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What is a nursing home?
What nursing home care often includes:
- Skilled nursing care provided by licensed healthcare professionals
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy services
- Support with managing and scheduling medications
- Rehabilitation and recovery support after a hospital stay, illness, or injury
- Help with eating, dressing, bathing, or other daily activities
- Special food and nutritional services, including customized meal plans based on dietary restrictions
- Hospice and palliative care focused on comfort and symptom relief for terminally ill residents
- 24/7 support in a residential setting
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When might a nursing home be the right choice?
Signs a nursing home could be a good fit
- Skilled nursing care is needed long-term
- Daily medical monitoring is required
- Recovery and rehabilitation are needed after a hospital stay
- Personal care has become difficult to manage
- Around-the-clock support is the only way to ensure health and safety
How much does a nursing home cost?
Nursing home costs can vary because they depend on different factors, such as location, length of stay, type of room and amount of care and medical monitoring that’s needed.
Costs may be partially covered by Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care insurance, or other benefits, so it’s important to get clarity on that. You’ll also want to find out the out-of-pocket expenses your family may need to handle.
Factors that affect cost
- Location
- Length of stay
- Type of room (private or semi-private)
- Degree of medical care and monitoring needed
- Rehabilitation services and therapies
- Insurance coverage and benefits available
Tip: When touring a nursing home, ask which rehabilitation services are included, whether insurance or benefits could help cover expenses, and how costs could change if care needs increase.
What's typically included?
- Skilled nursing care and medical monitoring
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy services
- Medication management
- Help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, eating, and mobility
- Meals, housekeeping, and laundry services
- Around-the-clock staff support
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Care option
How it differs from nursing homes
Assisted living: How it differs from nursing homes
Assisted living gives older adults a residential community with some support for meals, bathing, dressing, medication management, or other daily activities.
Nursing homes provide a greater amount of care, including ongoing medical monitoring and nursing support. They also may offer rehabilitation services.
Memory care: How it differs from nursing homes
Memory care communities are designed for people living with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. They provide specialized assistance and environments that support cognitive health.
People with dementia may also choose a nursing home, but if they’re looking for a more extensive range of medical and nursing services, they’ll generally find that at a memory care community.
Home health care: How it differs from nursing homes
Home health care is just what it sounds like; it entails medical professionals providing clinical services in the home rather than at an outside facility.
Skilled nursing facilities provide that care—typically nursing support, rehabilitation services, and 24-7 care when needed—within a residential setting.
Short-term rehabilitation: How it differs from nursing homes
The aim of short-term rehabilitation is to help someone recover from an illness, injury, or surgery after a hospital stay.
Long-term nursing care is ongoing support. It’s meant for people who have chronic health conditions or need ongoing medical supervision for other reasons.
Helpful resources for families
How to Pay for a Nursing Home
With aging care, costs are one of the biggest considerations. From paying out-of-pocket to using insurance, find out how you can pay for a nursing home.
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Where Senior Care Costs Are Rising Fastest Across the U.S.
Here's how Cost of Care changed across the country since 2022
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