Glossary of Care Terms
Fifty states, fifty vocabularies. The same six-bed house is an adult family home in Washington, an RCFE in California, and a personal care home in Georgia. These are the terms you will meet, in plain language, with the states that use each one.
What states call these homes
Every state licenses small residential care homes under its own name. These are the license categories, with the states that use each one.
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Adult care home
adult care facility · adult home
Adult care home is the license name several states use for a residence providing room, board, and personal care to adults who cannot live independently. New York and North Carolina are the two largest states using it.
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Adult family home
AFH · family care home
An adult family home is a licensed private residence where a small number of adults, usually two to six, live with a provider and receive round-the-clock help with daily care.
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Adult foster care
AFC · adult foster home
Adult foster care is a licensed arrangement in which a provider takes a small number of adults into a private home and gives them room, board, and daily personal care. Michigan, Oregon, and Minnesota use the term for elder care homes.
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Assisted living facility
ALF · assisted living community
An assisted living facility is a state-licensed residence where adults who need daily help with personal care live together and receive that help from on-site staff, without the skilled nursing care a nursing home provides.
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Assisted living residence
ALR
An assisted living residence is a state-licensed home where adults receive help with daily personal care in a residential setting. Several states use the word residence rather than facility to signal that these are homes, not institutions.
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Board and care home
care home · group home for seniors · residential care home
A board and care home is a small residential care home, usually an ordinary house serving fewer than fifteen adults. The phrase is everyday language rather than a license category in most states.
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Personal care home
PCH
A personal care home is a licensed residence where adults who cannot safely live alone receive help with bathing, dressing, medication, and other daily needs, without skilled nursing care.
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RCFE
Residential Care Facility for the Elderly
RCFE stands for Residential Care Facility for the Elderly, the California license category for any non-medical residence serving adults 60 and older who need help with daily care. It covers six-bed houses and 200-unit communities alike.
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Residential care facility
RCF · residential care home
A residential care facility is a licensed home where adults live and receive help with daily personal care but not skilled nursing. It is also the umbrella term researchers and federal agencies use for the whole category, from six-bed homes to large communities.
Types of care
Care described by what it does rather than by what the license is called.
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Memory care
dementia care · memory care community
Memory care is care designed for people living with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia, combining a secured setting, staff trained in dementia care, and a predictable daily routine.
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Respite care
short-stay care · temporary care
Respite care is short-term care that gives a family caregiver a break. In a residential setting it means a licensed care home takes a resident for a defined stay, usually a few days to a few weeks.
Paying for care
The terms that show up on a bill, in a waiver application, or in an insurance policy.
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Medicaid waiver
HCBS waiver · 1915(c) waiver · home and community based services waiver
A Medicaid waiver is a program that lets a state use Medicaid dollars for care outside a nursing home, including care delivered in a licensed residential care home. Coverage, eligibility, and waiting lists are set state by state.
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Room and board
base rate
Room and board is the housing and food portion of a care home's bill: the bedroom, utilities, meals, and housekeeping, separate from any charge for personal care. Medicaid waivers do not cover it.
How care is measured
The numbers and assessments that decide care level, cost, and eligibility.
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Activities of daily living
ADLs
Activities of daily living are the six basic self-care tasks used across long-term care to measure how much help a person needs: bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence, and eating.
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Licensed capacity
licensed beds · bed count
Licensed capacity is the maximum number of residents a state permits a care home to serve. It is set on the license, enforceable by the state, and the clearest single indicator of whether a home is small.
Know the term? Start the search.
Our state directories list licensed small care homes city by city, under whatever name the state uses, with capacity and license status on every listing.
Find care homes by state