Rural Seniors With Dementia Have Longer Nursing Home Stays

Rural Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD) have longer nursing home stays and shorter survival time than urban Medicare beneficiaries. After their ADRD diagnosis, rural beneficiaries spent about 26.1% of their days in a nursing home, compared to 20.4% of beneficiaries in urban areas. On average, rural beneficiaries survived 1136.4 days post diagnosis, about 3.9% fewer than the average 1183.5 days survived by urban beneficiaries. About 24.9% of rural beneficiaries survived 72 months after ADRD diagnosis compared to 27.4% of urban beneficiaries.

The share of days post-diagnosis using other . . .