Facts About Long Term Care In Florida

Florida nursing homes are serving increasingly diverse patient base and providing a greater variety of acute care, rehabilitative and convalescent services that cannot be delivered elsewhere.

Key Facts

• There are 680 nursing homes in Florida, representing 83,229 beds
• The estimated number of residents is 72,000 (roughly 85% occupancy at any given time)
• There are 3,042 licensed ALFs in Florida, representing 85,000 beds.
• The average daily cost for a private room in a nursing home is $256, or nearly $93,440 annually.*
• The average daily cost for a semi-private room in a nursing home is $223, or nearly $81,395 annually.*
• The average monthly rates for assisted living amounts to $3,232.*
• Nearly 40 percent of long term care spending is paid for by private funds.
• Medicare, which covers rehabilitation services after an individual is discharged from a hospital, pays for 19 percent of all long term care spending.
• Medicaid, which covers health care costs for low-income individuals, pays for approximately 60 percent of all long-term care spending.
• Accounting for about 40 percent of total expenditures on nursing facilities, Medicaid's payments cover the care of more than half of all nursing home residents.
• Medicare patients have short rehabilitative stays – 33 days average
• Medicaid and private pay patients have long lengths of stay – 386 days average
• Florida has one of the lowest over-65 population to nursing home population ratio in the country
• Medicaid patient days have declined from a high of 17.2 million days in 2004 down to 15.5 million days in 2009
• Nursing home expenditures account for less than 15% of the overall Medicaid budget; this is down from 19% in 2001

Quality Trends

• Since 2003, there has been an annual increase in the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries discharged to the community in 100 days. Given the increasing complexity of this population, these numbers suggest the continued ability of nursing facilities to provide therapeutic and rehabilitative services that enable patients to return to their homes.
• Data suggests that nursing facilities represent the lowest-cost institutional setting...indicating that nursing facilities may provide policymakers with an opportunity for shifting high acuity patients to nursing facilities with the goal of lowering program  payments.
• Payment rates and quality are also linked, which may reflect the effect of payment levels on the intermediate variable, staffing.
• The overall trend in resident satisfaction since 2005 has been an increase in satisfaction, indicating that more providers are implementing practices recommended by national quality improvement initiatives.
• Research suggests that person-centered care is associated with improved organizational performance, higher residents and staff satisfaction, better workplace performance and higher occupancy rates.

Economic Role of Long Term Care Facilities in Florida

• Support an estimated $20.2 billion (2.7%) of Florida’s economy
• Contribute to nearly 259,250 jobs and support $9.1 billion in labor income through employment of both direct caregivers and support staff (i.e, food service, maintenance, social workers)
• Generate over $2.3 million in state and federal tax revenue
• Long term care facilities contribute to other businesses through a ripple effect, with each nursing home job resulting in two additional jobs or nearly $5 of added economic activity within a local community.

Future Needs for Long Term Care

• By 2026, the population of Americans ages 65 and older will double to 71.5 million.
• Between 2007 and 2015, the number of Americans ages 85 and older is expected to increase by 40 percent.
• Among people turning 65 today, 69 percent will need some form of long-term care, whether in the community or in a residential care facility.
• By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long term health care. (HIAA, "A Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance", 2002)

Reports & Publications

• 2012 American Health Care Association Quality Report
• Total Impact of All Legislative Funding Cuts on 2011-12 Nursing Home Medicaid Rate Reductions
• 2011 Legislative Session Estimated Impact of Rate Reductions
• NEJM: Relationship between Quality of Care and Negligence Litigation in Nursing Homes, March 2011
• Claude Pepper Data Center Issue Brief on Nursing Home Transition, March 2011
• Claude Pepper Data Center Report on Managed Long Term Care in Florida, February 2011
• Long Term Care Facilities’ Impact on Florida Economic Activity
• Eljay Report on Shortfalls in Medicaid Funding in Nursing Home Care, December 2010
• The Florida Senate: Review The Moratorium on Nursing Home Certificates of Need, October 2010
• Kaiser Family Foundation Reports Examine High Medicare Spending for Beneficiaries in Long Term Care
  A Comprehensive Report on the Quality of Care in America's Nursing and Rehabilitation Facilities
• My InnerView 2008 National Survey of Consumer and Workforce Satisfaction in Nursing Homes
• The 2011 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs*
• U.S. Long Term Care Workforce at a Glance