Nursing home special care units: distribution by type, state, and facility characteristics.

We used the 1991-92 Medicare and Medicaid Automated Certification Survey (MMACS) to document the distribution of nursing home special care units by type, state, and facility characteristics. Of the 16,105 facilities in our sample, 9.5% have at least one of eight types of specialty care units. Overall, special care beds as a percentage of total beds vary from 0.0% in South Carolina to 11.43% in Idaho. More non-profit facilities have special care units than for-profits (12.0% vs 8.5%), and more chain-affiliated facilities than independent facilities. Issues of access, efficacy, and cost are considered.