ServingIntel Serves Up New AI Platform
AI is on the minds of many these days, and its seemingly limitless capabilities in the not-too-far future are creating both hope and angst among the public. Certainly, in health care, the possibilities of making care better, more efficient and more effective are an exciting prospect. And we are still in the early days of it. One company, ServingIntel, is launching a new AI platform designed specifically for senior living communities. Already serving communities across the country and in Canada with point-of-sale and robotics technology that helps provide higher resident satisfaction, increased revenue and enhanced staff productivity, ServingIntel has now created Ruby AI. With... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: An End to the Public Health Emergency
After more than three years in effect, the federal COVID-19 public health emergency ended on May 11. That seems like a moment worth celebrating, after the upheaval the country has experienced since the beginning of the pandemic. The vast majority of Americans wouldn’t have noticed the switch, since life has been pretty much back to normal for over a year now. But health care facilities will feel the change. Although states and localities may have different rules, staff vaccine mandates that caused a lot of consternation and even reached the Supreme Court will end at nursing homes, thereby hopefully relieving some of the staffing stresses on facilities. Continuous enrollment policies... Read More »
National Health Investors Shares Jump
When National Health Investors announced its first quarter earnings results last week, investors liked what they heard and sent the shares up by 8%, and they stayed up. The REIT has been dealing with problems at a few major tenants since the onset of the pandemic, and while the problems are not entirely over, most indicators are moving in the right direction. During the quarter, cash collections hit a near-term high of 98%, which should give investors a lot more confidence in the durability of the dividend. Total year-over-year occupancy increased by 400 basis points to 81.3%, driven by a 440-basis point increase in seniors housing and a 350-basis point increase in skilled nursing. ... Read More »
Sonida Senior Living Showing Some Life
It is nice to see that the rising tide of the post-pandemic recovery is lifting all ships, including Sonida Senior Living. As you will recall, they issued a “going concern” opinion last quarter, with cash balances declining every month and a debt load that will be difficult to ever pay off. While they are not out of the ICU yet, perhaps the respirator can be turned off, at least for a few quarters. The company is small, with 62 owned communities, which they should be able to use to their advantage and laser focus on operations, marketing and census. Occupancy has not been the problem, as at about 84% they are beating some of the larger companies as well as the SHOP portfolios of REITs.... Read More »
