Chicago Care for Seniors

Nursing Home in Chicagoland

312 nursing home communities across Chicago and the collar counties.

Nursing homes -- also called skilled nursing facilities -- provide 24-hour medical and nursing care for people who need more than assisted living can offer: post-hospital rehabilitation, complex medication management, wound care, or long-term custodial care for advanced medical needs. Unlike assisted living, nursing homes are certified and closely tracked by the federal government, not just the state.

Every Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country reports detailed data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): certified bed count, staffing hours per resident, health inspection results, and a 5-star quality rating covering overall performance, health inspections, staffing, and clinical quality measures.

That CMS data is the backbone of the listings on this page -- star ratings, deficiency counts from the most recent inspection, and any fines or penalties on record -- turned into plain language rather than left as raw regulatory codes.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a CMS star rating?

It's a 1-to-5-star score Medicare publishes for every certified nursing home, combining an overall rating with three component scores: health inspections, staffing levels, and clinical quality measures. Five stars is "much above average"; one star is "much below average."

How do I read a nursing home's inspection report?

Look at how many deficiencies were cited on the most recent standard health inspection, whether any were serious enough to trigger a fine or payment denial, and how recently the inspection happened. Our facility pages summarize this in plain language directly from the CMS record.

What's the difference between a nursing home and assisted living?

Nursing homes provide 24/7 skilled nursing and medical care and are certified by Medicare/Medicaid. Assisted living is for people who need help with daily activities but not continuous medical supervision, and in Illinois is licensed by the state (IDPH) rather than certified federally.

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