What's hard about operating a senior living facility right now?

For the past several months I’ve been thinking a lot about the challenges facing senior living operators. Not only is senior living challenged to innovate for residents within a conservative operating budget, they also need to retain staff in an extremely tight staffing market - all while transitioning facilities to a new value-based method of reimbursement and care.

Join me in learning about the challenges facing senior living operators, as gathered from the AgeTech NYC Senior Living Operator Survey.

— Sarah Richard

P.S. - If you’re an AgeTech founder, investor, or operator based in the NYC area, please consider joining us at August’s AgeTech NYC event, hosted by Brian Geyser at Maplewood Senior Living. 

What's hard about operating a senior living facility right now?

During the past several months, I’ve dived deep into the landscape of challenges facing senior living operators. They sit at the intersection of real estate, hospitality, and healthcare - all notoriously difficult industries, with unique challenges for senior living. Briefly:

Real estate: Many facilities are owned by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). A REIT is a security that trades like a stock on the major exchanges and owns—and in most cases operates—income-producing real estate or related assets. REITs have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to pressure Senior Living operators to streamline their operations and manage cashflow efficiently.

Hospitality: Private equity ownership has challenged operators to focus on profit margins, which can lead to understaffing and reduced quality of care. Operators need to innovate to improve efficiency while maintaining “5-star” quality of services and amenities, which are crucial for resident satisfaction and retention.

Healthcare: Senior living operators are transitioning to value-based care models, a long term strategy that focuses on improving health outcomes while controlling costs, which requires operators to leverage data insights and technology. This transition involves significant challenges, such as the need for additional resources, staff training, and aligning with Medicare Advantage plans.

Introducing… AgeTech NYC’s Senior Living Operator Survey

As much as I’ve learned through research and speaking with operators in my network, I know there’s more work to be done. I’m launching the first AgeTech NYC Senior Living Operator survey to gather insights on the biggest pain points faced by senior living operators today. Initial discussions with a couple of the industry-leading operators have revealed some key pain points:

1. Staffing Costs: Operators throughout the continuum of care (from independent living through memory care and skilled nursing) are struggling with staff retention, leading to significant recruiting costs and heavy (95+% of headcount) reliance on expensive agency staff.

2. Care Planning & Acuity: Understanding resident acuity is crucial for creating and executing effective care plans, but operators struggle to ensure care plan adherence and avoid unnecessary costs or uncaptured revenue.

3. Legal Management: Reconciling both resident and vendor contracts (and ensuring regulatory compliance) presents a significant financial and operational burden.

These insights are just the beginning. Stay tuned for more insights to come as I expand the AgeTech NYC Senior Living Operator Survey!

Join the conversation

Are you a senior living operator with insights to share? Do you know a particularly innovative senior living operator who can add to the conversation? Join the conversation shaping the future of care by participating in the (anonymized) AgeTech NYC Senior Living Operator Survey. One operator will be selected for a spotlight interview in a future Golden Age of Technology newsletter.

Join the conversation by emailing [email protected].

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