Assisted-living facilities that offer memory-care services in Arizona may soon be subject to additional requirements designed to prevent seniors from wandering away unsupervised and dying in the heat.

Proposed rules under review by the Arizona Department of Health Services would require reporting and training.

The action comes after a new law was passed that requires state regulators to write new standards for facilities that offer memory care. Until this year, Arizona never had a law that defined "memory care," despite many assisted-living facilities marketing themselves as offering highly specialized care for people with dementia.

The ABC15 Investigators found at least a dozen people since 2017 have wandered out of Arizona care facilities and died in the heat. The long-term care industry refers to unsupervised wandering, where a person leaves the facility, as an "elopement."

Now, for the first time, the term "elopement" would be defined under the proposed state rules. Assisted-living facilities that offer memory-care services would be required to immediately investigate elopements and notify the state health department within one business day. Right now, there's no required reporting and no state agency tracks elopements.

Other proposed changes include:

Assisted-living facility managers would be required to prevent elopements.The facility administrator and all staff would be required to conduct elopement drills every six months. This is a practice exercise designed to prepare staff.Facilities may also use tracking systems to prevent unsafe wanderings.

The proposed rules could change between now and when the state Department of Health Services is expected to adopt them sometime next year.

Dana Kennedy, state director of Arizona AARP, called the proposed rules a good first step. She believes staff training is critical.

"I think we know that people go missing frequently," she said. "And we don't always know the staff is properly trained to execute some type of plan."

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Kennedy would like to see the proposed rules expanded to include all assisted-living facilities, not just those offering memory care.

"I think this is a long time coming. We are not done with making sure the facilities have really good rules in place," she said.

Kennedy also favors having Silver Alerts issued when elopements happen, something that doesn't always happen now. Silver Alerts are a notification system of coordinated alerts to help find someone who is missing.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is also pushing for new requirements, telling ABC15 earlier this year that she wants to see new laws surrounding elopements.

"It is too hot in the summer to allow any elopements from any facility. We have to be a zero-tolerance state for elopements," she told ABC15 in an interview earlier this year.

She also supports reporting requirements.

"The state of Arizona is not tracking how many elopements occur," Mayes said.

Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: [email protected], call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.

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