"Senior care" covers a wide range of options, each with a different level of support, a different Florida license, and a different cost. Choosing well starts with matching the level of care to the person's actual needs — too little leaves them unsafe, too much wastes money and independence. Below is every care type we help South Florida families navigate, with a plain-language explanation of each.
Assisted Living
Private apartments plus help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, and medication reminders. The most common starting point. Licensed in Florida as an Assisted Living Facility (ALF) under AHCA.
Explore Assisted Living →Memory Care
Secured communities with dementia-trained staff for Alzheimer's, dementia, and serious memory loss. Often a specialty license or unit within an ALF.
Explore Memory Care →Skilled Nursing
24-hour medical care from licensed nurses for complex conditions or post-hospital rehab. Regulated under Florida Statutes Chapter 400.
Explore Skilled Nursing →Short-Term Rehab
Post-hospital recovery care, often Medicare-covered after a qualifying inpatient stay.
Explore Short-Term Rehab →Independent Living
Active 55+ communities for adults who don't need help yet but want fewer chores and more company.
Explore Independent Living →In-Home Care
A caregiver comes to the home — flexible hours from a few visits a week to live-in support.
Explore In-Home Care →Home Health
Skilled medical care at home (nursing, therapy), often Medicare-covered when ordered by a physician.
Explore Home Health →Hospice
Comfort-focused end-of-life care at home or in a hospice residence, usually fully covered by Medicare.
Explore Hospice →Adult Family-Care Homes
Small, often family-run residential homes — frequently the most affordable option and, in Hispanic communities, the best cultural and language fit.
Explore Adult Family-Care Homes →Respite Care
Short-term stays that give family caregivers a break, or bridge a recovery period.
Explore Respite Care →Adult Day Care
Daytime supervision, meals, and activities while family caregivers work.
Explore Adult Day Care →How Florida licenses and regulates senior care
Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) licenses and inspects assisted living facilities, adult family-care homes, nursing homes, home-health agencies, and hospices. Assisted living and adult family-care homes are governed under Florida Statutes Chapter 429; skilled nursing under Chapter 400. You can verify any provider's license, inspection history, and any violations on FloridaHealthFinder (quality.healthfinder.fl.gov). We only refer families to providers with active, clean licenses.
Which care type is right?
The clearest first question is: does the person need 24-hour licensed nursing, or mainly help with daily activities and supervision? If they need ongoing medical care from nurses, that points to skilled nursing. If they mostly need help with bathing, dressing, medications, and meals, assisted living, an adult family-care home, or in-home care is usually the right starting point. If memory loss creates safety risks — wandering, leaving the stove on, getting lost — memory care adds a secured environment and dementia-trained staff. And if the priority has shifted to comfort at the end of life, hospice provides that, usually fully covered by Medicare.
You don't have to figure this out alone. A free, 15-minute conversation with one of our advisors will translate your situation into the right care type and a short list of providers that fit. Many of our advisors are bilingual. Start on our contact page — hablamos español.