Nursing Home Beds Are Getting Harder to Find as the Oldest Baby Boomers Turn 80

The United States is losing certified nursing home capacity at the same time the oldest baby boomers are entering their eighties, an age when the likelihood of needing skilled nursing and long-term care rises sharply, according to KFF Health News reporting published September 23.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certified 15,648 nursing facilities in 2015. By 2025, that count had fallen by more than 900. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found national nursing home capacity declined 5 percent between 2019 and 2024. In New York state alone, 24 nursing homes closed since 2020, eliminating more than 3,000 licensed beds.

Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing facility stays for beneficiaries who need rehabilitation after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay. Facilities depend on these Medicare admissions, which reimburse at higher rates than Medicaid, but reduced capacity limits access regardless of payer.

Researchers and long-term care advocates cite inadequate Medicaid reimbursement, workforce shortages, and low wages for nursing aides as primary drivers of facility closures. Proposed federal Medicaid spending reductions could accelerate the trend, they warn.

For Medicare beneficiaries and their families, the practical effect is often difficulty placing a loved one in a nearby facility after a hospital stay, sometimes resulting in longer inpatient stays or transfers to facilities far from home.