Senior Housing News recognizes the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic, so we will be updating this bulletin to keep you apprised of the latest developments, focusing on news and information that we identify as especially pertinent to senior living. The team at SHN knows how important your work is right now; we thank you and your teams, and encourage you to reach out to us individually or at editor@seniorhousingnews.com with news items, topics that you believe are important for coverage, or other feedback.
Bulletin for Thursday, April 16, 2020:
The Covid-19 pandemic has started to take a greater toll on senior living occupancy.
That’s according to new findings released by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Responding to a NIC survey that took place between April 1 and April 12, roughly one-third to one-half of operators reported a month-over-month decrease in occupancy.
More survey respondents reported decreased occupancy in this “Wave 2” survey, compared to a prior “Wave 1” survey conducted between April 24 and March 31.
Assisted living had the most striking change. In the Wave 1 survey, 29% of assisted living operators reported a decrease in occupancy versus one month prior. That number jumped to 54% reporting a monthly occupancy decline in the Wave 2 survey.
Likewise, more assisted living and independent living providers saw a slower pace of move-ins during the April 1 to April 12 time period, compared to the earlier period. Memory care bucked that trend, though.
A slowdown in leads/conversions was cited as the primary reason for a deceleration in move-ins, followed by a ban on move-ins implemented by the provider organization itself, and resident/family member concerns.
Other survey findings:
— Increasing overtime time hours is the most common strategy for mitigating workforce shortages, cited by 89% of respondents
— The three most common staff support measures in place are flexible work hours, remote work and additional paid sick leave
— Uncertainty and lack of construction labor are growing concerns with regard to development pipelines
Also in the news:
— A new collaboration will enable more rapid Covid-19 testing for 1,500 assisted living, skilled nursing and long-term care communities in Ohio.
National Church Residences, Ohio Living, LeadingAge Ohio and Central Ohio Geriatrics announced the Post-Acute Regional Rapid Testing (PARRT) program Thursday. The program is being conducted in concert with various health departments in Ohio.
“A team of two technicians, including one skilled medical professional and an assistant, collects swabbed specimens at each site, then delivers samples securely packed in an ice chest to an Ohio Department of Health lab that turns around results within a day,” a press release stated. “The swab team, trained by The Ohio State University, is suited in full Personal Protective Equipment, including a fit-tested N-95 mask, face shield, gown, hair covering, shoe covers and gloves.”
— Dallas-based operator Capital Senior Living (NYSE: CSU) has fallen out of compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing standards. The company’s average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30-day period was less than $50 million and its shareholders equity was less than $50 million, while the average closing price of the company’s common stock was less than $1.00 over the 30-day period.
Capital Senior Living’s share price already had gone through several years of erosion and the company was in the midst of an operational turnaround when the Covid-19 crisis hit. Since then — like publicly traded senior living owners and operators across the board — its share price has taken further hits.
Capital Senior Living now has to submit a plan to the NYSE detailing how it will meet listing standards within 18 months. There will be no immediate impact on the listing of the company’s common stock or on its business operations.
— The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — a $350 billion fund to help small businesses maintain payroll in the midst of Covid 19 — has run out of money and stopped accepting claims. Senior living providers were among the many businesses that rushed to tap into the program after its rollout April 3. The U.S. Congress so far has not reached an agreement that would enable further funding.
— Fitbit has introduced new capabilities related to Covid-19. By accessing a new “Covid-19” tab, users gain access to a variety of information and resources, including the ability to book a virtual physician visit via the PlushCare service. Wearables like Fitbit have been a technology trend within the senior living space for several years.
Bulletin for Wednesday, April 15, 2020:
A PBS NewsHour segment that aired Tuesday looked at the contributing factors to why long-term care — notably assisted living and skilled nursing — are ideal incubators for a Covid-19 outbreak.
To date, more than 3,600 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. can be traced back to assisted living and skilled nursing communities. David Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, cited a “perfect storm” of factors contributing to the spread: underfunding of nursing home services; porous models of accountability and oversight; and tight shared living quarters that make it easier for residents and staff who may be asymptomatic to spread the coronavirus.
Grabowski says the actual total is likely to be higher. The federal government is not tracking Covid-19 deaths in assisted living and nursing homes, and some states are not reporting anything while others are completely transparent.
