The costs are still well beyond the reach of many families. But for what it’s worth, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities across America – and right here in Rhode Island – are keeping their prices in check, a recent report shows.
In fact, the MetLife Mature Market Institute’s 2007 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home and Assisted Living Costs actually shows a decline in the average per-day cost of a private room in a Providence-area nursing home to $231, versus $251 last year.
The 2005 edition of the survey had pegged the cost at $219.
Nationally, the survey shows the average cost of a private nursing-home room was $213 per day, or $77,745 per year, compared with $206 in 2006 and $203 in 2005.
Assisted-living costs rose by just a dollar to $2,969 per month, or $35,628 yearly, the institute reported. In the Providence area, the average cost found was $3,172 per day.
As in the past, the survey found substantial variations in base rates and in the services provided for those base rates. Smaller facilities, the institute said, tended to provide more services for the base price.
“In many cases, special services for assisted living are added to the base price, so consumers should inquire about all costs when exploring their options,” said Sandra Timmermann, director of the institute, in a news release.
It’s an important consideration, said Barbara C. Peters, director of communications for the AARP Rhode Island, because the listed prices don’t all include the same things. Transportation, laundry services, etc. may be included or extras.
“Read the fine print,” she said. “They are not all alike. All these add-ons are costs to the consumer.”
Peters also noted that Rhode Islanders have access to fewer assisted-living and nursing home options than they did just a few years ago. There are currently 66 licensed assisted-living residences in the state, she said, down from 71 in 2004, and the total number of beds has declined to 3,578 from 3,637 in 2004.
In the nursing home category, there are now 96 licensed facilities, down from 100 in 2004, she said, and the number of beds has dropped from 9,776 in 2004 to 9,286 now.
Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities serve different purposes in the market. Nursing homes are residential health care facilities providing skilled care involving a nurse or therapist, along with help with basic activities of daily living such as bathing or dressing. Assisted-living facilities, on the other hand, need not provide medical care, though many do provide substantial support for their frail residents. As the MetLife Mature Market Institute put it, they are “appropriate housing for those who need help with day-to-day living, but who do not need the round-the-clock skilled care found in nursing homes.”
As the assisted-living market has grown over the last few decades, more and more nursing homes have begun to focus on short-term, post-acute or rehabilitative services. The MetLife report cites a National Center for Health Statistics study that found that discharges of nursing home residents with stays of three months or leas had doubled between 1977 and 1999.
Still, almost 56 percent of current nursing home residents have been there for at least one year, a study by The Lewin Group cited in the MetLife report found, and the average nursing home resident has been there for 876 days. (A full 20 percent have been there for less than three months, The Lewin Group found, while 25.6 percent have been there for three or more years.)
In the assisted-living world, on the other hand, the average stay is 27 months (virtually the same as what the nursing home study found), and the average age is 85.
A full 60 percent of assisted-living facility residents came from a private home or apartment, and 34 percent ultimately move into a nursing home, according to the National Center for Assisted Living. Another 30 percent end their days at the assisted-living facility, while the rest move back home or elsewhere.
One market trend that the MetLife study highlighted as “noteworthy” is the growing availability of dementia care at assisted-living facilities. Just in the last year, the share of facilities offering such specialized services grew from 48 percent to 59 percent, the institute said. Of those, 54 percent charge additional fees for dementia-related care, the survey found, with an average additional monthly cost of $1,110.
The MetLife survey of nursing homes and assisted living communities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia was conducted by telephone during June and July 2007 by LifePlans Inc. for the MetLife Mature Market Institute. •
The complete survey can be downloaded at no charge at www.maturemarketinstitute.com.
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