• 60 Seconds with Swett: Getting Realistic with New Development

    The positive mood at the NIC Fall Conference was contagious, as dealmakers were looking forward to a potential record-breaking fourth quarter. We at LevinPro are also gearing up to cover a new elevated level of M&A activity and pricing in the coming months, with our updated valuation tool better accounting for today’s market and the estimated... Read More »
  • NHC Responds to NHI

    National Healthcare Corporation, the tenant of 32 of National Health Investor’s skilled nursing/senior care facilities and three independent living communities, is disputing NHI’s determination of default after the landlord formally notified the operator that it was in default and must cure the default within 30 days to avoid an Event of... Read More »
  • REIT Acquires High-Quality Continuum of Care Community

    Blueprint facilitated the sale of a Class-A seniors housing community in Jasper, Georgia. Built in 2022, The Lodge at Stephens Lake includes 83 units of independent living cottages, assisted living and memory care. It is adjacent to a large active adult development and benefits from significant planned residential and commercial growth. At the... Read More »
  • Legend Senior Living Adds Allentown-Area Asset

    A Class-A, well performing property outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania, traded to a joint venture between Legend Senior Living and a new capital partner. Alex Florea and Kevin Lukehart of Blueprint handled the transaction. Legend previously operated The Vero at Bethlehem, which opened in July 2023 and stabilized within 18 months. At the time of... Read More »
  • CFG’s Senior Care Financing Activity

    Capital Funding Group financed more than $86 million across six transactions from early to mid-August. The transactions supported two memory care communities, four skilled nursing facilities, and one psychiatric hospital in Missouri, California, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia on behalf of nationally recognized borrowers, one of which is a... Read More »
60 Seconds with Monroe: Finding A Solution For LTC Funding

60 Seconds with Monroe: Finding A Solution For LTC Funding

My friend Stephen Moses, president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, has been a consistent and persistent advocate for reforming the Medicaid system and getting Americans out of the Medicaid-dependency mindset. He just published, with the Paragon Health Institute, the follow-on to his paper “Long-Term Care: The Problem.” Available now is “Long-Term Care: The Solution.” While I was hoping for something completely new and creative, I can’t disagree with his recommendations, which include 1) stop the ability to purchase Medicaid-exempt assets, 2) eliminate the home equity exemption, 3) ban Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, 4) disallow Medicaid compliant annuities, and 5) increase the... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: 2023 Deal Volume at 2019 Levels

60 Seconds with Swett: 2023 Deal Volume at 2019 Levels

Dealmakers have a lot to be frustrated with in the M&A market right now, with valuations low, deal processes taking longer than ever, scarcity in the debt markets and other headwinds making their impact. But despite it all, deal volume was actually historically healthy in the third quarter of 2023.  There were 115 publicly announced transactions in the quarter. That is down from the 120 deals made public in Q2:23 and the 140 from last year’s third quarter. But the average deals per quarter for 2023 at 115 is equal to the average deals per quarter in 2019, a time of cheap and abundant capital and before anyone knew what COVID-19 was. Plus, on an annualized basis, Q3’s total would... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: 2023 Deal Volume at 2019 Levels

60 Seconds with Swett: SNFs Get a Bad Grade

It was unfortunate, but unsurprising, to see that in a recent Gallup poll, a plurality of those surveyed gave SNFs either a D or an F grade on overall quality of care. We say unsurprising not because we agree with that for the majority of facilities, although there are certainly those guilty of providing subpar care, but because of the general negative perception the public has on SNFs. Cases of bad care will always spread in the media and by word-of-mouth faster than the many instances of good care, and only 9% of respondents gave SNFs either B (good) or A (excellent) grades in the survey.  That is not good, but let’s face it, the skilled nursing business is also a thankless... Read More »
60 Seconds with Monroe: Finding A Solution For LTC Funding

60 Seconds with Monroe: Is Joe Biden That Tone Deaf?

We already reported on the new proposed staffing requirements for nursing homes, coming at a time when most everyone in senior living is still struggling with finding enough staff, and paying for them. Coincident with the release of the proposed rules, USA Today published an opinion piece by President Biden. Now, if anyone thinks he actually wrote it, I have a bridge to sell you. My guess is that he did not even read it. This was a staff piece. Perhaps from Joe’s basement? I will say one thing, he has been consistent in his criticism of private equity in the nursing home business, but he still gets his facts and names wrong. Not many “private equity” firms have been buying up nursing homes... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: SNF Values Begin to Drop

60 Seconds with Swett: SNF Values Begin to Drop

The surge in capital costs has finally eaten into the price per bed for skilled nursing facilities, at least according to our latest averages. Using data from our proprietary M&A database which includes dozens of confidential prices and property financials, the average price per bed for skilled nursing facilities in the four quarters ended June 2023 dropped 6.5% to $106,800 from its record-high of $114,200 per bed from calendar year 2022. Anecdotally, we had heard that buyers were not paying the prices they were in 2022 but that investor interest (and prices as a result) was still higher than it was before and during the pandemic. That checks out with our numbers, since the latest... Read More »
60 Seconds with Monroe: Finding A Solution For LTC Funding

60 Seconds with Monroe: SNFs and Medicare Advantage

As you all know by now, I have been enrolled in traditional, fee-for-service Medicare for nearly four years, while all my friends but one have enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Why? Because that is all they see advertised. Some did not even know there was an alternative. Skilled nursing operators have known for a decade or more that MA plans are stingy when it comes to payments, now up to $100 lower per patient day compared to traditional Medicare. It is now coming out that MA plans are not just stingy on what they pay providers, they are also stiffing their members as to what they will pay for, and how often. And this is affecting patient care in the post-acute setting, according... Read More »