Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Tennessee benefits
housingstate

Tennessee State Veterans Homes — Five Routes In, Two Per Diems

Five state homes. The residency test has five alternatives — living here is only one of them — and the VA Higher Per Diem covers the whole cost of the stay at a 70% rating, for a service-connected admission, or on individual unemployability.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

Five state homes. The residency test has five alternatives — living here is only one of them — and the VA Higher Per Diem covers the whole cost of the stay at a 70% rating, for a service-connected admission, or on individual unemployability.

What it's worth: Skilled nursing care — the whole cost covered at a 70% rating, or discounted by the Basic Per Diem below that

  • The homes publish no daily rate, and say cost varies on a number of factors, so we carry no figure.
  • Below the Higher Per Diem thresholds the payment sources are the ordinary ones — Medicare, a Medicare managed care plan, state Medicaid, long-term care insurance or private payment — with the Basic Per Diem credited against a private-pay bill.

Who is entitled to it

  • You were honorably discharged.
  • You are the veteran.
  • Spouses are eligible for admission on a space-available basis.
  • Your home is in Tennessee.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Check all five residency routes before ruling yourself out: resident of Tennessee at the time of admission; born in Tennessee; entered the U.S. armed forces in Tennessee; a Tennessee address is the official home of record on your military record; or you have an immediate family member who is your primary caregiver and is a Tennessee resident. Any one will do.
  2. 2Provide the DD-214 — the VA verifies discharge from it, so a copy you cannot produce will hold up the application.
  3. 3Ask which per diem applies to you. The Higher Per Diem covers 100% of the cost of the stay for a 70%-or-greater service-connected rating, for a veteran needing nursing home care for a service-connected disability, and for a veteran rated totally disabled on individual unemployability.
  4. 4If you are paying privately, ask for the Basic Per Diem to be applied against the bill rather than treated as separate income — the homes credit it toward the private-pay daily rate.
  5. 5Spouses and Gold Star parents apply on a space-available basis and must need a skilled level of care.
  6. 6Pick a home: Humboldt, Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Knoxville or Cleveland.
Form
Admission application with DD-214
File with
The admissions office at the home you want
Documents you will need
dd214 · va benefit summary letter
Annual recertification
The office asks you to confirm each year.
CorrectionYou do not have to live in Tennessee. Four of the five residency routes have nothing to do with where you live now — being born here, entering the armed forces here, a Tennessee home of record on the military record, or having a Tennessee-resident family member as your primary caregiver each qualify on their own. A veteran who moved away decades ago is not automatically out.
CorrectionThe two per diems do different jobs. The Basic Per Diem discounts a private-pay bill; the Higher Per Diem covers the stay outright. Individual unemployability reaches the Higher Per Diem even where the combined rating is below 70 percent — so a veteran paid at the 100% rate on unemployability should ask for it by name.
Worth knowingSpouse and Gold Star parent admission is space-available and requires a skilled level of care. It is a real route, but it is behind the veteran queue rather than alongside it.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.