About PALCA

Maintaining high standards of care and protecting the rights of assisted living residents is a critical issue for Pennsylvanians. The citizens, family members and the advocacy community in the Commonwealth who have come together to form PALCA all have a personal experience with someone who is or has resided in an assisted living facility.

Assisted living has emerged in the past generation to house people who are not so sick that they require a nursing home. But they generally need more help with bathing, dressing and other basic care needs than may be provided in personal care homes. Assisted living is an apartment-like setting that is intended to serve consumers with few care needs as well as consumers with significant care needs in the most home-like setting possible. Assisted living facilities should be able to provide quality care for both high and low acuity residents in an environment that supports their independence, choice, and freedom. Assisted living has been a marketplace phenomenon for consumers who want independence, privacy, and choice yet also an ability to age in place so as not to have to move when their care needs increase. Places that, thus far, call themselves assisted living facilities are actually licensed as personal care homes, in a system in which regulations have been so minimal and enforcement has been so lax that numerous reports of bad outcomes and, even, tragic results for residents have been published.