Richmond Times-Dispatch & Associated Press
Published: April 30, 2008

Costs for nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and some in-home care services have increased for a fifth consecutive year in Virginia and nationally, a new study indicates.

Costs could rise further if a shortage of long-term care workers isn’t resolved, according to the survey released yesterday by Henrico County-based Genworth Financial Inc.

It comes as baby boomers are approaching retirement amid worries that they haven’t saved enough to cover day-to-day expenses as well as long-term medical care costs.

The average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is $69,041 in the Richmond area and $62,096 for Virginia, the study found. A five-year trend wasn’t available for Richmond, but the state average increased 13 percent since 2004.

In comparison, the national average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home was higher, rising to $76,460, or $209 per day this year, a 17 percent increase compared with the $65,185 cost in 2004.

Nursing-home costs range from $515 per day in Alaska to $125 per day in Louisiana, the study found. Virginia’s cost was $170 per day, while Richmond’s was $189.

The study by Genworth, which sells insurance that includes long-term care products, looked at data from more than 10,000 nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home-care providers nationwide.

In the Richmond area, nursing home and assisted-living costs are rising around 5 percent per year, while home-care costs are rising around 2 percent, said Beth Ludden, Genworth’s senior vice president for long-term care products.

The company publishes the survey, she said, “to generate some consumer awareness of the need to think about these costs when people are making their retirement plans.”

The study also found a need to recruit close to 200,000 caregiving professionals a year to keep pace with the nation’s aging demographics. “The demand certainly isn’t going to decrease, so we are concerned about the supply,” Ludden said.

Some of the findings:

The cost for assisted-living facilities averaged $36,090 nationally, up 25 percent from $28,763 in 2004; $37,676 per year in Richmond, or $3,140 per month; and $34,633 a year in Virginia.
The average hourly rate for a non-Medicare certified, state licensed home health aide is $19.18 nationally; $16.94 in Richmond, or $38,759 per year for 44 hours per week of care; and $17.23 in Virginia.

Staff writer John Reid Blackwell contributed to this report.