How to Read a CDPHE Inspection Record for a Colorado Springs Assisted Living Residence

What the record contains

Each CDPHE record lists inspections by date and type, the number of citations by year, and occurrence reports the residence has filed. Visit types include initial licensure surveys, routine re-licensure surveys, complaint investigations, combined visits and revisits that check whether earlier problems were corrected. Federal life safety visits appear for some buildings too.

Our facility pages reproduce that record for every senior residence in the two counties, with the most recent visits listed by type, so you can read it in one place.

How citation counts spread across the region

Source: CDPHE Health Facilities data updated September 29, 2026 and Find and Compare records retrieved November 6, 2026.

The spread is wide because buildings differ so much in size and in how often surveyors arrived. A 180-bed campus visited six times for complaints will collect more citations than an eight-bed home seen once. That is why our pages also show citations per ten licensed beds against the regional median.

Reading one residence's record

Start with the dates. A cluster of complaint investigations in one year followed by clean revisits tells a different story from steady citations year after year. Next, look at the visit types: initial licensure surveys belong to new buildings or new owners, and a change of owner can reset the record.

Then ask the residence. Colorado requires an assisted living residence to tell prospective residents where its latest inspection report can be read. Ask for the statement of deficiencies from the most recent visit and the plan of correction, and ask who checks that the fix held.

What the record leaves out

CDPHE's public tool does not publish fines, license expiration dates or whether a residence operates a secure environment. It also says nothing about this week's staffing or the people who will care for your parent. Use the record to choose what to ask, and use the tour to check the answers.

A worked example of reading the record

Imagine two residences of similar size. The first shows eight citations, all from one complaint investigation two years ago, followed by a revisit with none and a routine survey this year with one. The second shows the same eight citations spread evenly across three routine surveys, each including medication administration. The totals match, but the first suggests a problem that was fixed, and the second suggests a habit.

That is the reading our facility pages are built for: the table by year, the list of recent visits by type, and the occurrence reports side by side. Use it to write two or three specific questions before the tour, then ask the administrator to show you the paperwork that answers them.

One more pattern to notice is an Initial Licensure entry. It appears when a residence is new or has changed owners. A new owner can bring better management or worse; ask what changed besides the name on the license and whether the administrator and care staff stayed on.

When to call CDPHE or the ombudsman

If something you see on a tour worries you, or a resident you know is being harmed, CDPHE takes assisted living complaints at 303-691-4045, and the Pikes Peak long-term care ombudsman at (719) 471-2096 can advocate for a resident who wants help. A complaint can lead to an investigation that appears in the record a few months later.

A short checklist for every residence

Before visiting any assisted living residence in El Paso or Teller County, note five things from its page: the license type (private pay or Medicaid-certified ACF), the number of beds, the inspections and citations by year, the type of the most recent visit, and the most recent occurrence report. Then write one question for each. That turns the public record into a ten-minute conversation with the administrator, which is far more useful than a general tour.