Plan the move to assisted living in the first week of rehab. Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care per benefit period. But it pays only while your parent needs daily skilled care, so coverage often ends sooner. You get a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage at least two days before it ends. Use the rehab weeks to tour, book the assessment and finish the forms.
Key facts
- Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care per benefit period, but only while the person needs daily skilled care and meets the other conditions. (Medicare.gov, 2026)
- In 2026, Original Medicare charges $0 a day for skilled nursing days 1 to 20 after the $1,736 Part A deductible, $217 a day for days 21 to 100, and all costs from day 101. (Medicare.gov, 2026)
- A skilled nursing facility must give a written Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage at least two days before covered services end. (Medicare.gov, 2026)
- A fast appeal must be requested from the BFCC-QIO named on the notice by noon the day before the end date. (Medicare.gov, 2026)
- Florida's Rule 59A-36.006 requires an assisted living resident to be able to transfer from bed to chair, with help if needed, including help from more than one person. (Florida Administrative Code, 2025)
Your dad left the hospital for a skilled nursing facility to get stronger after a fall. Everyone agrees he can't go back to living alone, and the plan is assisted living afterward. The rehab stay gives you something a hospital discharge doesn't: a few weeks. This post shows how long those weeks may last and what happens when coverage ends. It also shows how to line up the move so the two dates meet.
How long will Medicare pay for rehab?
Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care in a benefit period. But it pays only while your parent keeps meeting the conditions. The main one is a need for daily skilled care, such as physical therapy or IV medicines. In practice, it must be care that can only be given in a skilled nursing facility. If your parent is there for therapy only, it counts as daily when therapy is needed and given 5 to 7 days a week.
| Days in the benefit period | What your parent pays in 2026 (Original Medicare) |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 20 | $0 per day, after the $1,736 Part A deductible |
| Days 21 to 100 | $217 per day |
| Day 101 and after | All costs |
The deductible usually isn't paid twice. Medicare's booklet on skilled nursing care explains why. If your parent already paid it for the hospital stay in the same benefit period, it doesn't apply again for rehab. With a Medicare Advantage plan or other coverage, the amounts can differ. Ask the business office at rehab what your parent will owe.
Two details are easy to miss. First, skilled care isn't only for getting better. The same booklet says it can be covered to keep your parent's condition stable or slow a decline. So "he's plateaued" doesn't end coverage on its own. Second, if your parent goes back to a skilled nursing facility within 30 days of leaving, a new three-day hospital stay may not be needed.
What happens when rehab coverage ends?
Say coverage is ending because your parent no longer needs daily skilled care. Then rehab staff give a written Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage (often called a NOMNC). It comes at least two days before covered services end. Put that date on your calendar the moment you see it. It is the real deadline for the assisted living move, not day 100.
- If you think coverage is ending too soon, follow the steps on the notice to call the BFCC-QIO, the Medicare reviewer it names. Call by noon the day before the end date. The reviewer decides by close of business the day after it gets what it needs.
- If your parent stays after coverage ends, with Original Medicare the rehab must first give a written notice (the SNF Advance Beneficiary Notice). It lists the date coverage ends and the estimated private cost. You can ask for a claim to be sent to Medicare for an official decision.
- If benefit days run out, rehab isn't required to warn you in writing. Keep your own count.
On the day the notice arrives, do four things in this order. Write the end date on the family calendar. Call your first-choice community and ask whether it can admit by that date and what is still missing. Ask the rehab doctor's office to finish the community's medical form this week. Then decide, with your parent, whether to appeal, pay privately for a few extra days, or use a short bridge until move-in.
Our post on options when a discharge feels unsafe covers appeals in more detail. For planning, assume coverage may end on short notice and work backward from there.
What is a realistic week-by-week plan?
