Transform - Senior Housing News

Many senior living operators want to reach the middle-market — but doing so will require them to at least familiarize themselves with adult daycare services, according to Innovation Senior Living CEO and Founder Pilar Carvajal.

The company has five communities open and two more on the way, and Carvajal said adult daycare services will play a role in all of them going forward.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- Why Carvajal sees adult daycare as an important tool to reach the middle market

- More about the company's growing "The Club at" brand.

- Why Carvajal believes the industry is going to be "crushed" by middle-market demand ahead

- How the company is growing by adding more independent living to its portfolio

Bickford Senior Living Executive Vice President Alan Fairbanks believes the writing is on the wall for private-pay assisted living.

By that, he means he can see a day in the not-too-distant future when care coordination and value-based care upend normal business for many senior living operators.

Learn more in this episode of Transform.

After taking the reins in 2019, A Place for Mom CEO Larry Kutscher

laid out a plan to completely reinvent the company — and its

relationship with senior living providers.

Three years later, the company is about halfway through that

transformation. A recent infusion of $175 million in growth equity is

helping the national referral partner propel those efforts this year

and beyond.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- How Kutscher has worked to improve the company's relationship with

senior living operators

- Why APFM is spending $100 million on marketing in 2022

- What Kutscher believes is the industry's "biggest weakness"

In January, Forefront Living announced plans to open a tuition-free

Bezos Academy on the campus of its Presbyterian Village North

community in Dallas, making it the first senior living community in

Texas and the second in the U.S. to do so. The move also deepens

Forefront Living's commitment to intergenerational programming,

according to CEO Tim Mallad.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

-- Why Forefront Living decided to collaborate with Bezos Academy

-- How Mallad sees the future of intergenerational programming in senior living

-- What new service lines the organization is exploring launching

MBK Senior Living’s growth has historically been through acquisitions — and that is still the company’s modus operandi in its upcoming fiscal year.

But growing through acquisitions has become tougher in 2022 amid frothy pricing and plenty of competition for senior living properties. Even so, MBK President Jeff Fischer believes the company can acquire four to six new communities this year, adding to the 35 currently in its portfolio.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- How MBK onboards new communities after they are acquired

- What Fischer looks for in new technology and how the company pilots it

- Why MBK follows a culture rooted in the Japanese concept of yoi shigoto

Christian Living Communities is recommitting to its nonprofit roots.

Although the Colorado-based organization still manages some communities through its for-profit management arm, Cappella Living Solutions, President and CEO Jill Vitale-Aussem says its future growth lies in affiliations and potentially third-party management agreements with other nonprofits.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- Why Christian Living Communities sees more opportunities in the nonprofit senior living sector

- What Aussem learned during her short stint as President and CEO of the Eden Alternative

- Why Aussem is cautiously optimistic about staffing in 2022

The senior living industry is grappling with a period of staffing challenges known as the "great resignation" -- but Covenant Living Communities & Services President and CEO Terri Cunliffe hopes it ends up more like a "great sabbatical."

And she said she sees signs this is happening. For instance, the Skokie, Illinois-based senior living nonprofit recently held a day of hiring across the country and filled every single CNA position open in the company.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- Why Cunliffe thinks there might be a "great sabbatical" underway in senior living

- How Covenant Living is piloting robots in its dining operations

- What Cunliffe sees ahead for the industry's labor challenges in 2022

- How the senior living nonprofit handles rate growth amid rising expenses

Owners and investors looking to execute on their strategies in 2022 would be wise to examine every facet of their operations to help drive net operating income (NOI) sooner rather than later -- and that all starts with the operator overseeing a community.

That's according to Greg Puklicz, who ascended to the president role at 12 Oaks Senior Living this year. As president, Puklicz is leading operations during an important time for the company and for the industry.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

- What Puklicz believes investors and owners are looking for in senior living operators

- How being turnaround experts has paid off for 12 Oaks during the pandemic

- What happened when 12 Oaks executed a "marketing sprint" at its communities last fall

- Why Puklicz thinks 2023 will be an even bigger year for rate increases than 2022

Senior living operators have forged different models for middle-market communities in recent years -- but Priority Life Care CEO Sevy Petras believes the industry has only scratched the surface of what it needs to do to meet the massive demand from middle-income residents.

To Petras, the challenge is offering boomers a product they will both want to live in and afford. Priority Life Care is trying to meet market demand through communities such as Celebration Villa, a brand created when the operator took on 17 communities formerly operated by Eclipse Senior Living for Ventas (NYSE: VTR).

In this episode of Transform, learn:

-- What Priority Life Care is planning for its Celebration Villa portfolio with Ventas

-- How the operator is focused on making employees' lives easier amid a historic staffing challenge

-- Why Petras believes 2023 will be another big year of rate growth for the senior living industry

The high price of new construction drove many senior living companies to shift their growth strategies in favor of acquisitions in 2021. But Westmont Living has the flexibility and expertise to build, and the company has several new projects underway, according to President Andy Plant.

With a new year on the horizon, Westmont Living is looking ahead to further growth. And to that end, the company is broadening its services by bringing primary care and other capabilities into its communities.

In this episode of Transform, learn:

-- How Westmont grew occupancy at a rate of about 1% per month in 2021

-- How digital marketing is playing a growing role in the company's sales efforts

-- Why Westmont is adding primary care offices to its communities