Georgia licenses senior care communities as either a Personal Care Home or an Assisted Living Community — two genuinely different license types with a separate Memory Care Center designation for dementia care. Here's what Atlanta families need to know before choosing a secured memory care community.
By Linda Alvarez, CDP · March 22, 2026
Georgia draws a clear line between two license types issued by the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Healthcare Facility Regulation Division (HFRD): a Personal Care Home (PCH), licensed under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-8-62, generally serving lower-acuity residents, and an Assisted Living Community (ALC), created by O.C.G.A. § 31-2-7 and licensed under 111-8-63, authorized to provide a higher level of hands-on, nursing-adjacent care. Beyond those two base license types, Georgia has a distinct Memory Care Center designation, also under 111-8-63, that either an ALC or a qualifying PCH may carry if it meets enhanced requirements for secured environments and dementia-trained staffing ratios.
As a Certified Dementia Practitioner, I tell Atlanta families that this structure means the 'memory care' label on a brochure isn't itself a guarantee — it's the Memory Care Center designation, specifically, that confirms a community has met Georgia's enhanced disclosure and staffing standard for dementia care. Two communities can both market memory care and hold meaningfully different licenses and designations underneath; only one may actually carry the state's Memory Care Center certification.
Georgia's Memory Care Center designation under 111-8-63 requires a secured or monitored environment, dementia-specific staff training, and a written disclosure of the community's dementia-care programming, services, and staffing pattern. A locked or monitored unit alone is not the same as a genuinely trained, adequately staffed, formally designated Memory Care Center — families should ask to see the designation itself, not just a marketing brochure.
For dementia-specific care, families should ask what dementia training staff have completed, how the secured unit prevents elopement, what the overnight staffing ratio is in that specific unit, and whether the community holds the formal Memory Care Center designation or is simply an ALC or PCH offering a memory-care 'program' without the designation. Some larger ALC campuses market dedicated memory care wings with the full designation, while smaller PCHs may offer a more intimate, home-like dementia-care setting — both can be appropriate depending on a resident's needs and personality.
Before touring, ask whether the community is licensed as a Personal Care Home or an Assisted Living Community, and request to see its Memory Care Center designation paperwork for the specific secured unit — not just marketing claims about the parent community. Ask what dementia training staff have completed and how recently. Ask about the overnight staff-to-resident ratio in the memory care unit specifically, since that number often differs from the community's overall staffing.
Verify the facility's DCH/HFRD license status and any inspection findings on the Georgia DCH/HFRD facility search (dch.georgia.gov) before you commit. Memory care in Metro Atlanta runs $5,000 to $7,200 a month in 2026 — above the $3,900 to $5,900 range for standard assisted living — and the price should reflect the additional staffing and dementia-care programming that comes with a genuine Memory Care Center designation, not just a locked door. A free advisor familiar with Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett County memory care options can help match a family's needs to the right setting and verify the record before a tour is scheduled.
Free, no-pressure call. We work for families, not facilities.