Geriatric day care is currently receiving considerable attention as an alternative to institutionalization for a certain segment of our nation's chronically ill and impaired elderly. There are, however, few clear descriptions of day care and even fewer programmatic guidelines. In an effort to clear up some of the issues, this paper (a) defines geriatric day care and describes various types of geriatric day care centers, (b) discusses the place of day care in the long-term care continuum, and (c)describes the Levindale Adult Day Treatment Center as one model of geriatric day care.