This is general information, not a coverage decision and not medical advice. Rules change, and a Medicare Advantage plan can differ from Original Medicare. Confirm a specific stay with Medicare, the plan, the hospital discharge planner, or your county Aging and Disability Resource Connection.
Medicare Part A can pay for a stay in a skilled nursing facility, often the nursing home a hospital suggests for rehab. It pays only when a list of conditions is met. It does not pay for long-term custodial care once daily skilled care is no longer needed.
The qualifying inpatient stay
Medicare.gov says a qualifying inpatient hospital stay is a medically necessary inpatient stay of at least 3 days in a row. The count starts the day you are admitted as an inpatient and does not include the day you leave the hospital.
You are an inpatient only when a doctor formally admits you with an order. Time in the emergency room, or under observation, before that order does not count toward the 3 days, even if you sleep at the hospital. If you are getting observation services for more than 24 hours, the hospital must give you a Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice explaining that you are an outpatient.
- You have Part A and days left in the benefit period.
- You have a qualifying inpatient hospital stay.
- You enter the skilled nursing facility within a short time, generally 30 days, of leaving the hospital.
- A clinician decides you need daily skilled care, such as skilled nursing or physical therapy, given by or under skilled staff.
- The facility is Medicare-certified.
- You need the skilled services for a condition treated during the hospital stay, or for a condition that started while you were getting SNF care for that hospital-related condition.
What can change the 3-day rule
Medicare.gov says you may not need the 3-day stay if your doctor participates in an Accountable Care Organization that has a Skilled Nursing Facility 3-Day Rule Waiver. Medicare Advantage plans may also waive the 3-day minimum. Ask the hospital and the plan. Do not assume Original Medicare rules apply to a Medicare Advantage card.
If the hospital admitted you as an inpatient and later changed the status to outpatient getting observation services, Medicare says it will not pay for a skilled nursing facility after that stay. A fast appeal may be available while you are still in the hospital. Ask for the Medicare Change of Status Notice if you do not receive one.
What you pay
Under Original Medicare, days 1–20 and days 21–100 of a skilled nursing benefit period are billed differently, and after day 100 Medicare does not pay the stay. The dollar amounts change every year. They are published on Medicare.gov under Medicare costs. This page does not copy those figures, because a stale number would be worse than a link.
What this directory can and cannot do
Profiles show a New Jersey license and, when the name and ZIP matched, CMS fields such as a short-stay rating. They do not show an open bed, whether the facility will take a particular hospital, or whether Medicare will approve a particular person.
Print the leaving-the-hospital checklist
Sources
- Medicare.gov coverage descriptions
Skilled nursing facility benefit, the 3-day stay, and the 30-day window.
Source dated 2026-10-14
- Medicare.gov, inpatient or outpatient hospital status
Why observation and emergency-room time do not count as inpatient days.
Source dated 2026-10-14
- Medicare.gov, Medicare costs
Where Medicare publishes the yearly deductible and daily coinsurance. Amounts are not copied here.
Source dated 2026-10-14