The seniors housing and care market is fighting an often uphill battle to fix its public perception, and providers got a significant tool in their marketing arsenal when NORC at the University of Chicago released a study on how frailty levels among seniors ultimately decline after their moving into seniors housing or skilled nursing properties. NIC funded the study through a grant, and it will certainly be highlighted heavily throughout the upcoming Fall conference, and for good reason.
In a review of Medicare claims of residents from more than 14,000 senior living properties and using a frailty index developed by Harvard University that measures rates of chronic conditions, acute conditions and health services utilization, seniors had heightened vulnerability to illness and impaired mobility prior to, and just after, entering a seniors housing or skilled nursing property. However, frailty levels quickly plateaued, and residents were found to experience a 10% decline in relative frailty levels one year after moving in, as compared to peak.
NORC attributed the non-medical care and services like socialization, transportation, exercise, balanced nutrition, medication management and others to the positive impact on a resident’s health. And it would not be a bad PR campaign, funded by the industry as a whole, to get this message out there to seniors, soon-to-be seniors and their adult children. There are more studies to come from NIC, too, so the good news will hopefully keep on coming.
