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.