Medicare Glossary

Benefit Period

The way Medicare measures your use of hospital and skilled nursing facility (SNF) services under Part A. A benefit period begins the day you are admitted as an inpatient and ends when you have been out of the hospital or SNF for 60 consecutive days. There is no limit to the number of benefit periods you can have.

Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)

A facility that provides short-term skilled care and therapy after a qualifying 3-day inpatient hospital stay. Medicare Part A covers SNF care for up to 100 days per benefit period, with no copay for days 1–20 and a daily coinsurance for days 21–100.

Also known as: SNF, Nursing home (short-term)