The average skilled nursing occupancy rate held steady, while rates for assisted living and independent living fell noticeably. That is according to the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry's Market Area Profiles (NIC MAP) statistics released Thursday.

Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) are urging Congress to pass the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, which would provide funding to all 50 states to help create a nationwide infrastructure of background checks in the long-term care field.

It's hardly a secret that eldercare services in this nation are in a state of flux. The average age of nursing homes in most metro markets has surpassed 30 years.

A new analysis of trends in New York nursing home care reads like a summary of what is happening around the country. In short: more shorter stays for residents, as well as more sicker or cognitively impaired residents.

Question: Under what circumstances can I discharge a resident we no longer want to serve?

Beth Baker, Author, Old Age in a New Age, about new nursing home models

Motown receives its first new nursing home since the 1980s. Private rooms lend a homelike touch to the renovated hospital space