Responsibilities of an RCFE Administrator

Working as an RCFE administrator (a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly administrator) can be a challenging but rewarding job. An administrator in an RCFE is often responsible for a variety of tasks and functions within the facility.

Oversee the Facility

An administrator in an RCFE is generally responsible for managing the facility as a whole. The task of overseeing a facility can require you to perform various tasks. You may be responsible for defining individuals’ roles in the facility, you might help to create short-term and long-term goals for the facility as a whole and you also could be responsible for vetting businesses that want to work with your facility.

Manage Other Employees

In order to make sure the facility is operating at its best, it’s often important to make sure the people within the facility are doing their jobs well. When you are an RCFE administrator, you might be responsible for overseeing other employees at the facility. If you are managing employees who also work in administration, you may be delegating tasks for administrators to do, whereas if you manage employees who work directly with residents, you might be checking that everyone completes their continuing education classes.

Focus on Quality of Care

To have a successful RCFE, it’s often essential to treat residents well. In order to make sure the residents at your facility are receiving the best care possible, you may seek out and analyze feedback from your residents every so often. Based on feedback, you can often implement change to create a more pleasant experience for residents. By also working closely with employees who work with residents, you can ensure that employees are following appropriate protocol when they work with your residents.

Working as an RCFE administrator often comes with a wide variety of responsibilities. You may work to ensure the facility is well-maintained while also managing employees and ensuring residents are cared for appropriately. Overall, you will often have the ability to work with others and improve your facility as an administrator.

Growing Demand for RCFEs

Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly, or RCFEs, are also known as assisted living facilities, which are non-medical facilities that help senior citizens with daily living activities. RCFEs have become increasingly popular as alternatives to nursing homes and demand for them continues to grow. Typically, these are homes with three to five bedrooms that have been renovated to allow for 24-hour care, if needed. Because of the potential growth in the next few decades due to a progressively aging population, there will be a greater need for RCFE administrators in these facilities.

What Is a RCFE Administrator?

A RCFE administrator is a health professional who manages the facilities, supervises its employees, and coordinates patient care. This person also creates schedules, handles budgets, oversees billing, trains employees, and manages other administrative duties. To become an RCFE administrator, coursework through an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree may be required in some states while in others, having a high school diploma and being at least 21 years old is enough. The state in which you live and work should also require a license, which you can obtain once you have completed a training program or class, pass the state’s RCFE administrator test and a background check, and pay for the certificate application.

To prepare for the RCFE administrator test, the typical coursework should include an overview of laws, regulations, resident care, business operations, medication assistance, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and marketing. Good training programs should also cover how to become a successful administrator and real-life industry situations.

Options After Passing the Test

After passing the test and gaining the license, a RCFE administrator can build a career from work experience in working in an existing facility or founding and operating a new RCFE. The most successful administrators have strong interpersonal skills and demonstrate compassion. Further education, such as a master’s degree, is generally required to attain advancement.

The Requirements for Becoming an RCFE Administrator

Are you on the hunt for a more fulfilling career? If you are someone who enjoys taking care of others, especially those of advanced age, you may want to look into working at a place where aging folks live. A place that provides care for seniors with varying degrees of care needs is called a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly or RCFE. There is always a need for qualified health care providers to assist in the proper placement and care assignments for seniors living in such a facility. Whether you have a current nursing affiliated license or not, if you have the passion for giving a high level of care to those in need, a position as an RCFE administrator may be a good fit for you.

Basic Qualifications

First and foremost, to apply for or be considered for a job in administration in any RCFE, candidates must be 21 years old and have at least a high school diploma or GED. Once those qualifications are met, the next step is completing a California state-required training program to become certified as an administrator.

Current Nursing Home Administrators

If you have your NHA (Nursing Home Administration) license, you are still required to complete about 12 hours of training in a classroom to get the core requirements done. The 12 hours of training is in place of the full-blown certification program. This option is only viable with a current NHA license.

A career as an RCFE administrator is fast-paced, in-demand and perhaps above all else, fulfilling. Being responsible for the care of aging seniors and ensuring that they get the required medical, emotional and fundamental support required is a formidable career choice. If the career sounds like something you are interested in pursuing, getting the proper certification is critical. Without it, you will not be qualified to enter into this dignified and ever-important career path.

