WASHINGTON--Privately - owned profit-making nursing homes now appear to charge less than homes run by the government, churches or other non-profit groups, a government health survey indicates.

Tentative results from a survey of nursing homes last year show that the average monthly charge in the profit-making homes as $641, compared with $722 in the non-profit homes, a spokesman for the National Center for Health Statistics said yesterday.

The cost figure could change, but Mark R. Meiners, a government economist, said they indicate the situation has changed from 1973-74, when a survey showed the non-profit homes charged $32 less than the profit-making ones.

Medicare

Since Medicare and Medicaid began paying some nursing home bills, the non-profit homes have relied less on charity and subsidies to pay their costs, Meiners said.

Meiners added that the non-profit homes may provide more or better services, but thay also may simply be less efficient because they are not in the business to make money.