Senior Care

By Joy Stephenson-Laws,

Many hospitals, despite their best efforts to remain open, will need to make the difficult decision to close their doors. This is simply an unfortunate reality of today’s healthcare economics. Declining reimbursement and lower patient census have become the norm in many areas. Whether these closures occur in a rural community or a more urban setting, one group that inevitably finds itself disproportionately impacted are seniors. Seniors usually represent a significant percentage of the patient population affected by hospital closures.

Many seniors were born and raised in communities serviced by one local hospital and decided to spend their adult lives there. Others make the deliberate decision to move and retire in such communities. Now, with the closure of their local hospital, they may find themselves miles away from the nearest hospital.

Hospital closures in more rural areas can result in the nearest hospital being more than 20 miles away.  Given this situation, seniors understandably may feel somewhat concerned about and abandoned by the healthcare system when this happens.

If you follow daily senior housing investment news, you may find yourself confused at times. One day occupancy is up and the next the sector is overbuilt. Senior housing has been commended as a best-buy alternative asset, while simultaneously large senior housing/healthcare REIT’s make headlines as an investment “bust.” The question investors want to know is: “Is senior housing a good investment?” The headlines, unfortunately, do not offer a definitive answer.

In this piece, I’ll discuss how to sort through the mass amounts of senior housing news available to find the information most relevant to you and your investment.

Understand the Difference Between Healthcare Real Estate and Senior Housing

First, it’s essential to understand that the bulk of news presented about senior housing investing relates to healthcare REITs, rather than investments in senior housing via private equity funds. Healthcare REITs, such as Welltower (WELL), Ventas (VTR), and Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH), are publicly-traded companies that invest in numerous different types of healthcare real estate, including senior housing, medical office buildings, hospitals, and laboratories. For instance, despite its name, senior housing makes up about half of Senior Housing Properties Trust’s portfolio. That’s why a dip in fund performance can be so misleading for the senior housing market overall. On the other hand, certain private equity funds, such as Senior Living Fund, heavily focus their portfolios on senior housing investment. That means much of the senior housing news published each day does not relate as closely to these private funds.

“Aging in style” could be a trend to lure seniors to premier living at Providence Point, yet, in reality, it is a movement for those headed to retirement. In fact, architects are creating smart home technologies that are assisting with convenience and health monitoring, as well as socialization support, which are becoming more needed for daily living.

Staff of RLPS Architects, a full-service architectural and interior design firm, are continually attending conferences, referencing industry publications, consulting with industry experts and even conducting focus groups as research for new design options and features to help seniors age in style. RLPS Partner and architect, Jodi Kreider is most proud of the direction for seniors to sustain future comforts of living.

“This is a specialized team who works on a number of design strategies to create specific senior-friendly residences to promote long-term independence without compromising the residential design aesthetic,” said Kreider. “Post-occupancy reviews have indicated that most people prefer future adaptability over obvious, built-in accessibility features.”  For example, rather than automatically equipping showers with grab bars, RLPS designs the walls with extra blocking to support the addition of grab bars if needed in the future.