Nursing facility care falls into two categories: 

•  Skilled care (SC), constituting skilled nursing care and related services or rehabilitation services; and

• Intermediate care (IC), comprising "health related" care to individuals who do not require the degree of care and treatment which a hospital or skilled care facility is designed to provide, but who need institutional services. Someone with no medical need will not rate intermediate care no matter how significant the general care needs of the patient.  The exception to this rule is for Alzheimer’s/dementia patients who have wandering problems.  They will generally be rated as needing intermediate care.

 Medicare only pays for skilled care in a designated skilled care "facility" and only in limited amounts.

 Medicaid recognizes a unified entity: nursing facility (NF).   In terms of the resident, Medicaid examines only whether the resident needs nursing facility care.  This threshold of care equals the Intermediate Care level noted above.