60 Seconds with Swett: Spring NIC Returns to Dallas
This time next week, we will be arriving in Dallas for the annual Spring NIC Conference. The last NIC in Houston felt relatively normal, but this conference is the first since national and state mask mandates have, for the most part, ended. And finally, the general consensus seems to be that we are in an endemic now. So, the industry is moving on in this “new normal.” (who’s ready to hear those words a lot in Dallas?). Given that, there should be a lot of optimism around rising occupancy, low construction levels and “COVID” playbooks. But we hope some of that optimism is tempered with some realism. Occupancy is rising, but from historically low points, and with bumps along with way (as... Read More »Two Years After The Start
It has now been two years since the official start of the declared pandemic, and the entire seniors housing and care industry has been rising from the bottom of last March. But what now? It seems that from a census perspective we have clawed back up to 50% of what was lost, but the pace of census expansion has slowed. The labor shortages are causing some providers to put their own hold on new admissions, and the ever-increasing labor costs are putting a permanent dent into operating margins. All of this is happening at a time when the industry really needs to prepare for the aging baby boomers, and not worry about how it is going to provide the needed staffing. Next Thursday, March... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: SNFs and the State of the Union
With all that is going on in the country and abroad, it was nice for President Biden to carve out some time to talk about nursing homes in his State of the Union address last night. He said, “as Wall Street firms take over more nursing homes, quality in those homes has gone down and costs have gone up. That ends on my watch.” He was citing JAMA Health Forum’s November 2021 study linking private equity ownership of nursing homes with more hospitalizations and higher Medicare costs, but we’ve said before that study is very misleading. Mr. Biden also promised that Medicare would set higher standards for nursing homes, while also cutting costs. We’re not sure what kind of voodoo government... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Skilled Nursing to Behavioral Health Conversions
Reports of the skilled nursing industry’s death have been greatly exaggerated, but plenty of facilities will not survive the pandemic. These are, for the most part, 50 or 60-year old facilities with few private rooms, significant capex needs and mostly Medicaid census that makes them far less profitable, if at all, amid higher labor expenses. So, many will shut their doors for good, but owners may also start to explore other uses for the facilities. Increasingly, that may be behavioral health, which has rising demand post-pandemic, higher rates and better lease coverage than the SNF business. In their latest earnings reports, a couple of companies announced new behavioral health... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Deciphering the 2021 M&A Market
What to make of the 2021 senior care M&A market? Amid stagnant census, rising labor costs and media glare, average skilled nursing facility values went up last year, according to our in-house statistics. Meanwhile, seniors housing values fell slightly and remain well off pre-pandemic levels. But there has to be more behind these numbers. What factor does building age play in pricing, or location, trailing occupancy? What did buyers care about in 2021, and make them push their bids up? Or down? We’ll cover these topics in our annual Senior Care Acquisition Report, to be published later this month, but for those of you who want a preview of our 2021 M&A statistics, plus expertise... Read More »Schedule a demo
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