Close to 45% of life plan communities are planning to reduce or eliminate their skilled nursing units in the future, despite 75% of providers saying that having a SNF unit is very important for their organizations, according to a new report by CliftonLarsonAllen.
The findings were included in the firm’s 2021 Senior Living Trends report, which featured responses from 110 continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). Just more than half (51%) of these CCRCs (also known as life plan communities) don’t have plans to change their nursing home quarters, while 4.5% said they plan to increase their nursing services.
“[I] believe we will need less beds and more highly specialized care,” one operator said. “The lines will be blurred. Services provided will keep people in their homes longer. We will continue to see a decline in skilled services needed.”
The planned reduction in SNF services possibly highlights operational changes associated with nursing and the desire to support aging in place.
“Payment reform appears to be a big concern for providers. About a third of respondents indicated they did not believe their communities were appropriately equipped to handle some of the business models that may be required by those with significant census derived from government-paid sources,” report authors and CLA principals Mario McKenzie and Dana Anders said.
Operators also said the future of nursing within life plan communities over the next decade will include enhancing the full continuum of care. It also will see more nursing planned for independent living internal use, and adapting and enhancing the nursing that is provided.
In response, CLA suggested considering resizing physical spaces and looking into continued efforts to create private, residential nursing focused on the internal population. It also called for evaluating reliance on government payers and finding other financial pathways to ensure their economic security.
The full report can be found here.
