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Nursing home care prices increased 3.7% year over year in September 2026, faster than the overall health care price index, according to Altarum. At the same time, year-over-year nursing home spending growth slowed to 6.7% in August, and nursing and residential care facilities recorded a monthly employment decline.
Nursing home care prices rose 3.7% year over year in September 2026, even as spending growth in the sector slowed and nursing and residential care facilities shed jobs, according to Altarum’s October health care spending brief. The price increase outpaced the overall health care price index, which rose 2.1%, but matched the September increase in the broad Consumer Price Index.
Altarum reported that nursing home price growth accelerated by 0.9 percentage points over two years. Prices in the category continued to rise faster than the broader health care index, although they did not exceed the economy-wide CPI increase of 3.7% or the Producer Price Index increase of 6.3% in September. These indexes cover different baskets of prices, so their rates are not direct measures of the same costs.
Spending growth moved in a different direction. From August 2025 to August 2026, year-over-year nursing home care spending growth eased from about 8.3% to 6.7%, Altarum said. Growth also slowed in home health care, from 17.7% to 7.8%, and prescription drugs, from 7.8% to 1.3%. Hospital care was the exception: its spending growth rose from about 7.5% to 7.9% over the same comparison.
Employment figures also pointed to a recent setback. Nursing and residential care facilities lost 8,700 jobs in September, the largest monthly decline since January 2022, according to the brief. Nursing care facilities accounted for 1,600 of the losses, while other nursing and residential care settings accounted for 7,100. Despite the monthly drop, the sector had 50,400 more jobs than a year earlier.
Prices Rise as Sector Growth Cools
The combination of higher prices and slower spending growth offers two different signals about nursing home care. Price inflation indicates that measured costs or prices in the category continued to climb, while the slowdown in spending growth shows that the annual pace of total outlays was lower than a year earlier. Spending growth does not by itself establish whether fewer services were delivered, whether the mix of care changed, or how much facilities’ costs increased.
For residents and families, persistent price increases are relevant to the affordability of care. For operators and policymakers, the employment decline and wage figures add labor-market context. Altarum reported that nominal wages in nursing and residential care facilities rose 3.3% year over year in August, the fastest growth among major health care subsectors, but inflation-adjusted wages in nursing homes remained stagnant. The figures do not explain how facilities are balancing labor costs, prices, and spending.
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How Prices Compare Across Care
The brief describes a divergence between nursing home prices and the wider health care price measure. The health care price index rose 2.1% year over year in September, below the nursing home rate of 3.7%. Other categories also recorded different price changes: home health care rose 1.1%, hospital care 3.3%, physician and clinical services 1.3%, and dental services 6.0%.
The timing of the measures matters. The price and employment figures cited for the latest month are for September 2026; the spending-growth comparison runs through August 2026, and the wage figure is for August. They describe related but distinct indicators, rather than one simultaneous measure of the sector’s condition.
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What the Measures Do Not Show
The reported figures do not identify why prices rose while spending growth slowed. The source material does not break down the change by resident charges, payer, service volume, or the mix of care, and it does not establish whether the spending slowdown reflects fewer services, changing prices, or other factors. The price index and spending measure track different aspects of the sector.
It is also unclear whether September’s 8,700-job decline will persist or prove temporary. Although employment remained above its year-earlier level, the brief does not provide a cause for the monthly losses or a forecast for hiring. The wage data likewise do not show how individual facilities’ labor costs changed.
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Next Reports Will Test the Trend
Subsequent monthly data can show whether nursing home price growth remains above the overall health care index and whether the slowdown in spending growth continues. Updated employment and wage figures will also indicate whether September’s job losses were followed by a rebound or a longer decline.
For now, the October brief provides a snapshot across different reporting periods: September prices and employment, August spending growth, and August wages. The source material does not announce a specific policy response or forecast; the next clearer indication will come from later releases of the same measures.
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Key Questions
How much did nursing home care prices rise?
Altarum reported a 3.7% year-over-year increase in nursing home care prices in September 2026.
Did nursing home prices rise faster than health care prices overall?
Yes. Nursing home prices rose 3.7% year over year, compared with a 2.1% increase in the overall health care price index.
What happened to nursing home spending growth?
Year-over-year spending growth slowed from about 8.3% to 6.7% between August 2025 and August 2026, according to the report.
How many jobs did nursing and residential care facilities lose?
The sector lost 8,700 jobs in September 2026. It still had 50,400 more jobs than a year earlier, according to Altarum.
Does slower spending growth mean fewer residents received care?
The report does not establish that. It gives spending growth figures but does not explain how much of the change came from service volume, prices, or the mix of care.
Source: rss
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