New programming was just what the industry needed.
Fresh from three days in San Diego attending the NIC “Spring” Conference, there were some noticeable changes, other than many new faces again.
At past conferences, most of the sessions had to do with real estate, valuations, operations, competition and financing alternatives. While all important, this was the first NIC where there was an unusual amount of attention to things that most people either don’t want to hear about, or just plain don’t understand.
I am speaking of Medicaid managed care, in both skilled nursing and assisted living, Medicare Advantage plans in assisted living, I-SNPs and value-based care, and, of course, the new PDPM (Patient-Driven Payment Model) for SNFs going into effect October 1. It is here that I want to give a special shout out to Steven Littlehale of PointRight, Inc., who explained PDPM so easily and simplistically that even someone new to the business would have walked away with a decent understanding.
So, kudos to NIC for focusing on these issues at a very important time for our industry. The next step is to talk about what this will all actually mean for values and the business of senior care, which can be a little scary and which I plan to write about this coming month.
