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Nursing home care prices rose 3.7% year over year in September 2026, faster than the overall health care price index but below the reported economy-wide PPI increase. Altarum also reported that nursing home spending growth slowed and nursing and residential care facilities lost 8,700 jobs that month.
Nursing home care prices rose 3.7% year over year in September 2026, outpacing the 2.1% increase in the overall health care price index, while growth in nursing home spending slowed and nursing and residential care facilities shed 8,700 jobs. The figures were reported in Altarum’s October health care spending brief, offering a mixed picture for a sector where prices continued to climb even as spending growth eased.
The nursing home price increase was 0.9 percentage points faster than two years earlier, according to the report. It exceeded the year-over-year increase in the overall health care price index, or HCPI, but was below the 3.7% rise in the Consumer Price Index and the 6.3% increase in the Producer Price Index in September. The report does not identify the CPI and PPI figures as measures specific to nursing home care.
Price growth varied across health care services. Dental services rose 6.0% year over year, the fastest rate among the categories listed. Hospital care prices increased 3.3%, home health care prices rose 1.1%, and physician and clinical services increased 1.3%. Those comparisons show that price changes were uneven across the health care system rather than moving at a single rate.
Spending growth also slowed in several categories. Between August 2025 and August 2026, nursing home spending growth eased from about 8.3% to 6.7%. Home health care growth fell from 17.7% to 7.8%, while prescription drug spending growth dropped from 7.8% to 1.3%. Hospital care moved in the opposite direction, accelerating from about 7.5% to 7.9%, Altarum reported.
Prices Rise as Jobs Fall
The figures point to different pressures moving through nursing home care. Prices continued to rise faster than health care prices overall, while spending growth in the category slowed. Price inflation and spending growth measure different things: the report does not establish that higher prices caused the slowdown, or explain whether it reflects changes in service volume, the mix of care, or other factors.
Employment data add another concern for providers and families monitoring care capacity. Nursing and residential care facilities lost 8,700 jobs in September, their largest monthly decline since January 2022, according to the brief. The sector had averaged a gain of 5,100 jobs a month over the previous 12 months, making the reported monthly loss a marked departure from that recent pattern. A single month does not establish a longer-term trend, but the decline warrants attention alongside rising prices.
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Spending and Workforce Trends
The employment decline was concentrated outside nursing care facilities. Altarum’s brief says nursing care facilities lost 1,600 positions, while other nursing and residential care settings lost 7,100. Despite the September drop, employment across nursing and residential care remained 50,400 jobs above its level a year earlier. Employment at nursing care facilities themselves remained essentially at its pre-pandemic level, the report says.
Pay figures also offer a more complicated view than the headline job loss alone. Nominal wages in nursing and residential care facilities rose 3.3% year over year in August 2026, the fastest growth among major health care subsectors covered in the brief. But Altarum said wages in the nursing home sector were stagnant after adjustment for inflation. The wage period is August, one month earlier than the September price and employment figures.
“Nursing and residential care facilities lost 8,700 jobs in September 2026.”
— Altarum’s October 2026 health care spending brief, as reported by Skilled Nursing News
What the Figures Do Not Show
The reported statistics do not explain why nursing home price growth remained elevated while spending growth slowed. They also do not establish whether the change in spending reflects fewer services, changing care patterns, or other factors. No causal link is established between the monthly employment decline and price or spending changes.
The employment figure covers nursing and residential care facilities as a broader category, with losses split between nursing care facilities and other settings. The report does not say whether the September decline continued in subsequent months. The data also cover different periods: prices and employment are reported for September, wages for August, and spending growth compares August 2025 with August 2026.
Watch Upcoming Data Releases
The next updates to watch are subsequent monthly releases covering nursing home prices, spending and facility employment. Those figures will help show whether September’s job losses were a one-month setback or part of a sustained shift, and whether slower spending growth continues. Future wage data may also show whether nominal pay gains outpace inflation; the October brief’s wage comparison applies to August only.
Until those releases are available, the report supports a snapshot rather than a forecast: nursing home prices were still rising, spending growth had moderated, and facility employment fell sharply in September. It remains unclear whether those movements will persist or how they may affect access to care and provider operating conditions.
Key Questions
How much did nursing home care prices rise?
Altarum reported a 3.7% year-over-year increase in September 2026. The increase was 0.9 percentage points faster than two years earlier.
How did nursing home price growth compare with health care overall?
Nursing home care prices rose 3.7%, compared with a 2.1% increase in the overall health care price index in September. The nursing home figure was below the reported CPI rise of 3.7% and PPI increase of 6.3%.
Did nursing home spending increase or decline?
The report says nursing home spending growth slowed from about 8.3% in August 2025 to 6.7% in August 2026. That indicates slower growth, not necessarily a fall in total spending.
How many jobs did nursing and residential care facilities lose?
The sector lost 8,700 jobs in September 2026: 1,600 at nursing care facilities and 7,100 in other nursing and residential care settings. Employment remained 50,400 above its year-earlier level.
Do the figures explain why prices rose as spending growth slowed?
No. Altarum’s reported figures show both developments but do not establish a cause or explain how changes in service volume, care mix or other factors contributed.
Source: rss
