Nearly every state in the country (46) saw a decrease in the number of nursing home residents between 2011 and 2016, according to a new analysis published by AARP.
All told, about 1.3 million Americans lived in nursing facilities on an average day, occupying about 81% of the 1.7 million beds available, the retired persons interest group noted last week in its 24th annual “Across the States” report, providing a snapshot into long-term care across the country.
Resident numbers declined about 4% from 2011 to 2016 in nursing homes nationally. Wisconsin (-15%), Tennessee (-14%), Georgia (-13%), Minnesota (-12%) and Connecticut (-10%) were the states hit hardest by those numbers.
On payment, about 62% of nursing facility residents rely on Medicaid, having spent their life savings, AARP noted. A quarter paid for services out of their own pocket or using private pay, while only 14% utilized Medicare. In 2017, the median annual cost of a nursing facility was $97,455 for a private room and $87,600 for a shared room.
AARP notes that some nursing home residents may be better suited to facilities that provided lesser levels of care. About 12% of residents had low care level needs in 2014. On average, nursing facility residents received around four hours of care per day in 2016.
Quality, meanwhile, varied greatly from one state to the next. For instance, the percentage of long-stay nursing facility residents who experienced a hospital admission in 2014 ranged from 5% in Hawaii to 28% in Mississippi. And those on antipsychotics varied from 7% in Hawaii up to 20% in Oklahoma.
You can read the entire free report here, and find specific state-level reports here. AARP also dives into the numbers for assisted living, along with other types of long-term services and supports. Their aim, the report notes, is to help administrators, residents and policymakers to make more informed decisions about the future of long-term care.