Career Options for Holders of an RCFE Certificate

It takes a compassionate, caring person to go into a career in a residential care facility for the elderly. For those interested in caretaking positions, a certification is a way to get in the door for employment. What you may not have known, however is that there are several different careers for those looking to get their certification to work in an RCFE. Here, we’ll talk about some of the different careers in the RCFE.

What Careers to Expect

If you’re licensed in RCFE, then there are quite a few careers you may be able to get into. Here are a few of those:

• Resident Services Directoe
• Residential Care Facility Administrator
• Office Manager
• Residential Care Facility Administrator
• Executive Director
• Assisted Living Executive Director
• Assisted Living Manager
• Caregiver

If you’re looking to be a caregiver, clearly this is a good license to retrieve. However, with this certification, you aren’t completely bound to being a caretaker. There are a variety of jobs in administration that still require the license. After all, the job of facility administrators is to care for the patients and to ensure that they have a high-quality life.

When it comes to different careers in RCFE, there is a lot to choose from. For those who choose this field of study, licensing helps with numerous jobs.

How to Become an RCFE Administrator

For anyone who wants to enter the field of residential care and assisted living management in the state of California, it is necessary to get licensed by the state. Becoming a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE) Administrator provides the required license to own and operate a senior care facility. An RCFE is specific to California and can range in size including everything from retirement homes and assisted living facilities to board and care homes.

Guide to Becoming an RCFE Administrator

There are some qualifications and training that must be met in order to become an RCFE Administrator. An Administrator must be at least 21 years old and must hold either a high school diploma or GED. They must also pass a criminal background check, including being checked and cleared by the Department of Social Services and the FBI.

RCFE Administrator Training

Once it is established that qualifications are met, training to become an RCFE Administrator can begin. The training is 80 hours and is offered through different organizations approved by the regulatory department known as the Community Care and Licensing Division. The course provides you with information on a variety of topics and prepares you for the Administrator Exam which is required to pass in order to become an RCFE Administrator.

Topics Covered

The training provided covers additional coverage of several relevant topics. Special needs of the elderly with a general overview of the aging process and the physical limitations that come along with that are included. The importance of personal care services is reviewed while also placing emphasis on residents' rights and personal rights. Learning to recognize dementia is also covered in several formats to ensure administrators can quickly identify cases as they arise and attend to them early on.

Becoming an RCFE Administrator meets the licensing requirements in the state of California to own and operate a senior care facility. The skills you learn in the process are vital in ensuring the proper care of clients and patients. Offering services to meet the needs of the elderly ensures the care of that population will be handled appropriately to make a difficult time more manageable for everyone involved.

Step-by-Step RCFE Certification Process

A Retirement Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) career path can be challenging and rewarding, so making sure caretakers and administrators are well prepared is at the forefront of the field. Obtaining an RCFE certification involves several necessary steps to ensure an excellent quality of care for the residents.

Enroll in a Certification Program

Certified RCFE programs must meet the state requirements for training, including the number of total training hours (both online and in-person training) and the content of the training. Through the program, future administrators should complete 80 total hours of training and staff should complete 40 hours. Topics typically include direct resident care, regulations, medication self-administration assistance and dementia care. Completion of a qualified program will allow the future administrator to apply to take the state RCFE certification exam.

Complete the State Certification Exam

The state exam for training administrators is a standardized test that consists of 100 questions.  Administered by the Department of Social Services, passing this exam with a minimum of 70% is required to move on in the process. If the exam is not passed to satisfaction the first time, the student is allowed to retake the exam within a 60-day period.

Pass a Background Check

In most circumstances, a background check will be conducted before the certification is approved. Any criminal convictions typically need to be explained with a signed letter. Additionally, eligibility rules will also need to be met. An administrator needs to be at least 21-years old with a completed high school diploma, whereas staff members must be 18 years old. For facilities with beds over 15, additional college credits are needed.

Pay Fees and File for the Certificate

If testing was successful, the candidate will receive a congratulatory letter in the mail. A copy of this letter, along with the applicable fees and forms, will need to be submitted in order to complete the RCFE certification process.  The state requires a fee of $100 written to the Department of Social Services.

The field of residential care and assisted living administration is rapidly growing, and the RCFE certification is the first step toward this fulfilling career.