Nursing Homes in Arkansas: Cost & Medicaid (2026)

A semi-private nursing-home room in Arkansas runs about $89,425 a year, well below the national median but still more than most families can pay out of pocket for long.1 For a long stay, the program that can pay is Arkansas Medicaid, which covers nursing-facility care once a person meets its medical and financial eligibility rules.2

This guide covers how Arkansas oversees its nursing homes, what a stay costs, who pays for it (Medicare's limited skilled benefit versus Medicaid for long-term care), and how to check a facility's record before you choose one.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• How Arkansas Oversees Nursing Homes
• What a Nursing Home Costs in Arkansas
• Who Pays: Medicare vs. Medicaid
• How to Vet a Facility
• Frequently Asked Questions

How Arkansas Oversees Nursing Homes

A nursing home, also called a skilled nursing facility, typically provides nursing care, 24-hour supervision, three meals a day, and help with everyday activities, with rehabilitation such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy also available. Its services focus more on medical care than most assisted living facilities do.6 Before you weigh cost or payment, it helps to know who watches over these facilities in Arkansas, because that oversight is what gives you a record to check.

Two layers of oversight apply. At the state level, nursing facilities are licensed and inspected by the Arkansas Office of Long Term Care (OLTC) within the Department of Human Services, which says more than 23,000 Arkansans a year receive services in the long-term care facilities it licenses and inspects.3 OLTC also investigates complaints against facilities and their employees, licenses nursing facility administrators, runs the criminal background check for facility employees, and oversees certified nurse aide training and certification.3 At the federal level, CMS rates nursing homes on Medicare Care Compare: an overall rating of one to five stars that combines health inspections, staffing, and quality measures, with a separate star rating calculated for each of those three.3

There's also an advocate you should know about before you need it. Arkansas's Long-Term Care Ombudsman, delivered regionally through the state's Area Agencies on Aging, works for residents of long-term care facilities: it investigates and resolves complaints, gives information on community resources and residents' rights, and pushes for changes to residents' care and quality of life.3 Like every state's ombudsman program, its services are free and confidential.5 The ombudsman does not regulate or inspect facilities, is not Adult Protective Services, and cannot provide direct care, so a licensing or inspection question goes to OLTC instead.3

What a Nursing Home Costs in Arkansas

Nursing-home care is the priciest setting in CareScout's Arkansas figures, and even though Arkansas is among the more affordable states for senior care, the numbers are large enough that paying privately for years is out of reach for most families. According to the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, the 2025 statewide medians were about $89,425 a year for a semi-private room and about $96,725 a year for a private room.1 These are medians from an industry survey, not government rates and not maximums. The figure at any one facility can land higher or lower depending on location, room type, and how much care a resident needs.

It helps to see nursing care next to the lighter settings families often consider first. Arkansas sits among the more affordable states for senior care: its semi-private nursing-home median of about $89,425 runs well below the national figure of about $114,975, and its private room is far below the national $129,575.1 Assisted living costs less still.

The table below sets Arkansas's medians against the national figures.1

The assisted-living figure above comes from CareScout's median-cost data tables; CareScout's own March 2026 Arkansas press release gives $54,744 a year for the same line, a gap inside CareScout's publications rather than a change in price.1

A semi-private nursing-home room costs well more than assisted living does in Arkansas.1 That gap is the reason families look hard at whether assisted living or in-home care can meet the need before moving to a nursing home, and even at Arkansas's lower prices it's the reason families planning for a long stay look to Medicaid rather than paying privately for years.

Who Pays: Medicare vs. Medicaid

People often assume Medicare covers a nursing home. It does, but only in a narrow way, and confusing the two programs is one of the most expensive mistakes a family can make. Here's how they divide the work.

Medicare covers short-term skilled care, not a long stay. Medicare Part A covers skilled nursing facility care only on a short-term basis after a hospital stay. To qualify, a person generally needs a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three consecutive days, then enters a Medicare-certified facility, generally within 30 days of leaving the hospital, for skilled care related to that stay. Time spent under observation or in the emergency room before admission does not count toward the three days, even overnight.4 Missing the three days is not always the end of it: the requirement may not apply if your doctor participates in an Accountable Care Organization approved for a Skilled Nursing Facility 3-Day Rule Waiver, a Medicare Advantage plan may also waive it, and someone who re-enters a skilled nursing facility within 30 days of leaving one does not need a new qualifying stay.4 Medicare then covers up to 100 days per benefit period. Days 1 through 20 cost $0 a day after the $1,736 Part A deductible, which a person coming from the qualifying hospital stay has normally already paid in that benefit period; days 21 through 100 carry a daily coinsurance of $217 in 2026, and after day 100 Medicare pays nothing.4 The $217 figure is for 2026, so check it again for a stay that runs into 2027. Critically, Medicare does not pay for long-term custodial care, the ongoing help with daily living when that is the only care someone needs.4 That is the care most families worry about affording, and it's where Medicaid takes over.

