Some may enter for a brief time when they leave the hospital because they need sub-acute care, such as skilled nursing care, medical services, and therapies. LTC is generally defined as a broad range of personal, social, and medical services that assist people who have functional or cognitive limitations in their ability to perform self-care and other activities necessary to live independently. However, nursing homes are key providers of LTC for those individuals who have serious functional or cognitive disabilities or medical problems and who require more formal, 24-hour care. In 1997, about 75 percent of all nursing home residents 65 and older required assistance in three or more activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, eating, transferring from bed to chair, and using the toilet. About 42 percent of nursing home residents were diagnosed with dementia, and 12 percent had other psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.
Utilization Lengths of stay in nursing homes vary widely and can be measured in different ways.
Overall, in 1997, the average length of time since admission among all residents currently living in a nursing home was 2.5 years. The national average occupancy rate of nursing homes was 82.7 percent in 1999, a decrease from 1994 when the occupancy rate was 85.5 percent. Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing home care per benefit period. Medicare will only pay for nursing home care preceded by a three-day hospital stay. About 70 percent of nursing home residents are supported, at least in part, by Medicaid.