Also in the news:
— Federal agencies are feeling growing pressure to begin tracking coronavirus infections and death in nursing homes, the Associated Press reports. The AP’s tally of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, based on media reports and state health agency data, is at 4,485.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma told reporters during a Wednesday conference call that there should be more reporting, a sentiment echoed by Grabowski.
“This is basic public health — you track this, you study it, and you learn from it,” he told the AP.
— CMS announced Wednesday that Medicare will nearly double payment for certain lab tests that use high-throughput technologies to rapidly diagnose large numbers, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to expand coronavirus testing.
Through the duration of the national Covid-19 emergency, Medicare will pay laboratories $100 for high-throughput lab tests for increased testing capacity, faster results, and more effective means of combating the spread of the virus. This will benefit nursing homes which are vulnerable to a cluster outbreak. Verma called the announcement a “game changer” for nursing homes.
Bulletin for Tuesday, April 14, 2020:
The effort to ensure that senior living providers receive a share of the $100 billion CARES Act fund for health care providers has escalated, with Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) laying out the case in an April 13 letter to Vice President Mike Pence.
Initially, Argentum and ASHA sought $20 billion to be reserved for senior living providers from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF). In the letter to Pence, they requested “significant funds” from the PHSSEF for the industry.
The letter cited findings from a third-party analysis, which determined that Covid-19 could cost senior living providers between $40 billion and $57 billion.
So far, $30 billion have been distributed from the PHSSEF, going primarily to hospitals and other providers that receive significant Medicare revenue. The next tranche to be distributed will go largely to Medicaid providers, federal officials have indicated.
ASHA President David Schless and Argentum President and CEO James Balda still hope that some PHSSEF money will be coming to senior living providers, they said In a joint interview with Senior Housing News last week.
Also in the news:
— Out of nearly 2,500 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities surveyed by health care improvement company Premier, 70% said they are not fully prepared to treat an increasing number of Covid-19 patients.
“In this next phase of the outbreak, states and health care providers are contemplating how they can best provide care for patients who need medical attention but are not critical care status,” John P. Sganga, SVP of Alternate Site Programs at Premier, said in a press release issued Tuesday. “Senior nursing and assisted living facilities can provide quality care for these patients, but this shift will increase their resource and supply needs, from PPE and tests to staffing.”
About 24% of facilities reported no N95 masks on hand, and most said their supply of surgical masks, isolation gowns and face shields will not last two weeks.
In addition, 48% of respondents said that staff attendance has become a challenge.
— OnShift is waiving fees associated with its OnShift Wallet solution, which allows senior living workers to access their wages prior to payday. OnShift Wallet is powered by PayActiv.
“We are incredibly grateful to our clients who are serving our nation’s most vulnerable and fragile population, the elderly,,” said Mark Woodka, CEO of OnShift, in Tuesday press release. “Building on our three-year partnership with PayActiv, we are able to provide additional support to these deserving people by offering greater access to their financial resources.”
So far this year, OnShift Wallet users have accessed more than $12 million in earned wages prior to payday.
— Brookdale Senior Living CEO Cindy Baier contributed the equivalent of more than two months’ salary to the company’s Associate Compassion Fund (ACF). All members of the executive team and some board members also have made donations from their compensation and/or paid time off, the Brentwood, Tennessee-based provider stated in a press release.
Baier earned a base salary of about $782,000 in 2018, according to the most recently available definitive proxy statement for the company. She became CEO in February of that year.
The provider has also expanded the criteria for receiving grants through the ACF.
Bulletin for Monday, April 13, 2020:
Senior living industry associations are urging the Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase providers’ access to the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The PPP was established through the CARES Act federal stimulus package, and offers forgivable loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. However, affiliation rules limit the ability of senior living providers to access these funds. Although a particular senior living community may employ fewer than 500 workers, that community may be affiliated with a larger operating company that exceeds the workforce eligibility threshold.
The CARES Act waived the affiliation rules for certain types of accommodation and food service businesses that are classified under NAICS codes beginning with 72. Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) are urging SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza to make similar exceptions for senior living.
“For example, the description for NAICS code 623312, ‘Assisted Living Facilities
for the Elderly,’ is functionally equivalent to the description for NAICS code 721310, ‘Rooming and Boarding Houses, Dormitories, and Workers’ Camps,’” the associations wrote in an April 7 letter to Carranza. “The main difference between these two NAICS codes is that code 623312 is limited to residential services for the elderly.”
