Nursing homes in rural America: a chartbook : key facts about nursing home availability in rural America
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Sharma, Hari, (Of RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis), author Xu, Lili, (Of RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis), author Ullrich, Fred, (Public health researcher) author MacKinney, Clint, author Mueller, Keith J., 1951- author
- Contributor(s):
- RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, issuing body. Rural Health Research & Policy Centers, issuing body. Rural Policy Research Institute (U.S.), issuing body.
- Publication:
- Iowa City, IA : Rural Policy Research Institute, July 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Health Services Accessibility -- statistics & numerical data Nursing Homes -- statistics & numerical data Rural Health Services -- statistics & numerical data United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Policymakers are increasingly concerned about the availability of post-acute care and long-term care services in rural areas. A recent study found that a higher proportion of nursing homes in rural areas have closed compared to urban areas between 2008 and 2018. Many rural residents rely on rural hospitals with swing beds for both post-acute care and long-term care services but the closure of many hospitals in rural areas may potentially leave residents with few to no options for care. Despite recent efforts to promote home- and community-based services over institutional care, residents living in rural areas have limited access to alternatives to nursing home care such as assisted living facilities and adult day care centers. As a result, nursing homes continue to be the primary providers of post-acute and long -term care services in rural areas. Yet, we do not have a good understanding of the availability of nursing homes in rural areas. In this chartbook, we define nursing homes as Medicare and/or Medicaid certified facilities providing post-acute care (skilled nursing facilities) and/or long-term care (nursing facilities) services. We document nursing home availability at the county level and identify counties without nursing homes. We also evaluate the supply of nursing home beds per 1,000 population aged 65 and older. We examine availability and beds by certification type because the type of services provided depends on certification. Facilities that are dually certified by Medicare and Medicaid tend to provide both post- acute care and long-term care services. On the other hand, facilities certified only by Medicare tend to focus on post-acute care services whereas facilities certified only by Medicaid tend to focus on long-term care services. We assume that counties with a dually certified facility or Medicare only facility have access to post-acute care services and counties with a dually certified facility or Medicaid only facility have access to long-term care services. In addition, we identify county level nursing home availability for counties with and without hospitals with swing beds. Finally, we describe the resident and nursing home characteristics including occupancy levels, payer mix, demographics, and health care needs. Our analyses incorporate the certification status of nursing homes, and we summarize data for the urban (metropolitan), and rural (micropolitan, and noncore) counties.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (iv, 18 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918716487206676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918716487206676