The plan below assumes about three weeks of rehab. If the NOMNC arrives early, squeeze weeks 2 and 3 into days, but keep the order.
| When | On the rehab side | On the assisted living side |
|---|---|---|
| Rehab week 1 | Meet the social worker, and ask for the care conference date and the therapy goals | Agree on a budget range, list four to six licensed communities and book tours |
| Rehab week 2 | Ask for a written summary of function: transfers, walking, toileting, showering, medications | Tour, share the summary, and ask the top community to assess your parent in rehab or by video |
| Rehab week 3 | Ask the doctor to complete the community's medical form and TB screening, and confirm the discharge date | Read the residency agreement at home, set the move-in date and pack comfort items |
| Discharge day | Reconciled medication list, discharge summary, equipment orders, home health referral if planned | Room ready, first-night items in place, community nurse has the medication list |
The medical form is where moves stall. Our post on the physician's report for assisted living explains what it asks and how to get it back quickly. For tours squeezed between therapy sessions, the assisted living tour questions fit on one printed sheet per community.
Put the rehab weeks on a calendar
Parent Move Plan counts every task back from move-in day, so once the expected rehab discharge date is known, you see exactly which week tours, forms and packing fall in. The 30-day version keeps the last week before the move intact. It's a Google Sheet your whole family can share.
Get your first 3 days freeWhat should you ask at the rehab care conference?
Ask the questions an assisted living community will ask you, so you get the answers from the people who know. Therapists see your parent every day and can describe exactly what he can do.
- How does he get in and out of bed and on and off the toilet: alone, with standby help, with one person, or with two?
- How far can he walk, with which device, and is he safe at night?
- What help does he need to shower and dress?
- Can he manage his own medications, or does someone need to give them?
- What are the therapy goals, and what is the expected discharge date?
- Will he need home health therapy after discharge, and can he get it in assisted living?
At the conference, you could ask: "Our plan is assisted living after rehab rather than going home. The community will ask about transfers, walking, showering and medications. Could you put those four answers in writing for us this week, so we can start their assessment before discharge?"
Can assisted living meet your parent's needs?
That depends on your parent's needs and on your state's rules, since each state licenses assisted living. Florida's rule is a clear example. A resident must be able to transfer, meaning move from bed to chair, with help if needed. Help from more than one person is allowed. The resident must also be able to do daily activities, with supervision or help if needed. Other states draw the line in other places. Ask each community what it can and cannot handle, and check with your state's assisted living licensing agency.
Therapy doesn't have to stop at the door. Medicare's home health rules allow home health services for someone living in an assisted living community. Your parent must be homebound and need skilled care. And the services can't repeat what the community is required to provide. Ask the rehab team to set up the referral before discharge.
If the community's nurse has doubts after the assessment, ask exactly which need is the problem. Sometimes a different apartment, a higher care level or a two-week delay solves it. Our posts on the assisted living assessment and levels of care help you understand the answer. For the move itself, see hospital discharge to assisted living, step by step, which covers the same handoff from a hospital bed.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Medicare pay for rehab in a skilled nursing facility?
Up to 100 days per benefit period, but only as long as your parent needs daily skilled care and meets the other conditions. In 2026 your parent pays nothing for days 1 to 20 after the Part A deductible, $217 a day for days 21 to 100, and all costs after that. Coverage can end well before day 100 if the need for daily skilled care ends.
Can my parent keep getting therapy after moving to assisted living?
Possibly. Medicare can cover home health services in an assisted living community if your parent is homebound and needs skilled care such as therapy, and if the services don't duplicate what the community is required to provide. Ask the rehab team and the community which home health agencies they work with.
What if rehab says coverage ends before assisted living is ready?
You'll get a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage at least two days before covered services end. If you think coverage is ending too soon, you can request a fast appeal by noon the day before the end date. If your parent stays after coverage ends, rehab staff will explain the private daily cost in writing first.
Can the assisted living community assess my parent while they're still in rehab?
Some communities do this, and policies vary. Ask whether their nurse can visit your parent in rehab or do the assessment by video, and which records from the rehab team they need beforehand.
Sources
- Medicare.gov: Skilled nursing facility (SNF) care (accessed Sept 2026)
- CMS: Medicare Coverage of Skilled Nursing Facility Care, Product No. 10153 (accessed Sept 2026)
- Medicare.gov: Fast appeals (accessed Sept 2026)
- CMS: Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 7, Home Health Services (accessed Sept 2026)
- Florida Administrative Code: Rule 59A-36.006, Admission Procedures, Appropriateness of Placement and Continued Residency Criteria (accessed Sept 2026)