21.   Under the new law, Medicare will pay skilled nursing facilities a flat fee to care for a patient, based on the severity of the illness.

22.   Assisted living is one of the fastest growing housing options for the aged, serving as a medium between their own home and a full nursing facility.

23.   Beverly officials said the company plans to sell its remaining skilled nursing facility in the state sometime in the next few months.

24.   Hospitals have also closed rural clinics and skilled nursing facilities, reduced services, eliminated patient beds and cut staff -- just to break even.

25.   It could dramatically reduce federal matching funds in many states that have come to rely on the money to shore up struggling county-run nursing facilities.

26.   The woman requires around-the-clock care at a nursing facility.

27.   Work days were shortened for some physical therapists -- especially those in skilled nursing facilities and home health care agencies -- and salaries dropped.

28.   Witney died Sunday at a nursing facility near his home here in the Sierra Nevada foothills from complications following a series of strokes, according to friend Dave Holland.