Medical model

Definition

The licensure tier of adult day programs offering nursing and health services.

Why It Matters

States split adult day services into social programs, activities, meals, and supervision, and medical or health models adding nursing care, therapies, and medication management, each with its own licensure, staffing ratios, and reimbursement rates. The model decides which payers a program can bill and at what per diem, so it is the first structural fact of any listing: a medical-model license is harder to hold and worth more, and converting a social program upward is a licensing project, not a menu change.