Personal Care Homes

“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better” – Robert F. Kennedy.

Our mission at Healthcare Facility Regulation Division (HFRD) Personal Care Home (PCH) Program is to assure that adults receiving personal services and varying degrees of supervision in licensed healthcare facilities experience care and services in a safe, humane, comfortable, and supportive environment. Healthcare Facility Regulation is a division of the Department of Community Health (DCH). Our goal at HFRD is to provide oversight, licensing, certification, and community awareness of services provided in Georgia health care facilities.

The PCH Program is a state licensure program under Healthcare Facility Regulation. The Personal Care Home Program team consists of our program director, four managers, and 24 surveyors providing oversight to a total of 2,910 facilities that consists of Personal Care Homes, Assisted Living Communities, Community Living Arrangements, and Adult Day Care/Adult Day Health Centers that serve approximately 55,000 residents. 

What do we do?

The Personal Care Home Program monitors and oversees each facility in the program to ensure that facilities maintain compliance of state rules and regulations to meet the minimum standard established requirements in the provision of health, safety, and welfare of the residents who receive residential or personal care and services. Healthcare Facility Regulation provides monitoring and oversight by conducting Initial, compliance, monitoring, follow-up, and complaint surveys and then decides on facility compliance based on survey observations, record reviews, and interviews obtained through the survey process. Unannounced compliance inspections for healthcare facilities are conducted approximately every 11 to 15 months or as needed. 

The Personal Care Home Program engages with the public, community providers, and sister agencies in responding to questions and inquiries concerning licensed healthcare facilities and program rules and regulations.

What are the different healthcare facilities regulated by the Personal Care Home Program?

• Personal Care Homes rules and regulations Chapter 111-8-62 - means any dwelling, whether operated for profit or not, which undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of housing, food service, and one or more personal services for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage.
• Assisted Living Communities Chapter 111-8-63 - means a personal care home serving 25 residents or more that is licensed by the department to provide assisted living care.
• Community Living Arrangements rules and regulations Chapter 290-9-37 -  means any residence, whether operated for profit or not, that undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of daily personal services, supports, care, or treatment exclusively for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage and whose residential services are financially supported, in whole or in part, by funds designated through the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
•  Adult Day Centers rules and regulations  Chapter 111-8-1 - means a facility serving aging adults that provides adult day care or adult day health services for compensation to three or more persons. Adult day centers may operate in more than one location if classified and approved by the Department as a mobile adult day center. This term shall not include a respite care services program. 
• Proxy Caregivers rules and regulations  Chapter 111-8-100 - means an unlicensed person or a licensed healthcare facility that has been selected by a disabled individual or a person legally authorized to act on behalf of such an individual to serve as such individual’s proxy caregiver, provided that such person shall receive training and shall demonstrate the necessary knowledge and skills to perform documented health maintenance activities, including identified specialized procedures for the individual. who has been determined qualified to have the necessary knowledge and skills acquired through training by a licensed healthcare professional to perform documented health maintenance activities, including specialized procedures, for such an individual.

Resources