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
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: 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 »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Medicare Advantage Tipping Point
We attended the Zimmet Conference dubbed “Roaring Reimbursement” last week at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and as always, the program was highly informative on the skilled nursing reimbursement and regulatory environment. The tidbit that really stuck in our minds, which was probably the intention of Marc Zimmet in his opening remarks, was that we had reached a tipping point of Medicare Advantage enrollment overtaking traditional fee-for-service Medicare enrollment, surpassing 50% as a percentage of total beneficiaries. Not only that, but despite the total number of beneficiaries increasing, the absolute number of traditional Medicare beneficiaries is declining. This will lead to fewer SNF... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Long, Slow Brookdale Recovery
Brookdale Senior Living came out with its Q2 earnings, and the occupancy results revealed just how prolonged the post-pandemic recovery has been for seniors housing and care, making many early predictions of a swift return to pre-pandemic census sound more and more ridiculous in hindsight. The good news is that Brookdale reported its highest month-end occupancy since before the pandemic, at 78.5%, up 30 basis points from the previous month and up just 10 basis points from the previous high recorded in September of last year. The bad news is the fact that Brookdale has taken this long to get back to last fall’s level of occupancy. To us, that is not “progress” in the larger goal of getting... Read More »Schedule a demo
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