An Overview of Nursing Homes and Their Current Residents: Data from the 1995 National Nursing Home Survey

Objective: This report presents data on the characteristics of nursing homes, utilization by current residents and number of employees. Characteristics of the nursing homes include ownership, certification, bed size, location, and affiliation. Current residents are presented by age, sex and race. Selected trend data are presented from three previous National Nursing Home Surveys.

Methods: Data presented in this report are from the 1995 National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS). The 1995 NNHS consisted of a two-stage design with a probability sample of 1,500 nursing facilities in the first stage and up to six current residents in the second stage.

Results: About 1.5 million residents were receiving care in 16,700 nursing homes in 1995. Nearly 1.8 million beds were available for use and these facilities operated at about 87 percent of their capacity. The residents were elderly, predominantly female, and white. Since 1985, the number of nursing homes decreased by 13 percent while the number of beds increased by 9 percent.