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.
Families hear “rehab” and “nursing home” as if they were two buildings. In New Jersey they are often the same licensed nursing home, used for two different jobs. The payer and the goal change. The license on the wall often does not.
One license, two jobs
The Department of Health licenses a nursing home as a nursing home. Medicare can pay for a short skilled stay in that building when the skilled-nursing rules are met. When daily skilled care is no longer needed, the same building may offer long-term custodial care. That second stay is not the Medicare rehab benefit.
NJ FamilyCare / MLTSS is a separate program. See the NJ Medicaid and MLTSS guide. This page does not explain eligibility or payment.
This directory tags a nursing home as short-term rehab only when the state license is a hospital-based subacute unit, or when CMS publishes a short-stay quality rating. The tag is a way to filter. It is not a second license, and it is not a ranking.
What actually differs
- Goal. A skilled stay is for daily skilled nursing or therapy after a hospital stay. Custodial care is help with daily life when skilled care is not required every day.
- Payer. Original Medicare’s skilled nursing benefit is limited to a benefit period and is not a promise of 100 paid days. A long stay is a different bill.
- License, in one case. A comprehensive rehabilitation hospital is licensed separately. That is not a wing you can assume sits inside a nursing home.
The Next Right Step is free for families. No facility, agency, or provider pays to be listed, ranked, or recommended, and we don't receive referral fees. If we ever accept a sponsor, that listing will be clearly labeled “Sponsored,” and this note will be updated.
Questions families ask
Is short-term rehab a different New Jersey license from a nursing home?
Usually no. A short Medicare stay and a long custodial stay often happen under the same nursing-home license. A comprehensive rehabilitation hospital is a different license.
Does a short-stay star rating mean a bed is open?
No. A CMS short-stay rating means the home had enough short-stay residents to be measured. It is not an opening.
Keep reading
- Inpatient rehab vs. skilled nursing
- Medicare’s 100 days of rehab
- Nursing homes tagged for short-term rehab
- Licensed nursing homes
Sources
- New Jersey Department of Health, long-term care file
A nursing home is one Department of Health license. A hospital-based subacute unit is labeled as such.
Source dated 2026-10-13
- Medicare.gov coverage descriptions
Medicare skilled nursing is a short benefit, not long-term custodial care.
Source dated 2026-10-14
- NJ Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, MLTSS
Official NJ DMAHS MLTSS page. This guide does not interpret eligibility or payment.
Source dated 2026-10-14
- CMS Care Compare, nursing home provider information
Why this directory tags some nursing homes as short-term rehab.
Source dated 2026-10-14