Medicaid covers long-term nursing-facility care. Arkansas Medicaid is administered by the Department of Human Services, whose Division of Medical Services runs the program day to day, and DHS groups its long-term care coverage, in a facility or outside one, under Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Medicaid.2 Qualifying turns on two findings on separate tracks: the Office of Long Term Care determines medical eligibility for long-term care placement, and the DHS Division of County Operations handles financial eligibility.3 On the money side, for a single applicant in 2026, the income limit is 300% of the SSI federal benefit rate, $2,982 a month, and the resource limit is $2,000.2 Arkansas sets that income limit by rule rather than as a fixed dollar amount, at three times the current SSI standard payment amount, updated each year.2 The cap is measured against gross monthly countable income, and VA Aid and Attendance and VA covered or uncovered medical expense payments are left out first, so a veteran or surviving spouse should not add an Aid and Attendance payment to their income and conclude they are over $2,982.2 Being over the income cap does not by itself end the application: Arkansas is an income-cap state, and an applicant whose countable income exceeds the limit can become eligible by establishing an income trust, a Miller or qualified income trust.2 Only the income above the limit has to go into the trust, not the whole income: that is the rule in DHS's current Medical Services Policy Manual and its income trust fact sheet, and an LTSS caseworker can check the details with you (DHS lists 1-866-801-3435).2 Putting only the excess in the trust does not lower what the resident owes the facility, though, because that amount is calculated from all gross income.2 Worth knowing before you check the state's own page: the Arkansas DHS LTSS page still prints the 2023 figures, a $2,742.00 income limit and a spousal resource table topping out at $148,620. Because the state's rule ties the income limit to the current SSI amount, the 2026 limit is $2,982.2 A resident on Medicaid contributes income toward the cost of care, after a personal needs allowance and other deductions are protected.2 Arkansas sets that allowance at $40 a month for most facility residents, or $30 for a resident whose only income is SSI.2

A married couple is not held to the single-person numbers. Arkansas computes a resource allowance for the spouse who stays at home, generally half the couple's combined countable resources, measured against a minimum and a maximum standard; the federal 2026 community spouse resource standards are $32,532 and $162,660.2 Those are standards, not a hard cap on what the at-home spouse can keep: combined resources at or below the minimum standard are kept in full, and Arkansas allows a hearing officer or a court order to protect more than $162,660.2 Two more rules shape long-term-care eligibility. Federal law, which Arkansas applies, looks back 60 months at assets given away or sold for less than fair market value.2 Unless a federal exception applies (a transfer to a spouse is one), a transfer like that inside the look-back triggers a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay for long-term care.7 And federal law requires states to seek estate recovery from the estate of a person who was 55 or older when they received nursing-facility, home and community-based, or related hospital and prescription-drug services. Recovery may be made only after the death of a surviving spouse, and only when there is no surviving child who is under 21, blind, or permanently and totally disabled.2 Arkansas pursues that recovery under its Medical Services Policy Manual, with the federal exceptions and an undue-hardship waiver.2 If a nursing home isn't the right fit, there are other doors. Arkansas's LTSS Medicaid also covers care outside a nursing facility, among it ARChoices in Homecare and Level II assisted living facilities, under common income and resource requirements.2 The two an older adult usually weighs against a nursing home are ARChoices and Living Choices assisted living.2 Both serve Arkansans aged 21 through 64 with a physical disability, or aged 65 and older, who meet the financial criteria and need at least one covered service, and both require an intermediate level of care as determined by the Office of Long Term Care; someone who needs skilled care is not eligible for either.2 Because these rules are detailed and the dollar figures change, it's worth getting professional advice before assuming any outcome.

How to Vet a Facility

Quality varies widely from one nursing home to the next, and you have several tools to check a place before you commit. Use more than one, because each shows you something the others don't.

Start with the federal scorecard. On Medicare Care Compare, CMS gives nursing homes an overall rating of one to five stars that combines health inspections, staffing, and quality measures, and calculates a separate star rating for each of those three.3 Read the component ratings, not just the headline star count, because a strong overall rating can hide a weak staffing or inspection score. The staffing rating deserves a close look on its own.

Then go to the inspections themselves. The Office of Long Term Care inspects Arkansas nursing facilities, and federal rules require a facility to post its most recent survey results where residents and families can see them, and to let anyone who asks review its survey and complaint-investigation reports from the past 3 years, with any plan of correction in effect.8 When you tour, ask for those reports and watch for a pattern of repeat deficiencies rather than reacting to a single old citation. Finally, call the Arkansas Long-Term Care Ombudsman before you sign anything. Its job is investigating and resolving residents' complaints and explaining residents' rights, which makes it a useful call about a specific place.3

Learn More

Find personalized help comparing nursing homes in Arkansas at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.