Medicare does cover a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) after a qualifying three-day admission to a hospital. First, you must have three or more days at a hospital. Then you can be transported to an SNF, and Original Medicare covers the first 20 days. Medicare.gov states your three days at a hospital must be as an inpatient (not outpatient). Furthermore, a qualifying hospital stay does not include inpatient observation services. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, you can get SNF coverage without a qualifying hospital stay. You must also enter Skilled Nursing Facility care within 30 days of leaving the hospital and require skilled services related to your hospital stay. Moreover, you can leave an SNF and re-enter the same or another SNF within 30 days, and you will not need another three-day qualifying hospital stay.