Allentown Senior AdvisorWhere do I look up a Pennsylvania personal care home license?
Use the Department of Human Services' Human Services Provider Directory at humanservices.dhs.pa.gov, search by the home's name or by service type (personal care homes or assisted living), and open the record to see the license number, capacity, license type and dates, and links to its inspection and certificate history.
Search with part of the name; DHS often lists a home under its legal name or with a 'd/b/a'. If you search by county, the form may ask you to choose a service type separately. Our directory pages are built from the same records and link back to them.
What does the Certificate of Compliance show?
The certificate is the license itself: it names the legal entity and the address, the service it may provide (personal care home or assisted living residence), the maximum number of residents, any restriction such as a secured dementia care unit and its capacity, and the period the certificate is valid.
Pennsylvania requires the certificate to be posted in the home. Compare the posted capacity with the number of residents you see, and the dementia unit capacity with the number of locked-unit beds the tour shows you. If the name on the certificate differs from the sign out front, ask who actually holds the license.
What is a provisional license in Pennsylvania?
A provisional license is issued when DHS finds a home out of compliance but not so seriously that it must close; under 55 Pa. Code 20.54 it lasts up to six months and may be renewed no more than three times, after which DHS must issue a regular license or refuse one.
3 licensed homes in the three counties held a provisional license when we retrieved DHS's data (November 6, 2026): Abode Care of Allentown (Allentown), Devonhouse Senior Living (Allentown), Heritage Hill Senior Community (Weatherly). A provisional license is not a closure order, and residents can stay, but it is a clear signal to read the inspection reports and ask what is being fixed. A regular license is listed as 'Full' in DHS's directory.
How often is a personal care home license renewed?
A regular license runs for one year, and DHS inspects each personal care home and assisted living residence at least annually before renewal, with additional unannounced visits for complaints, incidents and follow-up on plans of correction.
That means a Lehigh Valley home should have a fresh licensing inspection on file every year. Each facility page in our directory shows the date of the newest report and how many reports DHS has posted in the last 24 months.
What else should I check besides the license?
Check the latest inspection summaries and plans of correction, the home's resident-home contract and fee schedule, how many residents it actually has against its capacity, and whether the administrator holds current Pennsylvania administrator training.
For nursing homes the license comes from the Department of Health, and CMS's Care Compare is the better starting point. For home care agencies, the Department of Health also issues the license. We do not publish complaints that DHS has not posted; if you have a concern, call DHS at 1-877-401-8835.
At a glance
| DHS's provider directory shows | DHS's provider directory does not show | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Number, type (full or provisional), dates and capacity | Prices or availability |
| Inspections | Posted inspection summaries with dates | A star rating or grade |
| Dementia unit | Whether one is licensed and its capacity | How many residents are in it today |
Sources include 55 Pa. Code Chapters 20, 2600 and 2800, Pennsylvania DHS, Department of Health and Department of Aging pages, CMS, VA and CareScout rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
