Personal care home vs. nursing home in Pennsylvania

Last verified: October 2026

What is the main difference between a personal care home and a nursing home?

A personal care home provides housing, meals, supervision and help with daily activities with no licensed nurse required, under DHS's Chapter 2600; a nursing home provides 24-hour licensed nursing under a Department of Health license and federal CMS certification.

Around Pittsburgh there are 217 personal care homes and 111 certified nursing homes.

Which costs more in Pennsylvania?

A nursing home costs about twice as much: CareScout's 2025 Pennsylvania medians are $143,445 a year for a semi-private nursing home room against $76,218 a year for an assisted living community.

The comparison flips for families who qualify for Medical Assistance, which pays nursing home room and board but not personal care home room and board.

When does someone need a nursing home rather than a personal care home?

A nursing home is the right setting when someone needs skilled nursing every day, such as complex wound care, frequent injections, IV therapy or two-person transfers around the clock, or needs short-term rehabilitation after a hospital stay; a personal care home is for help with daily activities without daily skilled nursing.

Personal care homes must arrange a move when a resident's needs exceed what the license allows; ask a home what triggers that before move-in.

How do ratings and inspections differ?

Nursing homes carry CMS Five-Star ratings built from inspections, staffing and quality measures; personal care homes have no public rating, so families rely on DHS licensing status, capacity, dementia unit and the posted inspection summaries.

Both are in our directory.

How do you move from a personal care home to a nursing home if needs change?

When a personal care home resident's needs exceed what Chapter 2600 allows, the home must help arrange a transfer; the usual path is a physician's order and a nursing-facility level-of-care assessment, a nursing home with an open bed, and, if Medical Assistance will pay, an application to the county assistance office started before private funds run out.

Ask a personal care home at the start how it handles a resident who needs more care, and whether it has working relationships with nearby nursing homes. Moves that happen from a hospital bed, with no plan in place, are the hardest on families.

Personal care home vs. nursing home