Therapy and PDPM
We are now one week into the new PDPM reimbursement system, and already therapist layoffs have begun. Well, we are just one week into the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for Medicare reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities, and already the therapist layoffs have begun. Why? Because providers are no longer paid for the amount of therapy they provide patients. The new payments will be based on patient needs, especially for higher acuity patients. So, here is my question. If the patient profile has not changed from September to October, why were patients provided with a certain number of therapy hours in September if they actually did not need that much therapy, or if the extra... Read More »
Gloves Come Off in Brookdale’s Proxy Fight
The proxy cards are in the mail to Brookdale Senior Living’s shareholders for the vote at the annual meeting, to be held on October 29, and it looks like CEO Cindy Baier has taken the gloves off. Brookdale has been fighting shareholder Land & Buildings’ nominee for a board position, Jay Flaherty, for many weeks. But now they are bringing up some of Mr. Flaherty’s past transgressions which, according to Brookdale, make “him unfit to serve as a member of Brookdale’s Board.” These transgressions include some foul play in 2011 when he was CEO of HCP, Inc., which resulted in a $101.7 million judgment against HCP, for which the court stated that HCP engaged in “fraudulent conduct with the... Read More »
Seniors Housing And NIMBY
When NIMBYism hits home, and in my mailbox. I put some mail in my mailbox at home this morning (yes, I still use the USPS), and overnight someone slipped a “Dear Neighbors” letter in the box. It wanted to make us aware of a “massive” new development planned just two blocks from the downtown area of town. And what is the plan? A CCRC, which is something our growing elderly population has been clamoring for for a few decades. It is sponsored by the local not-for-profit that already has a skilled nursing facility and a small IL community, which is really assisted living “lite.” But there has never been anything like a CCRC, which is what many of the elderly want. Large units, services,... Read More »
Acquisition Market Remains Strong
Transaction volume is still running ahead of last year’s record, fueled by liquidity and low interest rates. As of yesterday, seniors housing and care acquisition volume was still running ahead of last year’s record-setting pace. We are well over 300 transactions so far in 2019, and September is already looking to beat last year’s September, with several days to go. The question still remains, how long can this go on? The simple answer is as long as liquidity in the market remains at current levels. And that liquidity will remain as long as returns stay higher than alternative investments. They have, and low interest rates have not hurt. The other question is, when will the slow... Read More »
The Brookdale/Land & Buildings Saga Continues
Many of you may have seen Brookdale Senior Living’s proxy statement filed in response to activist shareholder Land & Buildings’ efforts to put former HCP CEO Jay Flaherty on the company’s Board of Directors, presumably to further its own demands to split Brookdale into an OpCo and PropCo in order to “maximize value for all Brookdale shareholders.” All we can say is, well done to Brookdale and CEO Cindy Baier for standing up to this pressure. We can’t say that we have always supported the decisions made by Brookdale executives and the Board, starting with its acquisition of Emeritus Corp. in 2014. Many pages in The SeniorCare Investor over the years have been dedicated to this topic. We... Read More »Schedule a demo
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