A facility providing care that serves to assist an individual in the activities of daily living, such as assistance in walking, getting in and out of bed, bathing, dressing, feeding, and using the toilet, preparation of special diets, and supervision of medication that usually can be self-administered. Custodial care essentially is personal care that does not require the continuing attention of trained medical or paramedical personnel. Source: Paraphrased from Section 3159 A3 of the Medicare Intermediary Manual.

(1) A skilled nursing facility is a facility or distinct part of an institution whose primary function is to provide medical, continuous nursing, and other health and social services to patients who are not in an acute phase of illness requiring services in a hospital, but who require primary restorative or skilled nursing services on an inpatient basis above the level of intermediate or custodial care in order to reach a degree of body functioning to permit self care in essential daily living. It meets any licensing or certification standards et forth by the jurisdiction where it is located. A skilled nursing facility may be a freestanding facility or part of a hospital that has been certified by Medicare to admit patients requiring subacute care and rehabilitation; (2) Provides non-acute medical and skilled nursing care services, therapy and social services under the supervision of a licensed registered nurse on a 24-hour basis. Source: (1) "Glossary of terms used in managed care" Developed by the Managed Care Assembly (MCA) of Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), MGM Journal, September/October 1995, p. 64; (2) AHA Guide, 1996 Annual Survey.