If you’ve got a loved one in a nursing home or you’re considering one for the future, you might be wondering how the industry is changing. Let’s dive into the latest numbers from October 2024, and I’ll break down what they mean for residents and families.
First, let’s talk about the big picture. As of October 2024, there are 14,814 nursing homes across the United States, offering just over 1.58 million beds. We’re continuing to see a gradual decline in the number of facilities – we’ve lost three homes since September, and if we look back to January 2014, there were about 840 more nursing homes than we have today. This trend might make it seem harder to find a spot, but here’s the interesting part: occupancy rates are holding steady at 77.4%. This means that despite fewer facilities, there’s still room in the system.
Now, let’s talk about quality ratings – the famous “five-star” system that helps families evaluate nursing homes. October brought some shuffling in the ratings, with 1,534 homes seeing improvements and 1,715 experiencing downgrades. Currently, the breakdown looks like this: about 2,693 homes have the coveted five-star rating (the best possible), while 3,521 sit at one star (the lowest rating). The rest fall somewhere in between, with a pretty even distribution across two, three, and four stars. If you’re looking for a nursing home right now, this means roughly one in five facilities has that top-tier rating.
One of the most important aspects of nursing home care is staffing levels – after all, it’s the nurses and aides who provide the hands-on care that residents need. There’s some encouraging news here. In October 2024, registered nurses spent an average of 0.668 hours (about 40 minutes) per resident per day, up slightly from 0.663 hours in September. Nursing aides, who handle much of the day-to-day care, averaged 2.29 hours per resident daily, also showing a small increase from the previous month’s 2.26 hours. The total staff time, including all types of care workers, reached 3.837 hours per resident per day. While these might seem like small increases, they represent a positive trend toward more individual attention for residents.
Speaking of inspections, which are crucial for maintaining standards, only 50 new inspections were reported in October. This is particularly noteworthy because CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) is supposed to conduct annual health inspections at every facility. However, since COVID-19, these inspections haven’t been happening as regularly as they should. This means some facilities haven’t been inspected for over a year – something families might want to keep in mind when evaluating facilities.
Looking at these numbers as a whole, what does it mean for residents and their families? While the overall number of nursing homes continues to decrease slowly, the ones that remain are generally maintaining their service levels, and in some cases, improving them. The slight uptick in staffing hours is particularly encouraging, as it aligns with the Department of Health and Human Services’ 2023 push for more registered nurse time per resident.
For families currently looking for nursing home care, these numbers suggest a few key takeaways. First, don’t be discouraged by the five-star rating system – while a five-star facility is ideal, there are many good four and three-star facilities that might be perfect for your needs. Second, when visiting potential homes, ask about their staffing levels and how they compare to these national averages. Finally, if you’re considering a facility that hasn’t been inspected recently, don’t hesitate to ask more questions about their quality control measures and how they’ve maintained standards since their last official inspection.
Remember, these numbers tell us about trends, but every nursing home is unique. Use this information as a starting point, but always visit facilities in person, ask questions, and trust your instincts when making decisions about long-term care for your loved ones.