Pennsylvania personal care home and assisted living rules: what you must document about each resident

If you run a personal care home or an assisted living residence in Pennsylvania, the resident file has a set shape: an assessment on the Department's form (or your own form with the same information), a support plan, and an activities program that residents can see on the wall. This page walks through what the two chapters actually say, quoting the rule text we checked against the Pennsylvania Code on September 28, 2026, and is honest about where the rules stop.

Who these rules cover

Pennsylvania splits residential care for older adults into two licenses, both overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services:

• Personal care homes, licensed under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600. Within a personal care home, a secured dementia care unit is covered by §§ 2600.231 to 2600.239, which apply "in addition to the other provisions of this chapter"⁴.
• Assisted living residences, licensed under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2800. Here the dementia rules are called special care units (§§ 2800.231 to 2800.239). A special care unit can serve residents with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, or residents who need intense neurobehavioral rehabilitation after a brain injury¹¹. This page focuses on the dementia side.

Many operators hold both licenses on one campus, so it helps to keep the two sets of deadlines side by side.

The assessment: what it covers and by when

Personal care homes

Section 2600.225 sets the clock:

A resident shall have a written initial assessment that is documented on the Department's assessment form within 15 days of admission.55 Pa. Code § 2600.225(a)

A home "may use its own assessment form if it includes the same information as the Department's assessment form." Before that, § 2600.224 requires a preadmission screening, within 30 days before admission, that documents whether the home can meet the person's needs. Chapter 2600 does not list the assessment's contents in the rule text itself; the content lives on the Department's form. If you use your own form, compare it line by line with the current Department form.

Assisted living residences

Chapter 2800 moves the assessment to before admission in most cases and spells out a minimum list. Under § 2800.224(a)(5), the initial assessment must include the person's need for help with ADLs and IADLs, mobility needs, ability to self-administer medication, medical history and current status "and how they impact or interact with the individual's service needs," need for supplemental health care services, special diet or meal needs, ability to operate key-locking devices, and ability to evacuate⁷.

That list is clinical and functional. It does not mention routines, life history, hobbies or personal preferences. Nothing stops you from gathering them, but the rule does not require them by name in the assessment.

The support plan

In a personal care home, a resident who needs personal care services gets a written support plan within 30 days of admission². It documents the medical, dental, vision, hearing, mental health or other behavioral care services that will be made available, the resident's ability to self-administer medication, and it must be "accessible by direct care staff persons at all times." The resident may take part in writing it and may include a designated person.

Assisted living residences use a two-step plan: a preliminary plan tied to the initial assessment, then a final support plan within 30 days after admission, reviewed quarterly⁹. The final plan carries one line that matters for anyone who cares about knowing the resident as a person:

Strategies that promote interactive communication on the part of and between direct care staff and individual residents shall also be included in the final support plan.55 Pa. Code § 2800.227(e)

The rule does not say what those strategies must be. In practice, knowing a resident's history, interests and preferred topics is one of the more useful ways to write them, because a strategy like "ask about her years running the family bakery" is concrete enough for a new aide to use.

Activities and social programming

For personal care homes, § 2600.221 asks the administrator to build a program "designed to promote each resident's active involvement with other residents, the resident's family and the community"³:

The program must provide social, physical, intellectual and recreational activities in a planned, coordinated and structured manner.55 Pa. Code § 2600.221(b)

A current weekly calendar must be posted in a public place.

Assisted living residences go further. The program is daily, residents get the opportunity to help develop the calendar, staff must give verbal cues and reminders about start times and locations, and the program is tied to what residents actually like¹⁰:

The program must be based upon individual and group interests and provide social, physical, intellectual and recreational activities in a planned, coordinated and structured manner and shall encourage active participation in the community at large.55 Pa. Code § 2800.221(b)

"Based upon individual and group interests" is the closest Chapter 2800 comes to requiring an interest inventory. You cannot show a calendar is built on individual interests without some record of what those interests are.

Dementia unit rules

Both chapters add requirements for locked or specialized dementia units.

Admission. A resident needs a medical evaluation within 60 days before admission documenting the dementia diagnosis and the need for the unit, and a cognitive preadmission screening⁴¹¹. In a personal care home's secured unit, the resident is also assessed annually for the continuing need for the unit.

