The growing number of elderly persons in U.S. society—the “Graying of America”—increases the urgency of making available the resources needed to ensure optimum quality of life for all seniors. When families are no longer able to meet their loved one’s needs, it becomes necessary to consider the possibility of long-term care. Often, families face this decision without the information they need in order to make an informed choice. The researchers utilized a four-tiered categorization to compare nursing homes in most rural, rural, urban and most urban counties in Indiana. The Medicare website (http://www.medicare.gov/) addresses issues of staffing, number of Medicare/Medicaid beds, and quality ratings. The authors discussed implications for elderly residents of rural counties in Indiana and encouraged further research to determine the extent to which their findings may be generalized to the continental U.S
