Geography's role in cost of care
McKnight's had an article discussing how geography dictates the quality of care provided to residents of nursing homes. Geography plays an important role in the cost of nursing home and other long-term care services, according to a recently released report.
Nationally, the average nursing home cost was $210 per day for a private room in the markets surveyed. But costs vary greatly depending on where you live. If you reside in a facility in Homer, AK, you could be paying up to $538 per day in nursing home costs, according to the report. But a nursing home in Lafayette, LA, costs a fraction of that-$118 per day. Meanwhile Hawaii is the most expensive on average for care in an assisted living facility at $4,406 a month-more than twice what assisted living residents in North Dakota pay. Many of the nation's Northeastern states have assisted living costs that top $4,000 per month.
The survey, which was conducted by the Long Term Care Group on behalf of Northwestern Mutual, sampled more than 7,000 long-term care facilities nationwide. For more information on the report, or the companies that commissioned it, visit www.nmfn.com.
