New research from the HRSA-funded RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis shows that a higher percentage of nursing homes closed in nonmetropolitan counties in the U.S.
The report shows that between 2008 and 2018, 1,255 nursing homes closed across the country. As of 2018, almost 8 percent of U.S. counties had no nursing home, with 10 percent of nonmetro counties and less than 4 percent of metro counties lacking nursing homes. Of the 243 counties with no nursing homes, 44 were newly created “nursing home deserts” (counties with no nursing home) because of nursing home closures between 2008 and 2018; about 91 percent of these new nursing home deserts were in nonmetropolitan counties.