On April 12, the American Bankers Association reported that $205 billion of the $350 billion PPP already had been claimed. The Treasury Department has requested $250 billion more for the program, but Congress has not yet passed that additional funding.
Also in the news:
— Congressional lawmakers sparred over several issues of importance to senior living, including the production and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), the availability of funds through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and premium pay for workers deemed “essential” during the pandemic.
Late last week, the Treasury Department sought an additional $205 billion in funding for the PPP, but Democrats blocked that effort, wanting to include other provisions in the relevant bill. On Monday, Democratic leaders provided more details about what they are seeking, including more funding for PPE and Covid-19 testing.
“We Democrats demand adequate funding for the production and distribution of national rapid testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – it cannot wait,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a joint statement.
Also on Monday, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California released an “Essential Workers Bill of Rights,” which includes provisions that they would like to see included in the next Covid-19 financial stimulus and aid package. These provisions for workers deemed “essential” during Covid-19 include universal paid sick leave, access to child care and “premium pay.”
The premium pay should “provide meaningful compensation for essential work, be higher for the lowest-wage workers, and not count towards workers’ eligibility for any means-tested programs. It must be retroactive to the start date of the pandemic, and not used to lower the regular rate of pay for any employee,” the Bill of Rights states.
The Bill of Rights also calls for treating essential workers as “experts” and including them in developing plans for distribution of PPE.
Many senior living providers are already offering child care benefits and boosts to workers’ pay rates.
— The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended deadlines relevant to real estate developers and investors. For taxpayers facing a deadline between April 1 and July 14 of this year to invest capital gains in an opportunity zone fund, the deadline now has been moved to July 15. And like-kind exchange deadlines that would normally fall between April 1 and July 14 also have been extended to July 15.
— Covid-19 outbreaks in assisted living communities could lead to more regulatory scrutiny and oversight in the future, according to a special report on seniors housing from Marcus & Millichap.
“The outbreak has illustrated how many communities are not positioned to provide additional levels of medical care, which could place the sector under scrutiny as oversight has historically been relaxed,” the report states.
Bulletin for Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12
The CARES Act federal stimulus package included a $100 billion fund for health care providers, and that money is now being disbursed — still with no guarantee that senior living providers will be among the recipients.
On Friday, payments began to be distributed to hospitals and other Medicare and Medicaid fee-for-service providers. They will receive the first tranche of payments, which will total $30 billion. The second tranche will be released within the next 10 days and will go largely to providers serving Medicaid beneficiaries.
Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) have been urging the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate $20 billion of the fund for senior living providers. ASHA continues to call on members to contact their Congressional representatives, and is now urging more focus on getting access to the fund, versus pushing for a particular dollar amount.
ASHA President David Schless and Argentum CEO James Balda still believe that senior living providers could gain access to the CARES Act fund, they told Senior Housing News in a joint interview Friday.
“I have not lost hope that there will be funding in that grant program that our members will be able to take advantage of,” Schless told SHN.
The senior living industry is facing a potential financial hit in the range of $40 billion to $57 billion due to Covid-19, a recent analysis found.
The CARES Act also established a $350 billion forgivable loan program through the Small Business Administration (SBA), which is an option for smaller providers.
A fourth federal stimulus package is under discussion, which could provide another vehicle for the senior living industry to receive financial assistance.
Also in the news:
— In the first quarter of 2020, senior housing and care merger and acquisition activity fell to its lowest level in two years.
That’s according to the latest data from Irving Levin Associates, which showed 93 deals occurred in Q1 2020. This is the lowest level since Q1 2018 and well behind the pace of 2019, when 450 transactions were publicly announced and more than 600 were likely completed, Ben Swett wrote Friday on the Senior Care Investor.
In terms of deal breakdown, senior housing accounted for 62% of transactions closed in the first quarter of this year, compared with 38% for skilled nursing.
Considering that M&A activity was ongoing until Covid-19 reared its head in mid-March, the pandemic cannot account for all of the decline in deal volume, Swett noted.
On Thursday, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) released data showing the rolling four-quarter cap rate for senior housing deals was at 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2019, while the rolling four-quarter price-per-unit was $209,595.
Needless to say, Covid-19 has disrupted not only the volume of deals being completed but valuations, with senior housing among the property types to take a hit, perhaps as much as 30%, according to a Green Street Advisors analysis released last week.
