The Future of LTC: The Continuing Evolution of the SNF

The American nursing facility has been in continuous evolution since its inception in the early 19th century. The early “old age homes” were places to save “formerly respectable people from the indignities of the almshouse” (Elon et al., “Post-Acute and Institutional LTC for the elderly,” in Reichel’s Care of the Elderly, 7th ed., Cambridge University Press, 2016:659–670). In the late 19th century through the 20th century, nursing facilities were also places to convalesce from acute hospitalization.