended up in a geriatric psych hospital multiple times.

After just a few months, Chris ended up being moved to a second memory care facility before passing away in September 2024.

“It just was so different. Night and day different. Was the second place perfect? No, but were they trained? Yes,” said Hyink.

Hyink and other advocates hope that standard becomes a reality for all memory care facilities in Arizona.

“What these rules do is they require dementia-specific training for all staff at memory care facilities and I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that that doesn’t already exist,” said Tory Roberg, the director of government affairs for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Desert Southwest chapter.

On Tuesday, the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) will vote on rules for memory care facilities. Those new standards would require dementia-specific training for all staff at memory care facilities, care plans, and standards for when people with dementia elope or leave a facility without permission, among other things. The GRRC’s job is to review new and existing rules from state agencies.

In HB 2764, legislators established a July 1, 2025, deadline to establish a “by rule licensure subclass for assisted living facilities that wish to provide memory care services and prescribe requirements for licensure.”

“By passing these memory care rules, we’re setting clear standards. We’re ensuring consistent, safe care across all facilities. Raising the bar for all facilities so that families can have that piece of mind,” said Roberg.

But at a GRRC study session last week, some industry members pushed back, saying the standards are too demanding, would cost too much money, and aren’t clear enough.

“These rules are not ready for primetime. I would implore the council to reject them and this is not the time to accept half a loaf,” said Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who spoke on behalf of Hampton Group, Inc. during the study session.

Right now, there are over 150,000 people aged 65 years and older in Arizona living with Alzheimer’s, and Hyink says these new rules would be for all of them and everyone in the future.

“I’m concerned not even just about other people who are making the decision today, I’m concerned about my own future,” she said.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. If the vote does not pass, the rules would be sent back to the Arizona Department of Health Services, but there is uncertainty about what will happen then.

Gov. Hobbs’ office sent Arizona’s Family a statement ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

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