Wisconsin nursing homes are licensed under Wisconsin Admin. Code ch. DHS 132 and provide 24-hour licensed nursing care. Assisted living is most often a CBRF, licensed under a completely separate chapter, DHS 83, which caps nursing care at roughly three hours per week per resident.
Why nursing homes carry CMS star ratings and assisted living usually does not
Nursing homes are the one senior-care category with federal CMS Care Compare star ratings, on top of Wisconsin's own DHS survey record. CBRFs, RCACs and adult family homes are not CMS star-rated; families verify them through Wisconsin's own DQA Provider Search instead.
What pushes a resident out of assisted living
A CBRF resident whose nursing needs exceed roughly three hours a week, or whose medical complexity exceeds what the facility's license and program statement allow, typically needs to move to a nursing home or an RCAC (which permits up to 28 hours a week of supportive care). Ask a CBRF directly what its admission and retention limits are before assuming it can meet rising needs indefinitely.
