Care-facility inspections
How nursing homes and care facilities in Georgia are inspected, licensed, and held to account.
2 laws · 15 enforcement actions · 7 guides · 2 court decisions
See the details
The laws 2
- O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapters 7, 13, 22, 23 and 44 (the health care facility licensing and enforcement acts), O.C.G.A. Title 26 Chapter 5, O.C.G.A. § 31-2-4(d)(8), and O.C.G.A. rules.sos.ga.gov
- O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapters 2 and 7 (incl. the personal care home and assisted living community licensing provisions at O.C.G.A. §§ 31-7-12 and 31-7-12.2): the enabling statute for the Personal Care Home / Assisted Living Community rules rules.sos.ga.gov
Know your rights 7
- HFRD Personal Care Home Program overview: defines Personal Care Homes (Ch. 111-8-62), Assisted Living Communities (Ch. 111-8-63), Community Living Arrangements (Ch. 290-9-37) and Adult Day Centers (Ch. dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD's "Understanding the Inspection Process" guide: explains the inspection, Statement of Deficiencies, Plan of Correction, and compliance-verification cycle, and how the Form 2567 survey report is structured forms.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD's "Steps in the Complaint Process" guide: intake/triage, investigation, and outcome stages for a complaint filed against a licensed facility forms.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD's "Facilities Regulated by the Department of Community Health" guide: plain-language definitions of every HFRD-licensed facility type (adult day center, assisted living community, community living arrangement, nursing home, personal ca… forms.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD medication-administration skills competency checklist: a provider-training document referenced from HFRD's Laws & Regulations page for staff in personal care homes / assisted living communities administering medication under the proxy-… dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD Change of Ownership (CHOW) FAQ: HFRD's own guidance on facility and medical-service-provider change-of-ownership application requirements dch.georgia.gov
- GaHLES (Georgia Healthcare Facility Licensing Enterprise System): HFRD's online portal for new and existing facility license applications, administrator/DON change requests, Plan of Correction submissions, and requesting an administrative h… gahles.dch.georgia.gov
Enforcement actions 5
- HFR Facility Finder: HFRD's public hub for facility search, license verification, inspection-report search, and the fines-and-enforcement schedule, linked as "GaMap2Care" from the main DCH site forms.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD's State Enforcement Matrix (fine schedule keyed to Chapter 111-8-25 severity categories, from Category I life-safety violations down to Category III administrative violations, with initial/subsequent/repeat fine tiers up to $1,000 per… forms.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD's public Inspection Report Search (Laserfiche WebLink), searchable by named facility, facility type, city, survey date, and whether a violation was found, covering over 24,000 Healthcare Facility Regulation surveys from the past 3 year… weblink.dch.georgia.gov
- HFRD License Verification search: verify a licensed facility's current status by facility name, address, city, or phone, showing effective license date and date verified forms.dch.georgia.gov
- GaMap2Care interactive facility-search map: filter by facility type (nursing home, personal care home, assisted living community, home health agency, hospice, adult day center, and others) to locate and review named HFRD-licensed facilities forms.dch.georgia.gov
Orders & settlements 10
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-56, Nursing Homes: minimum standards for nursing home licensure, staffing, resident care and enforcement rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-62, Personal Care Homes: minimum standards for personal care home licensure and operation rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-63, Rules and Regulations for Assisted Living Communities: minimum standards for ALC licensure (personal care homes serving 25+ residents providing assisted living care) rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-25, General Licensing and Enforcement Requirements, including the State Enforcement Matrix (severity categories A through L, plan-of-correction and fine schedule) rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-1, Rules and Regulations for Adult Day Centers rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-31, Home Health Agencies rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-37, Rules and Regulations for Hospices rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-47, Intermediate Care Homes rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-50, Long-Term Care Facilities: Residents' Bill of Rights rules.sos.ga.gov
- Rules of the Department of Community Health, Chapter 111-8-65, Rules and Regulations for Private Home Care Providers rules.sos.ga.gov
Court decisions 2
- Smith v. Department of Human Resources, 257 Ga. App. 33, 570 S.E.2d 337 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002): review of a state directive relocating residents from an assisted-living facility (following an anonymous complaint of inadequate heat and food) is… courtlistener.com
- Georgia Department of Community Health v. Emory University, 830 S.E.2d 628 (Ga. Ct. App. 2019), docket A19A0615: Court of Appeals review of a DCH Commissioner ruling on whether a hospital could sever a Certificate of Need program from its f… courtlistener.com
Official notices
None on file yet — the federal backstop still applies.