Sr. Living, Litigation and COVID Implications

On Friday, I wrote about the explosion of COVID litigation in health care and senior living, especially that which is challenging federal immunity under the PREP Act and cases challenging insurance coverage for business interruption coverage resultant from COVID remediation policies (business closure, school closures, vaccine requirements, etc.). Today’s post is a bit more focused … Read more

Wednesday Feature: Insanity

Happy Hump Day! Every once in a while, I feel the need to rant, if just a bit. Personally, it’s like an exorcism of pent-up frustration. Since this blog is mine and I am the author, editor, chief cook, and bottlewasher, I get a certain license to write stuff that I feel is important. I … Read more

Twofer Tuesday: Jimmo and Staffing Mandates

Happy Hump Day eve! There is so much going on right now with the economy, government shutdown (whew, avoided that one for a bit) dynamics, election news, and health policy that it is becoming difficult to parse topics into stuff of value. Hopefully, a couple of quick updates will make room for more insightful analysis … Read more

AZ Pandemic Related Case – Watchlist Important

My firm (shared with my co-founder) H2 Healthcare, LLC does a lot of legal work, primarily forensic and litigation support. My wife (and partner), Diane Hislop, RN, is likely the foremost (or certainly, top few) clinical compliance experts in the country in terms of senior living and post-acute care. This means, as a group, we … Read more

Quality and Quantity of Life for Seniors, in Senior Housing

Since my first years in senior housing and health care, and my work way back when with Alwyn Powell (AV Powell, AV Powell and Associates), I have been fascinated by the aging journey in care settings – lengths of stay, health care utilization, quality of life and quantity of life. I’ve supported numerous research studies … Read more

Fitch, Life Plan (CCRCs) and the Economy: Could Get Uglier

On Monday, Fitch (investment rating agency) dropped a non-rating commentary as an alert that should the economy hit a recession (I would argue not “should” but “when”), that Life Plan communities will encounter additional financial pressure. Recall that in December 2022, Fitch issued its outlook on the Life Plan/CCRC market, qualifying it as “deteriorating.” Per … Read more

Senior Housing Occupancy Update

During the pandemic, senior housing (all forms) saw a drop, some precipitous like SNFs, in occupancy. As the pandemic has now waned, the recovery continues. This is good news for the sector, but occupancy is not the only factor impacting recovery. According to the National Investment Center (NIC), occupancy in the sector varies between market … Read more

Wednesday Feature: It’s the Economy, Stupid

The title may jog memories for some readers. During the 1992 election cycle, advisor to then candidate Bill Clinton, James Carville, (running against George H.W. Bush) used the phrase for campaign workers as a charge to focus on. He wanted people to pay attention to the economic issues (inflation) affecting how people were feeling about … Read more

Five Quality and Compliance Tips

A major concentration within my firm, H2 Healthcare, is compliance work. My wife heads this section of the practice, and she is widely known as one of (if not THE) the foremost post-acute/senior living experts on clinical quality, compliance, and risk mitigation/risk management. Her book on reducing survey risk for SNFs is still available on … Read more

SNF Performance Update – Occupancy, etc.

No other segment of senior living/senior care got rocked as much by the pandemic as skilled nursing. Frankly, the industry had challenges from labor shortages and lagging reimbursement entering the pandemic (2020). The pandemic didn’t just accentuate these issues, it blew them up in terms of magnitude (impact) while adding supply chain issues, inflation, and … Read more