Seniors Housing/CCRC Outlook plus Lessons from Brookdale

Now that the real estate dynamics have shifted on-balance to par or better (majority of markets can liquidate inventory at stable or rising prices with constant or modestly increasing demand), the outlook for Seniors Housing (IL, AL and CCRC) is less murky. The recessionary of the last 7 to 8 years has lifted.  What is visible, while still … Read more

Health Care Leadership: Why its Hard, Why Many Fail and What it Takes to Succeed

The bulk of my work centers around gathering data, analyzing trends and working with the leadership of various organizations to implement strategy or more centered, strategies.  The process is iterative, interactive and always fascinating.  Throughout my career, I’ve worked within (virtually) every health care industry segment and seniors housing segment. I also counsel and have … Read more

Getting CCRC Feasibility Studies Correct … and Other Studies as Well

In my consulting career, I’ve done a fair amount of feasibility work (market, economic, etc.).  Similarly, I’ve done a fair amount of similar analyses, primarily related to M&A activity and/or where financing is involved (debt covenant reviews, etc.). Heck, I’ve even done some bankruptcy related work!  I’m also queried fairly often about feasibility, demand, market … Read more

Modern Health Care Risk Management

The second most important function an executive and/or a governance board conducts (second only to planning) is risk management.  This key leadership function is evolving rapidly primarily due to the evolutionary movement around compliance (ACA, CMS, etc.) and the payer focal shift from episodic, procedural care to outcome or evidenced based care, pay-for-performance, etc.  Similarly, as government policy … Read more

The Demographic Realities of Seniors Housing and Healthcare

As regular readers know, I speak at a number of conferences annually.  Additionally, I work with financiers and investors in the space literally daily.  In all my journeys and conversations, I am still faced with some major myth “debunking” about the nature of the seniors housing and healthcare demand, current.  The major myth: Baby-boomers are either … Read more

CCRC Update 2014

Earlier this spring (a couple, three moths ago), I spoke at a marketing/P.R. conference and when my session was over, I sat and visited with a number of the attendees.  My presentation was about value propositions and marketing; how to align your organization’s core economic value components within a marketplace, within a customer segment.  Within … Read more

Boards of Directors: Success, Mediocrity and Sometimes, Failure

As a follow-up to a recent post on Boards of Directors and corporate governance (http://wp.me/ptUlY-gq), this post addresses how boards promote success, can often drive mediocrity and in some cases prompt organizational failure.  The take-away where success, mediocrity and failure occur isn’t structure, terms or committees rather, a consistent excellence or break-down in terms of … Read more

Boards of Directors: Outside Looking In

Over the course of many engagements plus my years as an executive, I’ve addressed and been asked to address, the theme of effective governance, particularly at the Board level.  To bring this topic into full context, one of my many “hats” that I wear (periodically), is as an advisor to graduate and post-graduate students working … Read more

CCRC/Seniors Housing Outlook 2014

Using characterizations, 2013 was a year of gradual ascent for the industry but not necessarily, uniformly so.  After a series of years preceding classified as industry malaise, occupancy began to trend forward and absorption rates stabilize.  Industry wide, overall occupancy is hovering around 90% for CCRCs though again, this number is broadly misleading.  Non-profit CCRCs, the … Read more

Emeritus/PBS and a Window on Assisted Living

PBS is planning on airing a segment tomorrow (Tuesday, July 30) on its program Frontline, highlighting Assisted Living care in the United States (titled “Life and Death in Assisted Living”).  Much of the content focuses on Emeritus and other large, for-profit operators.  A link to the PBS website follows as summary to the broadcast. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/pressroom/frontline-propublica-investigate-assisted-living-in-america/ … Read more