SpiriTrust Lutheran®, Life Plan Communities named “Best Senior Living Communities”
for a second year by U.S. News & World Report!
U.S. News & World Report recently recognized five SpiriTrust Lutheran® life plan communities with a combined 11 “Best Senior Living” designations on its 2023-2024 “Best Senior Living” list. U.S. News analyzed survey data from more than 250,000 residents and their family members at nearly 4,000 senior living communities nationwide in its second year of gathering consumer data to identify the “Best Senior Living” communities in the U.S.
“Communities that are highly rated excel in making residents feel safe, well cared for and highly satisfied by the services provided,” said Zach Adams, senior health data engineer at U.S. News.
U.S. News awards the designation of “Best Senior Living” only to those communities that satisfy its objective statistical assessment of the community’s performance. To be included in the analysis, SpiriTrust Lutheran surveyed residents and their family members between April and November of last year asking for their satisfaction level with aspects of the community such as safety, caregiving, management, staff, food and dining and activities.
Click on the village names below to learn more about how each community scored on the survey.
- Best Assisted Living*
- Best Continuing Care Retirement Community
- Best Independent Living
- Best Assisted Living*
- Best Independent Living
- Best Assisted Living*
- Best Continuing Care Retirement Community
- Best Independent Living
- Best Assisted Living*
- Best Continuing Care Retirement Community
- Best Assisted Living*
When conducting its satisfaction survey of residents and their families, U.S. News & World Report did not distinguish between “assisted living” and “personal care” facilities, even though states license them separately.
Prior to 2011, assisted living and personal care were essentially synonymous, interchangeable terms. Some communities called themselves assisting living, but if asked to show their provider license, they would have presented a Personal Care Home certificate. Their offerings would have included support with personal care, meals, housekeeping and transportation. Unfortunately, under the personal care licensure, care services were limited to maintaining general health. Individuals requiring a higher level of nursing care transitioned to skilled care at a cost of two to three times more than personal care.
Today, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania licenses assisted living and personal care residences separately. This change resulted from the signing of Senate Bill 704 by Governor Ed Rendell in July of 2007. The new law – Act 56 – established assisted living licensure as a separate form of long-term care in Pennsylvania – essentially bridging the gap between personal care and skilled nursing so residents could age in place for a longer time before moving to a nursing home. The change also resulted in lower costs for residents needing advanced care, but not at the level of skilled care.
It took until 2011 for the Intra-Governmental Council on Long-Term Care to promulgate regulations and issue the first assisted living license.
At SpiriTrust Lutheran, we offer assisted living at The Village at Sprenkle Drive and personal care at The Village at Utz Terrace and The Village at Luther Ridge. Today, the Department of Aging, Office of Long Term Living licenses assisted living facilities and the Department of Human Services licenses personal care homes.