Yes. Any community with a secured dementia care unit must hold the 'assisted living facility with dementia care' license category under Minn. Stat. 144G.10, subd. 2(b) — a base assisted living license is not enough. That license carries two extra legal requirements: dementia-specific staff training under Minn. Stat. 144G.83, and a mandatory written pre-admission disclosure under Minn. Stat. 325F.72.
What this means in practice
This distinction matters because 'memory care' is sometimes used loosely in marketing brochures around the metro, but in Minnesota it is not a self-declared label — it's a separate license tier with its own inspection standards. A facility that markets 'memory support programming' without holding the dementia-care license category is not legally permitted to advertise itself that way under Minn. Stat. 325F.72. Families touring communities in places like Maple Grove or Eagan should ask directly which of the two license categories the building holds, and should expect to receive the written disclosure — covering admission criteria, staffing, security features, and fees for the secured unit — before signing anything, not after move-in.
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