— Industry associations are urging assisted living and skilled nursing providers to report all cases of Covid-19 to local health departments and other authorities, to support efforts to distribute personal protective equipment — which is in critically short supply.
“As reported cases of COVID-19 continue to increase, good data is more important than ever before in this pandemic,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge. “We underscore our earlier recommendation to our nursing home members that reporting COVID-19 positive cases to their local health departments is paramount. With supplies of personal protective equipment and testing resources in extremely short supply nationwide, case numbers are a critical piece of information to help determine supply prioritization. We fully expect that consistent reporting of cases will lead to adequate and timely access to PPE and testing.”
The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) is calling on long-term care providers to report Covid-19 cases to their state survey agency, as well as health departments, and all residents, families and staff.
“Today, AHCA/NCAL updated guidance to long term care providers about the need to notify their state survey agency about COVID positive residents and staff,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson stated in a Saturday press release. “We encourage this information be shared with CMS, CDC and FEMA. We believe this information can help identify long term care providers who are most in need of testing and PPE resources.”
— The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a $2.3% increase to the skilled nursing facility Medicare rate for 2021. The agency floated a 2.6% hike for hospice providers.
— More than 2,000 nursing home residents in the New York region have died of Covid-19, The New York Times reported.
— Aegis Living and the Clark Family Foundation have launched an initiative called Seattle Seniors Strong, in an effort to provide services and supports for the city’s population of homeless and homebound seniors as they face Covid-19 challenges.
Through May 31, Aegis and the Clark Family Foundation will be matching all donations by businesses and individuals, up to $50,000, to two organizations: Sounds Generations and Pike Market Senior Center.
— Architects with Bremerton, Washington-based firm Rice Fergus Miller suggest how Covid-19 could change senior living communities in the article “Designing for a Pandemic.” The authors contemplate ways to facilitate resident isolation when needed and create buildings that are more robust from an infection control standpoint.
— ATI Advisory, a research and consulting firm focused on health care and aging, has released a Covid-19 framework for post-acute care. The framework suggests a “four-stage, regionally oriented approach to achieving optimal, system-wide resource allocation across a region’s post-acute service settings and providers over time.” The Covid-19 crisis is changing the role that post-acute and senior care providers play within the health care system, as they are being called upon to take patients who otherwise might go to acute-care hospitals, and are under more pressure than ever to prevent residents from going to the emergency room or other settings where they could contract the novel coronavirus.
— Pen pal programs have sprouted up around the globe to connect residents of senior living communities with kids and teenagers, who are out of school due to Covid-19, The New York Times reported.
“It makes a connection between a younger person and an older person,” a 79-year-old Bickford Senior Living resident told the Times. “It’s interesting for me to hear what these young people are doing.”
Click here to see Covid-19 News Bulletins from previous weeks.
The effort to ensure that senior living providers receive a share of the $100 billion CARES Act fund for health care providers has escalated, with Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) laying out the case in an April 13 letter to Vice President Mike Pence.
Initially, Argentum and ASHA sought $20 billion to be reserved for senior living providers from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF). In the letter to Pence, they requested “significant funds” from the PHSSEF for the industry.
The letter cited findings from a third-party analysis, which determined that Covid-19 could cost senior living providers between $40 billion and $57 billion.
So far, $30 billion have been distributed from the PHSSEF, going primarily to hospitals and other providers that receive significant Medicare revenue. The next tranche to be distributed will go largely to Medicaid providers, federal officials have indicated.
ASHA President David Schless and Argentum President and CEO James Balda still hope that some PHSSEF money will be coming to senior living providers, they said In a joint interview with Senior Housing News last week.
Also in the news:
— Out of nearly 2,500 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities surveyed by health care improvement company Premier, 70% said they are not fully prepared to treat an increasing number of Covid-19 patients.
“In this next phase of the outbreak, states and health care providers are contemplating how they can best provide care for patients who need medical attention but are not critical care status,” John P. Sganga, SVP of Alternate Site Programs at Premier, said in a press release issued Tuesday. “Senior nursing and assisted living facilities can provide quality care for these patients, but this shift will increase their resource and supply needs, from PPE and tests to staffing.”
About 24% of facilities reported no N95 masks on hand, and most said their supply of surgical masks, isolation gowns and face shields will not last two weeks.
In addition, 48% of respondents said that staff attendance has become a challenge.
— OnShift is waiving fees associated with its OnShift Wallet solution, which allows senior living workers to access their wages prior to payday. OnShift Wallet is powered by PayActiv.
