Nursing homes are a cornerstone of our health care system and a lifeline for families. They are not optional. In the Capital Region alone, nursing homes care for more than 12,000 individuals each year across 26 facilities, representing roughly 4,300 beds. These providers are essential to the continuum of care, with about 85% of admissions coming directly from hospitals. When patients are ready to leave hospitals, nursing homes ensure they have a safe place to recover, rehabilitate, or receive long-term support.
Without them, hospitals become overcrowded, families are left scrambling, and vulnerable individuals have nowhere to turn.
For years, nonprofit nursing homes have been sounding the alarm: Costs continue to rise, but state funding has not kept pace. And now, the consequences are impossible to ignore.
Across New York, thousands of nursing home beds have disappeared. Today, more than 70,000 beds are operated at a loss. Without action, more facility closures are inevitable. This is not just a financial issue; it is a community crisis.
Nursing homes are heavily dependent on Medicaid, which covers roughly 70% of all days of care in the Capital Region. Despite this reliance, Medicaid reimbursement has failed to keep pace with the true cost of care. As a result, nursing homes across the state are losing, on average, between $85 and $150 per resident, per day.
Between 2007 and 2024, the cost of providing care in New York’s nursing homes rose by 51%. Over that same period, Medicaid rates increased by just 12.8%. That gap has forced providers to make difficult decisions — limiting admissions, delaying improvements in facilities and, in too many cases, closing their doors altogether.
When a nursing home closes, families lose access to care close to home and long-term residents lose the place they call home. Workers lose their jobs. Hospitals lose critical partners. Communities lose a critical part of their health care infrastructure.
Individuals and their families depend on skilled, compassionate care. It should never be acceptable for inadequate state reimbursement to cause those organizations entrusted with caring for our most vulnerable neighbors to operate on negative margins while costs soar.
Nonprofit nursing homes are calling for dedicated, permanent funding in the state budget. Of the proposed $1.5 billion allocation for hospitals and nursing homes, at least $750 million must be directed to nursing homes to help ensure reimbursement reflects the actual cost of care. Equally important is the full restoration of capital reimbursement, which will allow providers to maintain and modernize facilities for the people who depend on them.
New York has a choice to make: Invest in long-term care now or continue down a path of closures, reduced access and growing strain on older adults, their families and the health care system.
Sebrina Barrett is president and CEO of LeadingAge New York.