Skilled care operators attending last week’s NIC Spring Conference probably returned home in a foul mood.
For any way you slice it, the buzz at the show was hardly SNF friendly. Let’s consider two of the more notable developments.
First, there wasn’t much said about this part of the senior care continuum during the San Diego gathering. Home care, assisted living and independent living were repeatedly touted as desirable opportunities for operators and capital providers. Nursing homes? Nope.
Funny enough, it wasn’t so long ago that the NIC Spring show focused largely on skilled care-related issues. Not this time.
Then there was this: Many of the conversations and educational sessions paid a frightening amount of attention to value-based care. Or to be more precise, ways non-skilled operators might be able to snap off a piece of that action.
And some of the tactics being suggested for other players sounded awfully familiar. Senior living operators were regularly urged to harness data in ways that could demonstrate their value — and help generate partnerships with the Medicare Advantage insurers of the world. Hmmm.
Non-skilled operators were also told — repeatedly — that they are in fact in the healthcare business. And they’d better saddle up to that new reality. On the one hand … duh! Still the epiphany certainly marks a bit of sea change. It wasn’t too long ago that assisted living operators were positioning themselves as anything but a part of the healthcare spectrum.
Neither of these developments are what you might call good news for nursing homes. And the timing could hardly be much worse.
COVID-19 has been a multi-year wrecking ball that lowered skilled care occupancy levels, sent workers running for the door and drove up operational costs. And it’s not like things were rosy before that.
Meanwhile, the past year has been marked by a major upswing in operating and capital costs for a sector that has way too many buildings north of three decades in age.
It’s probably safe to say this is anything but a golden age for skilled care. Actually, it feels more like the sector is stuck in the middle of a long, cold winter.
Still, there is a sliver of hope. Each passing day brings the Silver Tsunami (in other words, the aging Baby Boomers who will require your services) a bit closer. That alone might be enough to offset many of the downers facing skilled care these days.
Let’s just hope that when that day finally arrives, your facility will be around to talk about it.
John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s.
Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.
