Nevada State Veterans Homes: Who Qualifies, Cost, How to Apply

A Nevada State Veterans Home that has a State home care agreement with VA may not charge the family for nursing home care that VA pays for in full. Under VA's State home payment-in-full rule, VA's payment is payment in full for a veteran who needs nursing home care and is rated 70% or more, is rated for individual unemployability (TDIU), or needs that care for a service-connected disability.1 The Sparks home's Admission FAQ lists a service-connected veteran rated 70% to 100% as "Covered at 100% by VA," so ask the Boulder City home how it bills a 70% rated veteran.2 For other veterans, the Nevada Department of Veterans Services (NDVS) lists $125 a day at the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home in Boulder City.3 The Northern Nevada State Veterans Home's Admission FAQ, revised August 2024, lists $173 a day for a veteran and $280 a day for a spouse or Gold Star parent in Sparks.2

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a Nevada State Veterans Home Is
• The Two Nevada State Veterans Homes
• Who Can Live in a Nevada State Veterans Home?
• What a Day Costs at Each Nevada State Veterans Home
• When VA Pays the Whole Bill at a Nevada State Veterans Home
• Medicaid and VA Pension at a Nevada State Veterans Home
• How to Apply to a Nevada State Veterans Home
• If a Nevada State Veterans Home Isn't the Right Fit
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What a Nevada State Veterans Home Is

Under the federal VA State Veterans Homes program, VA formally recognizes and certifies each state home and surveys it every year against VA standards, but VA doesn't manage the homes, and each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules.2 In Nevada, that state agency is the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, and NRS 417.090 makes it the NDVS Director's duty to "establish, manage, maintain and operate veterans' homes in this State."3

The two Nevada homes are run a little differently. NDVS calls the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home "State-owned and operated," while its page for the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home says that home is "overseen by the Nevada Department of Veterans Services" and sends job seekers to an "operating partner."3 For how the program works in every state, see our national guide to State Veterans Homes.

The Two Nevada State Veterans Homes

NDVS describes the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home as a 180-bed skilled nursing facility in Boulder City, just outside Las Vegas, offering skilled nursing services and programs including Alzheimer's and dementia care.3 NDVS describes the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home in Sparks as a 102,000-square-foot, 96-bed facility offering short-term rehabilitation, long-term care and memory care.3 The Sparks home's Admission FAQ adds that all 96 rooms at the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home are private, each with a private bathroom and walk-in shower.2 NDVS lists the Boulder City home's admissions address as 100 Veterans Memorial Drive, Boulder City.2

For most families the real choice is geography: the Boulder City home sits just outside Las Vegas, and the Sparks home is in northern Nevada. Pick the Nevada State Veterans Home the family can visit most often.

Who Can Live in a Nevada State Veterans Home?

The two Nevada homes publish their admission rules differently, so read each one on its own terms.

• Northern Nevada State Veterans Home (Sparks). The Sparks home's Admission FAQ says three groups are eligible for admission: veterans who have been honorably discharged from active service; spouses and surviving spouses of eligible veterans; and Gold Star parents.2
• Southern Nevada State Veterans Home (Boulder City). NDVS's Boulder City page says the home serves "eligible veterans, their spouse and Gold Star parents," but it doesn't spell out a discharge, residency or other admission test.2

Neither NDVS home page, nor Nevada's veterans-homes statute (NRS 417.145 to 417.149), states a Nevada residency or wartime-service requirement for admission to a Nevada State Veterans Home.3 Don't assume your parent qualifies or doesn't. Get the admission criteria from the home itself. Nationally, VA says admission to a State Veterans Home turns on clinical need and on whether a bed in the right setting is available.2

What a Day Costs at Each Nevada State Veterans Home

This is the number that shapes the family's plan, and the two Nevada homes publish it in different places. Treat every figure below as a published rate to confirm, not a quote: under NRS 417.147, the NDVS Director recommends a schedule of room rates by April 1 each year, and Nevada's State Board of Examiners sets the rates for each veterans' home for the following fiscal year.3

NDVS says the cost for a veteran to live at the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home is $125 a day, paid from sources that include Medicare, Medicaid, VA compensation, pension, per diem and private pay, and compares it with $233 to $345 a day at nearby facilities.3 The Northern Nevada State Veterans Home's Admission FAQ, marked "REV. 08.07.24," lists private-pay long-term care rates of $173.00 a day for a veteran and $280.00 a day for a spouse or Gold Star parent, and states no other effective date.2 Don't carry one home's figure over to the other: NDVS's Sparks web page itself states no daily rate.3

Per the Sparks Admission FAQ, the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home's daily rate covers a private room, skilled nursing care, meals, laundry, in-room housekeeping and activities. It doesn't cover medications, physician charges, therapy services, or specialized medical equipment or services; those are billed to insurance, and copays are the veteran's responsibility.2

