Nursing homes

What is a nursing home in Pennsylvania?

A nursing home is a facility licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health that provides 24-hour nursing care, rehabilitation and help with daily activities, and most are certified by CMS to accept Medicare and Medical Assistance.

CMS certifies 30 nursing homes in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties with 5,127 beds; of the 30 with an overall rating, 11 have five stars, 7 four, 7 three, 2 two and 3 one (Care Compare data as of October 1, 2026).

Who needs a nursing home?

People who need daily skilled nursing or therapy after a hospital stay, and people whose long-term needs, such as two-person transfers, complex medications or advanced illness, exceed what a personal care home can safely provide.

Many residents are short-stay rehab patients who go home or to a personal care home within weeks.

How are Lehigh Valley nursing homes rated?

CMS rates each certified nursing home one to five stars overall and on health inspections, staffing and quality measures, and publishes staffing hours, turnover, deficiencies and fines, all shown on our nursing home pages.

The median Lehigh Valley nursing home reports 3.62 nurse staffing hours per resident per day, 0.61 of them registered nurse hours, and nursing staff turnover of 39.7% (CMS data as of October 1, 2026).

Who pays for a nursing home?

Medicare pays up to 100 days of skilled care after a three-day inpatient stay (20 in full); long stays are paid privately, by long-term care insurance, or by Medical Assistance through Community HealthChoices for residents who qualify.

CareScout's 2025 Pennsylvania median is $143,445 a year for a semi-private room and $164,250 for a private room.

How do I choose a nursing home in the Lehigh Valley?

Shortlist three or four homes near the family by CMS overall rating, health inspection rating and staffing hours, check whether each accepts your parent's insurance and Medical Assistance, then visit the specific unit your parent would live on.

Our nursing home roster sorts all certified homes by rating, beds, staffing and deficiencies, and each home's page compares it with the Lehigh Valley median.

Do Lehigh Valley nursing homes care for people with dementia?

Yes: nursing homes care for many residents with dementia, especially when medical needs have grown, and some run dedicated dementia units; CMS's quality measures and inspection results apply to those units like any other.

Ask whether the home uses antipsychotic medications sparingly, which CMS tracks as a long-stay quality measure, and how it plans activities for residents with dementia.

How many nursing homes providers are in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties?

Here is how the state and CMS records distribute nursing homes between the three counties; agencies have no bed count.