The questions families ask in the week they have to decide — answered from official rules and public records, with no facility paying to appear.
Medicare's Care Compare gives every nursing home a star rating. Here is what those stars are built from, the four blind spots families hit, and how to compare facilities on the records behind the rating.
The practical differences between assisted living and a nursing home: level of care, who pays, who inspects them, and how to tell which one a parent actually needs.
Medicare covers skilled nursing care for a limited time after a qualifying hospital stay — and never covers long-term custodial care. Here is exactly what is covered, for how long, and what happens on day 101.
Medicaid is the largest payer of nursing home care in the US. How eligibility works, what the five-year lookback actually penalizes, and the rules that protect a spouse who stays at home.
Nursing home costs vary by a factor of three across states. What the daily rate includes, what gets billed on top, how Medicare and Medicaid fit, and how to compare a quote against the facility's record.
Memory care typically costs 20-30% more than standard assisted living. What the surcharge pays for, how pricing tiers work, and the questions that reveal whether a secured unit is actually specialized.
Medicaid rarely pays assisted living room and board — but most states cover the care services through waiver programs. How waivers work, why waiting lists exist, and how to find participating facilities.
Every nursing home inspection citation in the US is public. How to find them, how to read severity codes, and which patterns actually predict problems.
The 528 nursing homes CMS has designated for the worst persistent compliance problems — plus every candidate facility, with ratings and ownership.