LIC 602 Explained: A Complete Guide for California Families
Table of Content
LIC 602 is California's physician's report for community care facilities. For an assisted living move-in, the facility almost always wants the LIC 602A version instead.
Only a licensed medical provider can complete and sign the medical part. A family member can fill in names, dates, and contact details, and that is where their part of the form ends. The facility keeps the signed original in the resident's file.
The worry families bring to this is usually about delay rather than paperwork. A bed is being held, a hospital is discharging someone on Friday, and the form has one line nobody can fill in on the spot. Knowing which line that is, and why, is most of what makes this go smoothly.
Which Form Is the Facility Actually Asking For?
Ask them for the form number, because four of them sound alike. The California Department of Social Services lists all of them on its forms and publications page, with the current revision in parentheses: LIC 602 (7/22) Physician's Report For Community Care Facilities, LIC 602A (4/26) Medical Assessment for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly, and LIC 603 (6/22) Preplacement Appraisal Information.
Read those titles and the split becomes clear. The LIC 602 covers community care facilities in general. The LIC 602A is the one written for residential care facilities for the elderly, which is what California calls assisted living, board and care homes, and most memory care communities.
How the LIC 603 Differs
The LIC 603 is a different animal. It is an appraisal the facility itself completes about the incoming resident, not a medical report, so nobody is waiting on a doctor for it. Our breakdown of LIC 602 vs. LIC 602A goes through which one a given facility tends to hand out and why some still use the older number.
Download the form from the state page rather than accepting a photocopy. A facility working from a stale revision can send the whole packet back, and the revision date is printed in the corner of the form.
Who Has to Sign the LIC 602A, and Who Cannot?
A licensed medical provider signs it, and no one else can. That includes the medical findings, the assessment of what the person can and cannot do alone, and the final signature and date.
Families can and should prepare the rest. Legal name, birth date, address, insurance details, the responsible party's phone number, and the facility's name are all things you can have written in before the appointment. Doing that in advance shortens the visit and removes the most common source of returned forms.
What a family cannot do is interpret. If a question asks about cognitive status or behavior, the answer has to come from the provider's own examination, even when the family knows the person far better. That rule exists to protect the resident, and licensing staff check for it.
What If the Parent Has No Regular Doctor?
This happens more often than families expect, especially after years of specialist-only care. Any licensed provider who examines the person can complete the form, so the search is for an available appointment rather than a long-standing relationship. Some licensed clinicians visit patients at home, which matters when getting a parent into a car is the hard part.
To request a visit specifically for the form, there is a dedicated intake at arrange a doctor's visit to complete the form. The request goes to a clinician who can examine the person and fill in the assessment during the visit.
What Happens at the Exam?
A short, ordinary office visit, with more questions than tests. The provider measures vital signs, performs a physical examination, reviews the medical history, and asks about daily function in some detail.
What the Provider Looks At
The form walks the provider through categories rather than a diagnosis list. Current medical conditions and diagnoses. Allergies and any special diet. Mental and cognitive status. Behavior. The ability to bathe, dress, eat, and use the bathroom without help. Mobility, including whether the person can get out of the building unaided in an emergency.
That last item carries more weight than families expect, because California ties facility requirements to it. Our comparison of non-ambulatory versus wheelchair status on the LIC 602A explains how one checkbox can change which facilities can accept a resident at all.
What to Bring With You
An accurate medicine list is the single most useful thing you can hand over. MedlinePlus (2024) advises keeping a written list of everything a person takes, including prescriptions, over-the-counter products, vitamins, supplements, and herbal products, and reviewing it with providers at each appointment.
Alongside that list, bring recent hospital discharge paperwork, specialist notes from the past year, the insurance card, and the blank form from the facility. Dr. Cleo T. Williams, a family medicine physician in Pasadena who sees patients at home, is one example of a provider who can review that paperwork and complete the assessment in the same visit.
Why Is the Tuberculosis Line Filled In Last?
Because it is the one answer the provider cannot produce in the room. Everything else on the form comes from the examination and the records in front of them. The tuberculosis result comes from a test, and every version of that test takes time.
The Three Ways Tuberculosis Gets Checked
There are two screening tests and one imaging study, and the choice changes the timeline. According to the CDC (2025), the blood test, known as an interferon gamma release assay, needs only a single visit for a blood draw, while the skin test must be read 48 to 72 hours later by a trained health care professional.
The same CDC page explains the third step. A positive screening test usually means infection rather than disease, and a chest radiograph is then needed to rule out active tuberculosis. If an x-ray is ordered, ask whether a mobile imaging service can do it at the house, since that saves a trip for someone who struggles to travel.
MedlinePlus (2026) notes that residents and staff of nursing homes are among the groups at higher risk of exposure, which is why California facilities ask for this at all. Our guide to choosing between skin and blood screening for the LIC 602A covers which one suits which situation.
How the Result Reaches the Form
The provider reviews the result, writes it on the form, then signs and dates. A form signed before the result is in is an incomplete form, and the facility will notice.
Getting the sample drawn at home keeps the sequence tight. Sonic Diagnostic Laboratory, for instance, collects ordered blood work in the patient's own home across Los Angeles County, which removes one appointment from a week that is already full.
