60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Venting About Medicare

by | Dec 7, 2021 4:58 pm | 60 Seconds | 0 comments

Okay, I know it is the season to be jolly, but it has been a while since I have had something to vent about. When I signed up for Medicare two years ago (I know, hard to believe) I signed up for everything except Part D drug coverage. I had no prescriptions so why get coverage I didn’t need. Two years in, for a variety of reasons, I decided to sign up even though I still have no prescriptions. Just being conservative. A week after receiving my approval letter from United Healthcare, I received another letter saying I would be charged a “Late Enrollment Penalty” fee on my monthly premium. Because I had two years of no coverage, they use that period to calculate the monthly penalty. This... Read More »
60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Strong Census Gains Continue at NHI

60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Strong Census Gains Continue at NHI

by | Nov 30, 2021 4:14 pm | 60 Seconds | 0 comments

As we head into the holidays, flu season and the snowy winter, when census gains will be much harder won and as our inboxes fill with news on the omicron variant, we want to point out some really positive occupancy news from National Health Investors’ latest business update. In October, average occupancy across its 42 Bickford Senior Living properties rose by 60 basis points to 81.3%, from 80.7% in September. That is up 670 basis points from the low in March of this year. In its smaller (SLC) Senior Living Communities portfolio of nine properties, average occupancy also rose by 60 basis points to 81.5%, or a 530-basis point increase from the low of last December. The Holiday Retirement... Read More »

Another Year to be Thankful

by | Nov 24, 2021 9:38 am | 60 Seconds | 0 comments

It has been another difficult year for the senior care industry, but there are certainly things to be thankful for and reasons to be optimistic for 2022. First, that the vaccines, booster shots and therapeutics are so successful at treating COVID, and that 98.5% of seniors aged 65 and older have received at least one shot, according to the CDC. A year ago, when the vaccine was only just announced as effective but how it would be distributed was still not known, that sort of figure seemed like a dream.  Amid all the labor issues facing the country, we are also thankful for all the senior care workers that are showing up every day to do a difficult, unglamorous and often thankless job. They... Read More »

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Big-Time CCRC Development

by | Nov 17, 2021 9:09 am | 60 Seconds | 0 comments

For those of you who know me, you know I have been a big fan of the CCRC model, and have been for decades. And for those of you who still think the entrance-fee CCRC model is dead, well, think again when you hear this. HJ Sims recently closed on what may be one of the largest tax-exempt bond financings for a single-site CCRC new development, if not the largest. The total bond issuance comes to $398 million, or just over $1.5 million per unit, with maturities ranging from four years to 35 years. The interest rates range from 2.875% to 4.625%. It is located in Westchester County, New York. The community will be situated on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York. There... Read More »

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Winners and Losers

by | Nov 10, 2021 10:25 am | 60 Seconds | 0 comments

As we have mostly finished with the third quarter earnings results, it does appear that the market continues to bifurcate between the winners and losers. Or, at least, between those who are successfully coming out of the pandemic and those who are maybe struggling to recover more than their peers. One example is CareTrust REIT which believes that its tenants will be above pre-pandemic occupancy levels by summer 2022, while others are looking at a year or two beyond that, or longer, and that is if they can successfully deal with the labor shortages and increasing wages. If they can’t deal with the labor problems, then their census issues will most likely remain a major headwind. Look, all... Read More »