Kansas has no separate memory care license. In Overland Park and Lenexa, dementia care is offered as a "special care" section of a licensed assisted living or residential health care facility, in a small home plus, or in a nursing facility. Here is what the state requires and what to ask.
By KC Senior Advisor Care Team · October 30, 2026
No. Kansas does not issue a memory care license. A memory care unit in Overland Park or Lenexa operates under one of the adult care home licenses that the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) issues under K.S.A. 39-923, most often an assisted living facility or a residential health care facility.
The statute lists the licensed types: nursing facility, assisted living facility, residential health care facility, home plus, boarding care home and adult day care, among others. The words "memory care" and "Alzheimer's" do not appear in those definitions. Dementia care is instead handled by a regulation that lets assisted living and residential health care facilities run a "special care" section, covered below.
That means the sign out front tells you less than the license does. Two buildings that both say memory care can hold different licenses with different rules. The KDADS adult care home directory shows each license type. Here is how the licenses in our registry break down for the two cities (a building can hold more than one type):
| Kansas license type (KDADS) | Overland Park | Lenexa | How it can serve a parent with dementia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted living facility | 17 | 8 | May run a special care section or be an entirely special care facility |
| Residential health care facility | 15 | 3 | Same special care option as assisted living |
| Home plus | 27 | 2 | Small home; staff serving residents with dementia need annual dementia care training |
| Nursing facility | 13 | 3 | For residents who need skilled nursing care |
Counts come from the KDADS adult care home directory as retrieved for our registry on October 24, 2026. Browse current listings on our Overland Park memory care page.
Kansas lets an assisted living or residential health care facility serve residents with special needs in a special care section, or across the whole building, if it meets the conditions in K.A.R. 26-41-203(d). Those conditions are the closest thing Kansas has to memory care rules.
The facility must have admission and discharge criteria that identify the diagnosis, behavior or clinical needs of the residents it serves. It must get a written order from a medical care provider for admission. The resident or legal representative must be told in writing which services and programs are available for the resident's needs.
Direct care staff must be present in the special care section or facility at all times. Each staff member must get training related to the specific needs of the residents served, and proof of that training has to be kept in the employee's personnel file. The control of exits must be "the least restrictive possible" for the residents in the section. The regulation does not use the word "locked."
Outside the special care rules, every resident's care runs through a negotiated service agreement. The operator must provide or coordinate the services in that agreement, and must tell the resident in writing, on or before admission, about any service the facility does not provide.
A memory care section is part of a larger licensed assisted living or residential health care facility. A home plus is a small licensed residence. Kansas raised the home plus cap from 12 to 16 residents in 2026.
House Bill 2520, approved April 6, 2026, amended K.S.A. 39-923 to raise the cap. Any home plus caring for more than 12 people on and after July 1, 2026 must keep written plans showing it can meet residents' needs, respond to emergencies and keep residents safe at the larger size. Those plans must be available during a state survey or inspection. The statute also requires home plus staff who serve residents with dementia to take annual dementia care training.
Overland Park has more home plus licenses than any other type in our registry, 27 of them, which is why families searching for memory care there often find small residential homes alongside larger communities. A smaller home can feel calmer for some people with dementia. A larger special care section may offer more staff and programming. Neither is automatically better. Ask each one how many residents it has now and how many it is licensed for.
Memory care is also not skilled nursing. Under the statute, a nursing facility serves people who need skilled nursing care. If a parent with dementia also needs daily nursing, a nursing facility may be the right license to look for.
Ask for the license type, the written admission and discharge criteria, and the written description of dementia services. Kansas requires each of these for a special care section, so a community should be able to hand them over.
Useful questions, each tied to a Kansas rule: Which KDADS license does this building hold, and is the memory care area a special care section? What behaviors or needs would lead to a discharge? What dementia training do direct care staff complete, and is it recorded in their files? How are exits controlled, and what is least restrictive here? What services are not provided, and what would we have to hire from outside? For a home plus, how many residents live here, and if more than 12, may we see the written capacity plan?
Then check the record. The KDADS directory lists survey and deficiency reports for each licensed home, and our guide on how to verify a Kansas or Missouri license walks through reading them.
Families can hire a home health agency for medical services or a supportive care provider for help with daily tasks. Kansas Medicaid's Frail Elderly waiver can pay for some in-home services, but new applicants have been placed on a waitlist since July 6, 2026.
Under K.S.A. 65-5101, home health services are nursing, therapy, home health aide and similar services at home. Supportive care services cover help that does not need a health professional's supervision, such as bathing, dressing, eating, medication reminders, toileting and walking. A Kansas Attorney General opinion (2016-7) found that a business providing only attendant care services does not have to be licensed as a home health agency, so ask any in-home provider what license, if any, it holds.
The KanCare Frail Elderly (FE) waiver is for Kansans 65 and older who meet the Medicaid nursing facility threshold score and are financially eligible for Medicaid. Its services include personal care, adult day care, medication reminders, enhanced care services, wellness monitoring and personal emergency response. To apply, call the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 855-200-2372 for a functional assessment. As reported in July 2026, KDADS started a waitlist for new FE applicants because of insufficient funding, with a crisis policy that lets urgent cases skip it.
Related questions: What does memory care cost in Kansas City? How do Missouri and Kansas license assisted living differently? What in-home care is available in Overland Park?
Last verified: October 2026.
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