Nursing home care prices continued to rise faster than overall health care prices in September 2026, increasing 3.7% year over year, amid nursing home spending declines.
According to Altarum’s health care spending brief for October released Thursday, this represents an acceleration of 0.9 percentage points over two years.
Nursing home care price growth exceeded the overall health care price index (HCPI), which rose 2.1% year over year in September. And so, while overall health care inflation has moderated, nursing home care prices have continued to climb.
That said, nursing home care price growth was below economy-wide measures. In September, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.7% year over year, while the Producer Price Index (PPI) increased 6.3%.
Among other health care categories, home health care prices increased 1.1%, and dental services experienced the fastest price growth at 6.0%. Meanwhile, hospital care prices increased 3.3%, while physician and clinical services rose 1.3%.
Nursing home spending decline
Overall, year-over-year health care spending growth slowed in most major categories between August 2025 and August 2026, with nursing home care spending growth declining from approximately 8.3% to 6.7%. And, home health care fell sharply from 17.7% to 7.8%. Prescription drug spending growth dropped from 7.8% to 1.3%. Hospital care was the exception, accelerating from about 7.5% to 7.9%.
Nursing home employment and labor costs
In September 2026, nursing and residential care facilities lost 8,700 jobs, the largest monthly decline since January 2022, the Altarum brief notes.
Nursing care facilities accounted for 1,600 losses, while other nursing and residential care settings lost 7,100 positions. This contrasted with the subsector’s average monthly gain of 5,100 jobs over the preceding 12 months.
Despite the decline, nursing and residential care employment remained 50,400 jobs above its year-earlier level. Nursing care facility employment itself remained essentially at its pre-pandemic level.
Nominal wages in nursing and residential care facilities rose 3.3% year over year in August 2026, representing the fastest growth among major health care subsectors. However, wages in the nursing home sector when adjusted for inflation remained stagnant, the report noted.
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