In order for someone to receive Medicare Part A coverage for inpatient nursing-facility care, a number of different conditions have to be met:

• Prior hospital stay: A patient's stay in a nursing or rehabilitation facility has to begin within 30 days of an inpatient hospital stay of at least three days.
• Need for daily skilled nursing or rehabilitation: Medicare covers an inpatient nursing-facility stay only if the person needs, and his or her physician prescribes, daily skilled nursing care or physical rehabilitation. For somone who needs skilled care but doesn't need it every day, Medicare will not cover an inpatient stay; instead, Medicare might cover home care.
• Medicare-approved facility: For Medicare to cover inpatient skilled nursing or rehabilitation care, the care must be received in a facility that Medicare has certified for that purpose.
• Improving condition: Medicare covers inpatient skilled nursing care only as long as the patient's condition is improving. Once Medicare, the patient's doctor, and the facility have determined that his or her condition has stabilized, Medicare will no longer cover inpatient care.