Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Yesterday, the second quarter GDP report (economic activity) was released. This is the initial print from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It will see two more prints but the initial one is always the headline story. Revisions of late, tend to be down versus up (improvement). I eschew the headlines for the details as the … Read more
Lately I’ve written a fair amount (multiple articles) regarding the economic conditions in senior living/post-acute care. The current economic headwinds of rising capital costs/interest rates, labor scarcity, rising costs due to labor scarcity and commodity inflation have caused providers to rethink many operating assumptions. Margins have eroded and often, decisions about additional volume via admissions, … Read more
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by .25 basis points (one quarter of on percent). The effective rate is now 5.25 to 5.50 percent. This is highest Fed Funds rate in 22 years. For the past multiple weeks, I have been writing on how the rate progress has impacted (negatively), seniors housing. … Read more
I’ve been closely watching the post-pandemic recovery of the senior care and living industries. In the past sixty days or so, I’ve written a number of articles/posts on occupancy recovery, factors impacting recovery, and factors that may further stress recovery trends. Within these posts/articles, reference material exists from sources like Fitch, National Investment Center … Read more
Organizational expansion is truly a tale of two options (primarily): add capacity organically (build or start from scratch) or acquire an existing business. Both have pluses and minuses, but when it comes to scale on a more rapid basis and movement into a new market area, acquisition tends to make more sense versus an organic … Read more
In December of 2022, Fitch (credit rating agency) issued their outlook for the non-profit, Life Plan (CCRC) sector within the senior housing industry. Fitch outlooks are a primer for creditors seeking to determine lending scales for the upcoming year (bullish v. bearish). The Fitch outlook for the sector was “deteriorating”. The basis for this negative … Read more
Golf outing today for Children’s Hospital of WI so a bit of recycling…I wrote this a number of years ago (April 2016) and it was very popular and resonates well today. Enjoy! The original post is here: https://wp.me/ptUlY-kf The bulk of my work centers around gathering data, analyzing trends and working with the leadership of … Read more
One of the largest complaints about senior care and housing is cost. It is or can be, darn expensive. The best, most amenitized Life Plan projects can run hundreds of thousands of dollars to enter and tens of thousands more in monthly fees. Rates inflate typically, more than CPI each year. Lately, rate inflation has … Read more
Soon the target customer for most senior housing options, primarily independent living and CCRC/Life Plan will be folks born in the “baby boomer” generation. Boomers are folk born between 1946 and 1964, placing them today, between 76/77 and 58/59 years of age. They were born right after WW II and right at the beginning of … Read more
In its latest update, the Altarum Health Sector Economic Indicators, provided some interesting information on health care spending, job growth, and pricing. The data was released yesterday and is accessible here: https://altarum.org/publications/june-2023-health-sector-economic-indicators-briefs Some key data points from the report are as follows. The data is useful in forecasting, budgeting, and planning, especially in terms of … Read more