How Long Does the Whole Process Take?
Days rather than weeks, if the testing route is chosen deliberately. The table below sets out the usual sequence as a planning aid, not a promise, since appointment availability and lab turnaround vary by area.
| Step | What drives the timing |
|---|---|
| Get the blank form | Same day, from the facility or the state forms page |
| Book a licensed provider | Appointment availability, and whether a home visit is needed |
| The examination | One visit; everything except the tuberculosis line is completed |
| Tuberculosis screening | Blood test is one draw plus lab turnaround; a skin test is read 48 to 72 hours after placement |
| Chest x-ray, if ordered | Only after a positive screening test; imaging appointment plus the read |
| Signature and handover | Provider signs once the result is in; the facility files the original |
Hospital discharges compress all of it into a day or two, and that is a different exercise. Our piece on getting the LIC 602A fast after a hospital stay covers who to ask inside the hospital and what to request before the discharge paperwork is signed.
Can the Form Keep a Parent Out of a Facility?
It can, and that is the honest answer families deserve before the appointment. The form is a matching document. It describes what the person needs, and the facility compares that against what its license allows it to provide.
Certain conditions require a facility to hold an exception or specific approval before it can accept a resident who has them. Others, such as the need to be moved by two people or continuous nursing care, point toward a skilled nursing facility rather than assisted living. A completed form that leads to a no is not wasted work; it has told the family which type of place to look at.
This is also why it pays to be accurate rather than optimistic. A form that understates a parent's needs can get someone admitted to a place that cannot keep them, and a move three weeks later is harder on everyone than a slower search now.
What Else Is in the Admission Packet?
More than the medical form, and the rest of it is where the money lives. The admission agreement sets the rate, the deposit, what is included, what is billed separately, and the terms for a rate increase or a discharge.
Read it before the move-in date rather than at the kitchen table on the day. Our walkthrough of the admission agreement an RCFE hands you alongside the LIC 602A lists the clauses worth slowing down on.
Choosing the Right Type of Facility First
Memory care, standard assisted living, and a small board and care home are licensed under the same category but run very differently. The scale of the decision is worth keeping in view: the Alzheimer's Association (2026) reports that an estimated 7.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's dementia, and that nearly 13 million family members and friends provided more than 19 billion hours of unpaid care in the past year.
Dementia Partner's comparison of memory care, assisted living, and board and care for dementia sets out how staffing, security, and daily structure differ between the three, which is useful before a form is filled out for any specific address.
What Do Families Get Wrong About the LIC 602?
Mostly the order of operations. Six mistakes come up again and again:
Filling the medical sections themselves, which invalidates the form
Booking the exam before asking the facility which form number it wants
Using a photocopy from an older revision
Starting the tuberculosis testing after the exam instead of alongside it
Letting the provider sign before the tuberculosis result is written in
Assuming the form transfers between facilities without being refreshed
None of these are hard to avoid once you know they exist. Call the facility, get the form number and the revision date, book the exam, and start the tuberculosis testing in the same week rather than after.
Keep a scanned copy for yourself as well. If the search moves to a second or third facility, having the completed assessment on hand turns a two-week delay into a phone call.
FAQ
Does the LIC 602A expire?
Facilities generally want a recent assessment rather than one from last year, and they set their own window. Ask the facility what age of report it will accept before booking the exam. A resident's condition is also reappraised by the facility after move-in.
Can a nurse practitioner or physician assistant complete it?
In many cases yes, since the form calls for a licensed medical professional rather than a physician specifically. The facility and its licensing analyst have the final word on what they will accept, so confirm with them first rather than after the visit.
Who pays for the exam and the tuberculosis test?
It depends on coverage. A routine visit and standard laboratory work are often billed like any other medical care, while a home visit arranged specifically for paperwork may be handled differently. Ask about billing when you book, not at the door.
What if a parent refuses the exam?
Nobody can complete the form without examining the person, so the move cannot proceed. This is usually less about the exam and more about the move, which means the conversation worth having is about the move. A familiar provider or a visit at home often lowers the resistance.
Does the facility get a copy or the original?
The facility keeps the signed original in the resident's record, where licensing staff can find it. Keep a copy for your own file and send a copy to the parent's regular provider so the assessment is in their chart too.
Is the LIC 603A the same thing as the LIC 603?
They are companion documents rather than one form. The LIC 603 is the preplacement appraisal the facility completes, and the related 603A covers the resident's own appraisal information. Neither replaces the medical assessment a licensed provider signs.
Sources Used
Clinical Testing and Diagnosis for Tuberculosis – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025)
Memory Care vs Assisted Living vs Board and Care for Dementia – Dementia Partner (2026)
New Alzheimer's Association Report: Americans Care Deeply About Brain Health but Most Don't Know How to Maintain It – Alzheimer's Association (2026)
On-line Forms and Publications I - L – California Department of Social Services
Taking multiple medicines safely – MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine (2024)
Tuberculosis Screening – MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine (2026)
LIC 602A Explained — Medical Assessment for RCFEs – CareMAR (2026)
Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 22, § 87638 - Resident Request for Review of Health Condition Relocation Order – State Regulations
Physical Examination: What Is a Physical Exam? – Cleveland Clinic (2023)