Why a spouse pays more than the veteran

The Sparks Admission FAQ says VA subsidizes the cost of care for eligible veterans at the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home, but not for spouses.2 That matches the national rule: VA doesn't pay for the care of a non-veteran in a State Veterans Home.2 For a veteran, VA pays the state a per diem at the lesser of one-half of the daily cost of the care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year, and by statute those payments can never exceed half the cost of the veteran's care.1 Under NRS 417.145, Nevada's Veterans Home Account receives those VA payments for veterans cared for in a Nevada veterans' home.3 If Mom will move in beside Dad, ask the business office for her rate in writing, separately from his.

When VA Pays the Whole Bill at a Nevada State Veterans Home

For some Nevada veterans, the posted veteran rate isn't the family's bill. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA contracts with a State home, or enters a State home care agreement, to pay for nursing home care for three groups of veterans:1

• a veteran who needs nursing home care for a VA adjudicated service-connected disability;
• a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 70% or more who needs nursing home care;1
• a veteran rated for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care, a group 38 CFR 51.41 adds.

For a veteran in any of these three groups, VA's payment to the State home is payment in full, and under a State home care agreement the home may not charge any individual, insurer or other entity besides VA for the nursing home care VA paid for.1 A veteran rated 70% or more doesn't need that rating to be for the condition that requires nursing home care; 38 U.S.C. 1745 asks only for the 70% rating and the need for nursing home care.1 The Northern Nevada State Veterans Home's Admission FAQ shows one of those groups in its own rate table: a service-connected veteran rated 70% to 100% is "Covered at 100% by VA."2 If your parent fits any of the three federal groups, ask either Nevada home's business office to confirm how it bills VA before you sign anything.

A disability claim still pending at admission isn't wasted. Under 38 CFR 51.41, when a veteran gets a retroactive service-connected rating that brings him within the payment-in-full rule, the State home can request VA payment for nursing home care back to the rating's retroactive effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later.1

Medicaid and VA Pension at a Nevada State Veterans Home

The Sparks Admission FAQ says the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home accepts Medicaid and has Medicaid Certified beds for long-term care, and NDVS lists Medicare and Medicaid among the ways veterans pay at the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home.2,3 In Nevada, Medicaid is run by Nevada Medicaid; our guide to Nevada Medicaid for nursing home care explains the income and asset rules.

A wartime veteran or surviving spouse may also qualify for VA pension, including Aid and Attendance; see how Aid and Attendance helps pay for a nursing home in Nevada.

One federal rule protects that pension. When a veteran with no spouse or child is on Medicaid in a nursing facility, federal law generally caps his VA pension at $90 a month, but the statute's definition of "nursing facility" for that cap, 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(1)(B), excludes a State home for which VA pays per diem for nursing home care. So the $90 VA pension cap must not be applied to a Medicaid-covered veteran living in a State home for which VA makes per diem payments for nursing home care.4 No source cited here confirms whether VA makes that per diem payment at the Nevada State Veterans Home you are considering, so ask the home directly, then confirm with VA or an accredited veterans service officer how the cap applies to your parent's own award.

How to Apply to a Nevada State Veterans Home

Each Nevada State Veterans Home runs its own admissions, and the two start differently.

Southern Nevada State Veterans Home (Boulder City)

NDVS's Boulder City page tells anyone interested in becoming a resident of the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home to download the Application for Admission and mail it to the home.2

Northern Nevada State Veterans Home (Sparks)

The Sparks Admission FAQ says long-term care at the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home has an interest list. To get on it, submit the veteran's DD214 or a VA demographic sheet to the home's Admissions Director; the name then goes on the interest list, and the home will contact you.2 For questions about eligibility or admission, or to book a tour, the FAQ says to call the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home main line at 775-827-2955 and ask for the admissions department.2 The FAQ doesn't say how long the interest list runs, so ask when you call. For help pulling the VA paperwork together, start with VA benefits for senior care in Nevada.

If a Nevada State Veterans Home Isn't the Right Fit

The home you want may have no open bed, or both homes may sit too far from family. VA has two nursing home programs of its own. A VA Community Living Center is a VA-run nursing home, most often for short stays after a hospital discharge, and eligibility turns on clinical need, setting availability, service-connected status, disability level and income.5 A VA Community Nursing Home is a non-VA nursing home VA contracts with, and VA pays only if the veteran meets its service-connected, disability and income criteria.6 Our guide to VA nursing home care compares them, and VA long-term care copays explains what a veteran may owe there.

For private options, see Nevada nursing homes and memory care vs. a nursing home in Nevada.

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and applying to a Nevada veterans home 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.