Not Your Grandma's Nursing Home

The face in today's nursing home is changing. It is not your "grandma's nursing home". These changes are continuing to focus attention on providing quality care, the funding of that care, and who actually are the customers. The report below does a good job in analyzing the trends of today's nursing home resident. Click the link below for the full report.

Summarizing the report finds that:

1. The average age of a NH resident is increasing due to healthier lifestyles and more residential options for seniors, such as, assisted living.
2. Long Term residents decreasing as a percentage of overall population due to increase emphasis on short term rehab and recovery. Increased services are available for seniors to manage health conditions in less intense settings.
3. Current NH residents have more chronic conditions and are, on average, receiving state assistance through Medicaid. This is putting pressures on nursing home operators to provide the care needed with the limited reimbursement of Medicaid dollars.

People facing decisions of this nature in the upcoming months or years may find this report enlightening. The report is available at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/7663.cfm