Amid increased demands for geriatric hospital care and more patients being boarded while waiting for a post-acute bed comes a devastating statistic: 774 nursing homes have closed since 2020, and only seven new facilities were opened in 2024.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living's 2024 Access to Care report looked at the cumulative effect of continued nationwide labor shortages, inflation and increased operational costs and chronic government underfunding for nursing homes across the nation.
The organization found that 46% of nursing homes are limited to new admissions and 57% of nursing facilities have a waiting list for new residents.
Since 2020, there are 62,567 fewer nursing home beds. Twenty percent of nursing homes have closed a unit, wing or floor due to labor shortages and at least 774 nursing homes have closed entirely in the last four years. This has displaced more than 28,400 residents.
Demand for long-term and post-acute care continues to rise. In 2024, only seven new facilities opened, compared to 37 in 2023, 55 in 2022, 71 in 2021 and 73 in 2020. The trend of closures has created "nursing home deserts," and 40 counties have been added to the list of deserts since 2020. Eighty-five percent of nursing home deserts are in rural communities.
"It's not hyperbole to say access to care is a national crisis," Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL, said in the news release. "Nursing homes are closing at a rate much faster than they are opening, and yet with each passing day, our nation grows older. Providers are doing everything they can to protect and expand access to care, but without support from policymakers, access to care remains under threat."