---
title: O.C.G.A. § 49-6-61. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 49-6-61
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 49-6-61 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6-61
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6-61.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6-61/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t49-t50-ch1-12-(v38)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=60c992b5_0#page=380
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6-60.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-6-62.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: SOCIAL SERVICES / SERVICES FOR THE AGING / COMMUNITY CARE AND SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 49-6-61. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(1) “Department” means the Department of Community Health.

(2) “Division” means the organizational unit within the Department of Community Health responsible for the administration of the “Georgia Medical Assistance Act of 1977.”

(3) “Functionally impaired elderly person” means any person 60 years of age or older with physical or mental limitations that restrict individual ability to perform the normal activities of daily living and which impede individual capacity to live independently.

(4) The “Georgia Medical Assistance Act of 1977” means Article 7 of Chapter 4 of this title.

(5) “Lead agency” means one or more agencies designated by the Department of Community Health to assess services needed by functionally impaired elderly persons, to coordinate and provide community care services to those persons, provide case management, and, where necessary, subcontract with providers of service. A lead agency shall be either a private nonprofit entity or any public entity, including but not limited to any organizational unit of the department.

(6) “Older Americans Act of 1965” means P.L. 92-258, as amended, on July 1, 1982.

## History

Code 1933, § 88-1902D, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 2248, § 1; Code 1981, § 49-6-61, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 2248, § 4; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 38; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 49; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 49; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-2/HB 228; Ga. L. 2016, p. 737, § 1/HB 1085; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 49/HB 323.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1986, “this title” was substituted for “Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated” in paragraph (4).

## U.s. Code.

The federal Older Americans Act of 1965, referred to in paragraph (6), is codified at 42 U.S.C. § 3001 et seq.