Skilled nursing facility vs. nursing home

In everyday speech, “nursing home” and “skilled nursing facility” often refer to the same building. The distinction that matters for payment and services is the kind of stay, not the sign on the door.

The same licensed facility, two kinds of stay

In Texas, a nursing facility is licensed by HHSC. Many of those homes are also certified to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Certification allows a home to be paid for covered stays; it is not a second type of building.

Skilled nursing is a level of care — typically short-term, after a hospital stay, with daily skilled nursing or rehabilitation (for example, intravenous medication or intensive therapy). Medicare may cover that kind of stay when its rules are met.

Long-term nursing home care (sometimes called custodial care) is ongoing help with daily activities, with nursing oversight, for a person who lives at the facility. Standard Medicare does not pay for long-term custodial care. Medicaid may, if the person is eligible. Private payment and long-term care insurance are the other usual sources.

Why search language mixes the terms

People search “skilled nursing facility,” “medicare nursing home,” and “nursing homes near me” for overlapping reasons: a discharge planner may need a short-term SNF bed; a family may need a long-term bed. This directory lists licensed nursing facilities and, where HHSC records it, whether the home is certified for Medicare, Medicaid, both, or neither.

A home labeled “NF licensed only” is licensed by the state but is not certified for Medicare or Medicaid. It will not appear as a Medicare-certified SNF on Care Compare. It remains in this roster and is labeled plainly.