# What is a personal care home in Georgia?
This story is hypothetical, but it may sound familiar. You're on the phone with a friend from church. She says her dad is in "a personal care home over by the lake" and he loves it. Six residents, one dinner table, and a caregiver who knows how he takes his coffee. You hang up and realize you don't know what that means. Is it assisted living? A group home?
It's a fair question. Not knowing doesn't mean you've fallen behind. Nobody hands you this vocabulary until you need it. So let's go through it in plain words, the way I'd explain it at my kitchen table.
This is general information, not legal, medical, or financial advice. When it's time to decide, your mom's doctor, the home's written agreement, and the state's own records are your best guides.
The short answer
In Georgia, a personal care home is a licensed residence that provides housing, meals, and one or more personal services for two or more adults who aren't related to the owner or administrator. Personal services means everyday help, like bathing, dressing, eating, or help with medications.
That's the whole definition. Georgia's rules for these homes sit in a state rule chapter called 111-8-62.
The definition doesn't set a size. A personal care home can be a house on a quiet street with a handful of residents, or a much larger building. Some serve as few as two people and feel just like a home, because they are one.
How it's different from assisted living
The names get confusing here. Take it slowly.
In Georgia, an assisted living community is a personal care home serving 25 or more residents that holds an extra state license to provide assisted living care. That license adds four things together: personal services, medications given by certified medication aides, help evacuating in an emergency, and limited nursing services. Those rules live in a separate chapter, 111-8-63.
So every assisted living community in Georgia starts as a personal care home, but not every personal care home is assisted living. Size alone doesn't decide it. The license does. Georgia's rules say only a licensed assisted living community may hold itself out as offering assisted living care, which is why the word on the sign matters.
Each fits a different kind of need. A small home can be a gift for someone who does best with the same few faces every day. A larger community may fit someone who needs the specific services that come with the assisted living license.
Where memory care fits
In Georgia, memory care comes from a state certificate. That certificate sits on top of a personal care home or assisted living license.
If a home markets special care for people with Alzheimer's or other dementia, or charges more for that care, it needs a current memory care certificate. The certificate comes with its own training and staffing rules.
So when a small home says it "does memory care," that alone isn't a red flag. Ask to see the certificate. Be kind and be direct.
What paying for one can look like
Many families pay privately, and Medicare generally does not cover this kind of long-term care.
One Georgia program is worth knowing by name. Georgia's Medicaid waiver for older adults and adults with disabilities, the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP), has a service called Alternative Living Services. It's delivered in licensed personal care homes: smaller family-model homes and larger group-model homes. The waiver pays for care services, not room and board, so your mom would still pay that part from her own income.
Eligibility and waitlists are their own conversation. Your local Area Agency on Aging is the right first call, and our letter on whether Medicaid pays for assisted living in Georgia walks through the basics.
How to check a personal care home
You don't have to take anyone's word for it, including mine. Georgia makes the records public.
Look up the license. The state's GaMap2Care site lets you find a facility, verify its license, and read its inspection reports.
Read the inspection reports. The state posts inspection reports from the past three years. Each report lists any problems the state found, and the home's plan to correct them. A finding isn't automatically a dealbreaker. What matters is how serious it was and whether it got fixed.
Know who to call. Georgia's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program advocates for residents of personal care homes and assisted living. You can call them with questions or concerns about a home. The toll-free number is 1-866-552-4464, option 5.
Questions to ask on the visit
Bring these. You're allowed to ask every one.
- "Which license do you hold? Can I see it?"
- "How many residents do you serve today?"
- "What does the monthly rate include, and what costs extra?"
- "If her needs change, what can you handle here, and what would mean a move?"
- "Do you hold a memory care certificate?" (Only if memory is part of the picture.)
Watch how they answer. A good home answers plainly and gives you time.
Your one next step
If you're not sure yet whether your mom needs a personal care home, assisted living, or memory care, start with our side-by-side guide to personal care home vs assisted living vs memory care in Georgia. It lays the three licenses next to each other, with what to ask for each.
When you're ready to see what's near her, you can browse personal care homes in the Enjoy directory.
You don't have to become a licensing expert. You need to know what she needs, and that the place you pick is licensed to give it. That's enough.
You shouldn't have to figure this out alone. Get the next Enjoy letter in your inbox. One plain-words letter at a time.
Sources
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Rules and Regulations for Personal Care Homes, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-8-62: https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/111-8-62
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Rules and Regulations for Assisted Living Communities, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-8-63: https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/111-8-63
- Georgia DCH, Personal Care Homes: https://dch.georgia.gov/divisionsoffices/hfrd/facilities-provider-information/personal-care-homes
- O.C.G.A. § 31-7-12.4, Memory care centers (Justia, 2025 Georgia Code): https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-31/chapter-7/article-1/section-31-7-12-4/
- Georgia DCH, GaMap2Care Find a Facility: https://dch.georgia.gov/gamap2carer-find-facility
- Georgia DCH HFRD, Understanding the Inspection Process: https://forms.dch.georgia.gov/HFRD/Inspection_Process.pdf
- Georgia DCH, Part II Policies and Procedures for EDWP-CCSP and SOURCE General Services (October 1, 2026): https://www.mmis.georgia.gov/portal/Portals/0/StaticContent/Public/ALL/Handbooks/EDWP-CCSP%20and%20SOURCE%20General%20Services-Q4-October%202026%2020261009195638.pdf
- Georgia DCH, Final Settings Rule Provider Guidance: https://dch.georgia.gov/document/rules/final-settings-rule-provider-guidance/download
- 42 CFR 441.310(a)(2), Limits on federal financial participation (eCFR): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/part-441/section-441.310
- Medicare.gov, Long-term care: https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/long-term-care
- Georgia DHS Division of Aging Services, Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program: https://aging.georgia.gov/programs-and-services/long-term-care-ombudsman-program