Support plan in 72 hours. Both chapters require a support plan within 72 hours of admission (or within 72 hours before it), and both use the same wording for its content:

The support plan must identify the resident's physical, medical, social, cognitive and safety needs.55 Pa. Code § 2600.234(b)

The plan must name who is responsible for each need, and the resident or designated person (or, in assisted living, the family) must be involved. Personal care homes revise it at least annually; assisted living special care units review it at least quarterly⁵¹².

Weekly program. Sections 2600.237 and 2800.237 list six activity types that must be offered at least weekly, including gross motor, self-care, social, crafts and outdoor activities, plus this one⁶¹³:

Sensory and memory enhancement activities, such as review of current events, movies, story telling, picture albums, cooking, pet therapy and reminiscing.55 Pa. Code § 2600.237(a)(5); § 2800.237(a)(5)

Participation must be voluntary, respect the resident's age and cognitive abilities, and support the retention of their abilities. Reminiscing and story telling are named examples, which is as close as Pennsylvania gets to life-story work in rule text.

What surveyors tend to look for

Based only on what the rules tell you to document, a Pennsylvania file review will naturally check:

• An assessment on the Department's form, or an equivalent form, completed inside the right window for your license type.
• A dated support plan signed by the people who helped write it, with a notation if the resident could not or chose not to sign.
• Evidence the plan was revised within 30 days of the annual assessment or a change in needs, and, in assisted living, a quarterly review.
• A posted, current activity calendar, and in assisted living, some sign it reflects residents' interests and that residents had a chance to shape it.
• In a dementia unit, a 72-hour support plan that addresses social and cognitive needs, not only physical and medical ones, and a weekly program covering all six activity types.

Gathering interests and life history well

Pennsylvania does not require a life history, but its rules keep pointing at the things a life history feeds: interests, social needs, communication strategies, reminiscing. A few habits make that material worth having:

• Start in the first two weeks. Residents and families are most engaged right after move-in, and the support plan deadlines fall in that window anyway.
• Ask open questions. "Tell me about the work you did" gets more than "What was your occupation?" Let the person wander.
• Include family. Ask them for names, places and routines the resident may not volunteer, such as the radio station she always had on or the chair he always took.
• Write down what brings comfort, and what to avoid. A topic that upsets someone is as useful to a new aide as a favorite song.
• Turn it into plan language. Put two or three specific conversation topics into the "interactive communication" strategies and use group interests to plan the calendar.
• Revisit at reassessment. Interests change, especially with dementia. Refresh the notes when you redo the annual assessment.

How Porchlight can help

Porchlight helps you gather and keep the interests, routines and life-story material that Pennsylvania's support plans and activity programs lean on, in the resident's own words. A resident taps one large button on a tablet, a life question is read aloud and shown in large type, and their spoken answer is recorded and transcribed. There are 800+ human-written questions organized by life chapter; any question can be skipped and nothing is scored. Staff can record profile facts, including topics to avoid, and get a "Know Your Resident" briefing with conversation starters, story highlights and a printable life-story biography. Families get a private page to listen and leave voice replies. The assessment, support plan and compliance remain your community's responsibility.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a personal care home and an assisted living residence in Pennsylvania?

They are separate licenses from the Department of Human Services. Personal care homes follow 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600 and assisted living residences follow Chapter 2800. Chapter 2800 generally sets more detailed requirements, including a pre-admission assessment with a minimum content list, a preliminary and final support plan, quarterly plan review, and daily activities based on residents' interests.

How soon must a Pennsylvania resident be assessed?

In a personal care home, the written initial assessment is due within 15 days of admission. In an assisted living residence, it is due within 30 days before admission, or within 15 days after admission if the person comes directly from an acute care hospital, is escaping an abusive situation, or has no alternative living arrangement.

Do Pennsylvania rules require a life history or social history?

Not by name. The assessment content is functional and medical. The closest requirements are the assisted living activities program, which must be based upon individual and group interests, the assisted living final support plan, which must include strategies that promote interactive communication, and dementia unit support plans, which must identify social and cognitive needs.

When must a Pennsylvania resident be reassessed?

Both chapters require additional assessments annually, if the resident's condition significantly changes before the annual assessment, and at the Department's request. The support plan must be revised within 30 days of the annual assessment or a change in needs. Assisted living residences also review the final support plan quarterly.

What do Pennsylvania dementia units have to offer for activities?

Secured dementia care units in personal care homes and special care units in assisted living residences must offer six types of activities at least weekly, including sensory and memory enhancement activities such as story telling, picture albums and reminiscing. Participation must be voluntary and respect the resident's age and cognitive abilities.