What Utah requires of memory care (secure units)

Does memory care need a special license in Utah?

No separate license exists; in Utah, a locked memory care unit is an approved secure unit inside a Type II assisted living license, and only a Type II licensee with approved secure units may admit residents with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia to a locked unit.

That is why DLBC's monthly report of regulated health facilities carries a “secure beds” column next to licensed capacity. A building may advertise memory care, but the number that matters is how many secure beds DLBC lists for that license. Some Salt Lake County licenses are entirely secure; others have a locked wing inside a larger Type II building. Type I facilities can serve residents with cognitive impairment only if those residents can still get out of the building without help, and they cannot lock them in.

Who can live in a Utah secure memory care unit?

A resident with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or dementia may be admitted to a Utah secure unit only if they can exit the facility with limited assistance from one person.

That evacuation standard is the same one that applies to Type II generally, and it is the line where secure-unit care ends. A person who can no longer be helped out of the building by one staff member, or who needs 24-hour continual nursing expected to last more than 15 days, has moved beyond what any Utah assisted living license allows. At that point the usual next step is a nursing care facility, several of which in the valley have their own dementia programs.

What paperwork does a Utah secure unit require at move-in?

Each resident admitted to a Utah secure unit needs an admission agreement that states the placement is in the secure unit, documents a negotiated wander risk management agreement with the resident or responsible person, and spells out the discharge criteria that would trigger a transfer to a higher level of care.

Read the discharge criteria before signing, not after the first incident. They are the facility's own written statement of when it will ask your family member to leave. Ask how the facility decides that criteria have been met, who makes the call, and how much notice it gives. The general Utah admission agreement must also include a 30-day notice before any change in charges and the facility's refund policy.

What staffing and training does Utah require on a secure unit?

Utah requires at least one direct-care staff member in the secure unit at all times, and each direct-care employee who works there must receive at least four of their 16 hours of required one-on-one job training inside the secure unit.

Utah sets no numeric resident-to-staff ratio for memory care, so the “at least one” rule is a floor, not a staffing plan. The secure unit must also have its own emergency evacuation plan that addresses how the unit's staff will get residents out. Annual in-service training for all assisted living staff must include dementia and Alzheimer's content, and administrators complete four hours of core competency training each year that includes dementia care.

On a tour, ask how many staff are physically inside the locked unit between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., and whether they also cover other parts of the building.

How many secure memory care beds are there around Salt Lake City?

DLBC's October 2026 report lists 40 Type II assisted living licenses with secure beds in Salt Lake and Tooele counties, totaling 1,194 secure beds; 13 of those licenses are entirely secure.

See every one in the memory care directory, sorted by secure-bed count. CareScout does not publish a memory care price for Utah or any other state, so we do not quote one; facilities price secure-unit care themselves.