Wednesday, November 26, 2008

It's no secret that the credit and housing markets have been in a funk lately. Just this week, massive investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. That was right before Bank of America picked Merrill Lynch from the bargain bin. On the housing side, the news is almost as ominous. Foreclosures hit a record high in August, and there appears to be little relief in sight. Within this context, a conference focused largely on driving capital to companies that mostly own property would appear to be risky at best. But the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry actually had to turn away hundreds of potential attendees from last week's show in Chicago. So what gives? The answer seems to be that while housing and capital are parts of the senior living business, they don't fully define it. The sector exists largely to deliver quality housing and care to our nation's seniors. Real estate issues and acquiring capital, it turns out, are merely pieces of the puzzle.

Assistive Technology Services now offers motion activated Hands-Free Water Faucets. They allow users to save water and avoid the cross-contamination of infectious diseases that touching faucets may cause.

Turtle Top has released its Clean Bus option. The program gives buyers four choices for making their new vehicle more germ-free. The option uses a nanocide antimicrobial, which helps reduce contamination risks from ecoli, salmonella, MRSA and other sources.

The American Diabetes Association has introduced an Adult Prevention Toolkit. The kit is designed specifically for community-based and faith-based organizations with a high concentration of Hispanic/Latino residents.

Healthsense's eNeighbor remote monitoring tool scored well with residents, during a recent study the manufacturer conducted with NewCourtland Elder Services. The device received overwhelmingly positive scores from participants. They said it was neither intrusive nor impersonal, according to the report.

WebMD has announced plans to acquire QualityHealth.com, and its parent, Marketing Technology Solutions, for $50 million. The acquisition will "add performance-based marketing programs to WebMD's extensive product portfolio and expands the breadth of its offerings to the biopharmaceutical and healthcare markets," according to a company statement. The acquisition is expected to close in about four weeks.

A year after a news report uncovered resident care and ownership problems at nursing homes recently purchased by private equity groups, a new report from Harvard Medical School blunts the findings: Quality at nursing homes does not necessarily suffer, and, in certain cases, care was actually shown to improve under new ownership. After comparing the quality of care at private-equity owned nursing homes to privately owned nursing homes, researchers discovered little to no causal evidence supporting the belief that quality of care declines after corporate takeover. More than 1,500 nursing homes were studied for the report. Last September, a New York Times analysis asserted that private equity firms overlooked care for the sake of profits, and that complicated corporate structures made it hard for families of residents to sue facilities over poor care.