Nursing Homes vs Home Health Agencies: How Do They Differ?

Nursing Homes deliver round-the-clock skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term residential care, while home health agencies bring skilled nursing, therapy, and aide support into the home. Below, we break down how the two settings differ, what CMS data shows for each, and how to choose.

Setting	deliver round-the-clock skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term residential care
Typical focus	Nursing Homes emphasize clinical and residential care needs.
What CMS publishes	Five-Star ratings for many providers, plus inspections, fines, staffing, and ownership.
Listed in this directory	14,693 Medicare-certified · avg CMS rating 3.0/5 among rated

Understanding nursing homes

Nursing homes, also called skilled nursing facilities, care for people who need ongoing nursing, rehabilitation following a hospital stay, or long-term residential support. CMS inspects them about once a year and issues Five-Star ratings covering health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

Understanding home health agencies

Home health agencies bring skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and aide services into the home. Medicare certifies the agencies that satisfy federal standards, and CMS publishes quality measures for each one.

Choosing between the two

To compare nursing homes, look past the star rating to the health inspection findings themselves, review nurse staffing levels and turnover, and ask about rehabilitation, memory care, and how care plans get reviewed. When you compare home health agencies, ask how soon care can begin after a hospital discharge, how visits are scheduled and supervised, and how the agency measures outcomes such as better mobility and fewer trips back to the hospital.

The strongest comparisons weigh several signals together - inspection history, nurse staffing, quality measures, and the particular services someone requires. Ratings pull those signals into a single number, but they cannot stand in for a visit or a conversation with the staff.

Where you can, visit each option in the United States, ask how care plans are created and revisited, and get costs, coverage, and availability confirmed in writing. Steady staffing and open communication with families count for as much as any published rating.

Browse provider directories

Nursing Homes directory (14,693 listings) · Home Health Agencies directory (12,460 listings)

Frequently asked questions

How do nursing homes differ from home health agencies?

Nursing Homes deliver round-the-clock skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term residential care. Home Health Agencies bring skilled nursing, therapy, and aide support into the home. The two serve different needs and fall under different Medicare conditions of participation, so compare them by the level of care a person requires.

Are both nursing homes and home health agencies covered by Medicare?

Yes - both care types in this directory are Medicare-certified. Eligibility, coverage rules, and cost sharing vary by setting and situation. Confirm details with the provider and at Medicare.gov.

How do I choose between the two?

Begin with the person's medical needs. To compare nursing homes, look past the star rating to the health inspection findings themselves, review nurse staffing levels and turnover, and ask about rehabilitation, memory care, and how care plans get reviewed. When you compare home health agencies, ask how soon care can begin after a hospital discharge, how visits are scheduled and supervised, and how the agency measures outcomes such as better mobility and fewer trips back to the hospital.

Data sources

Data source: CMS Provider Data Catalog. Data as of 2026-10-06. This comparison is informational and is not medical advice.

Required disclosures

For general information only, not medical advice. This website shares public data and general information. It does not offer medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment guidance, and it cannot replace a consultation with a qualified health care professional or with Medicare.

Independent and unaffiliated. MedicalFacilities.org is a private, independently run directory. It is not affiliated with, nor endorsed or operated by, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare, or any government agency. CMS has not reviewed or endorsed this site.

Confirm details before acting. Facility records come from public federal datasets and may lag or contain errors. Always verify current ratings, services, availability, and coverage directly with the provider and on Medicare.gov.

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