“We are incredibly grateful to our clients who are serving our nation’s most vulnerable and fragile population, the elderly,,” said Mark Woodka, CEO of OnShift, in Tuesday press release. “Building on our three-year partnership with PayActiv, we are able to provide additional support to these deserving people by offering greater access to their financial resources.”
So far this year, OnShift Wallet users have accessed more than $12 million in earned wages prior to payday.
— Brookdale Senior Living CEO Cindy Baier contributed the equivalent of more than two months’ salary to the company’s Associate Compassion Fund (ACF). All members of the executive team and some board members also have made donations from their compensation and/or paid time off, the Brentwood, Tennessee-based provider stated in a press release.
Baier earned a base salary of about $782,000 in 2018, according to the most recently available definitive proxy statement for the company. She became CEO in February of that year.
The provider has also expanded the criteria for receiving grants through the ACF.
Bulletin for Monday, April 13, 2020:
Senior living industry associations are urging the Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase providers’ access to the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The PPP was established through the CARES Act federal stimulus package, and offers forgivable loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. However, affiliation rules limit the ability of senior living providers to access these funds. Although a particular senior living community may employ fewer than 500 workers, that community may be affiliated with a larger operating company that exceeds the workforce eligibility threshold.
The CARES Act waived the affiliation rules for certain types of accommodation and food service businesses that are classified under NAICS codes beginning with 72. Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) are urging SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza to make similar exceptions for senior living.
“For example, the description for NAICS code 623312, ‘Assisted Living Facilities
for the Elderly,’ is functionally equivalent to the description for NAICS code 721310, ‘Rooming and Boarding Houses, Dormitories, and Workers’ Camps,’” the associations wrote in an April 7 letter to Carranza. “The main difference between these two NAICS codes is that code 623312 is limited to residential services for the elderly.”
On April 12, the American Bankers Association reported that $205 billion of the $350 billion PPP already had been claimed. The Treasury Department has requested $250 billion more for the program, but Congress has not yet passed that additional funding.
Also in the news:
— Congressional lawmakers sparred over several issues of importance to senior living, including the production and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), the availability of funds through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and premium pay for workers deemed “essential” during the pandemic.
Late last week, the Treasury Department sought an additional $205 billion in funding for the PPP, but Democrats blocked that effort, wanting to include other provisions in the relevant bill. On Monday, Democratic leaders provided more details about what they are seeking, including more funding for PPE and Covid-19 testing.
“We Democrats demand adequate funding for the production and distribution of national rapid testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – it cannot wait,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a joint statement.
Also on Monday, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California released an “Essential Workers Bill of Rights,” which includes provisions that they would like to see included in the next Covid-19 financial stimulus and aid package. These provisions for workers deemed “essential” during Covid-19 include universal paid sick leave, access to child care and “premium pay.”
The premium pay should “provide meaningful compensation for essential work, be higher for the lowest-wage workers, and not count towards workers’ eligibility for any means-tested programs. It must be retroactive to the start date of the pandemic, and not used to lower the regular rate of pay for any employee,” the Bill of Rights states.
The Bill of Rights also calls for treating essential workers as “experts” and including them in developing plans for distribution of PPE.
Many senior living providers are already offering child care benefits and boosts to workers’ pay rates.
— The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended deadlines relevant to real estate developers and investors. For taxpayers facing a deadline between April 1 and July 14 of this year to invest capital gains in an opportunity zone fund, the deadline now has been moved to July 15. And like-kind exchange deadlines that would normally fall between April 1 and July 14 also have been extended to July 15.
— Covid-19 outbreaks in assisted living communities could lead to more regulatory scrutiny and oversight in the future, according to a special report on seniors housing from Marcus & Millichap.
“The outbreak has illustrated how many communities are not positioned to provide additional levels of medical care, which could place the sector under scrutiny as oversight has historically been relaxed,” the report states.
Bulletin for Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12
The CARES Act federal stimulus package included a $100 billion fund for health care providers, and that money is now being disbursed — still with no guarantee that senior living providers will be among the recipients.
On Friday, payments began to be distributed to hospitals and other Medicare and Medicaid fee-for-service providers. They will receive the first tranche of payments, which will total $30 billion. The second tranche will be released within the next 10 days and will go largely to providers serving Medicaid beneficiaries.
Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) have been urging the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate $20 billion of the fund for senior living providers. ASHA continues to call on members to contact their Congressional representatives, and is now urging more focus on getting access to the fund, versus pushing for a particular dollar amount.
ASHA President David Schless and Argentum CEO James Balda still believe that senior living providers could gain access to the CARES Act fund, they told Senior Housing News in a joint interview Friday.
“I have not lost hope that there will be funding in that grant program that our members will be able to take advantage of,” Schless told SHN.
The senior living industry is facing a potential financial hit in the range of $40 billion to $57 billion due to Covid-19, a recent analysis found.
The CARES Act also established a $350 billion forgivable loan program through the Small Business Administration (SBA), which is an option for smaller providers.
A fourth federal stimulus package is under discussion, which could provide another vehicle for the senior living industry to receive financial assistance.
Also in the news:
— In the first quarter of 2020, senior housing and care merger and acquisition activity fell to its lowest level in two years.
That’s according to the latest data from Irving Levin Associates, which showed 93 deals occurred in Q1 2020. This is the lowest level since Q1 2018 and well behind the pace of 2019, when 450 transactions were publicly announced and more than 600 were likely completed, Ben Swett wrote Friday on the Senior Care Investor.
In terms of deal breakdown, senior housing accounted for 62% of transactions closed in the first quarter of this year, compared with 38% for skilled nursing.
Considering that M&A activity was ongoing until Covid-19 reared its head in mid-March, the pandemic cannot account for all of the decline in deal volume, Swett noted.
On Thursday, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) released data showing the rolling four-quarter cap rate for senior housing deals was at 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2019, while the rolling four-quarter price-per-unit was $209,595.
Needless to say, Covid-19 has disrupted not only the volume of deals being completed but valuations, with senior housing among the property types to take a hit, perhaps as much as 30%, according to a Green Street Advisors analysis released last week.
— Industry associations are urging assisted living and skilled nursing providers to report all cases of Covid-19 to local health departments and other authorities, to support efforts to distribute personal protective equipment — which is in critically short supply.
“As reported cases of COVID-19 continue to increase, good data is more important than ever before in this pandemic,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge. “We underscore our earlier recommendation to our nursing home members that reporting COVID-19 positive cases to their local health departments is paramount. With supplies of personal protective equipment and testing resources in extremely short supply nationwide, case numbers are a critical piece of information to help determine supply prioritization. We fully expect that consistent reporting of cases will lead to adequate and timely access to PPE and testing.”
The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) is calling on long-term care providers to report Covid-19 cases to their state survey agency, as well as health departments, and all residents, families and staff.
“Today, AHCA/NCAL updated guidance to long term care providers about the need to notify their state survey agency about COVID positive residents and staff,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson stated in a Saturday press release. “We encourage this information be shared with CMS, CDC and FEMA. We believe this information can help identify long term care providers who are most in need of testing and PPE resources.”
— The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a $2.3% increase to the skilled nursing facility Medicare rate for 2021. The agency floated a 2.6% hike for hospice providers.
— More than 2,000 nursing home residents in the New York region have died of Covid-19, The New York Times reported.
— Aegis Living and the Clark Family Foundation have launched an initiative called Seattle Seniors Strong, in an effort to provide services and supports for the city’s population of homeless and homebound seniors as they face Covid-19 challenges.
Through May 31, Aegis and the Clark Family Foundation will be matching all donations by businesses and individuals, up to $50,000, to two organizations: Sounds Generations and Pike Market Senior Center.
— Architects with Bremerton, Washington-based firm Rice Fergus Miller suggest how Covid-19 could change senior living communities in the article “Designing for a Pandemic.” The authors contemplate ways to facilitate resident isolation when needed and create buildings that are more robust from an infection control standpoint.
— ATI Advisory, a research and consulting firm focused on health care and aging, has released a Covid-19 framework for post-acute care. The framework suggests a “four-stage, regionally oriented approach to achieving optimal, system-wide resource allocation across a region’s post-acute service settings and providers over time.” The Covid-19 crisis is changing the role that post-acute and senior care providers play within the health care system, as they are being called upon to take patients who otherwise might go to acute-care hospitals, and are under more pressure than ever to prevent residents from going to the emergency room or other settings where they could contract the novel coronavirus.
— Pen pal programs have sprouted up around the globe to connect residents of senior living communities with kids and teenagers, who are out of school due to Covid-19, The New York Times reported.
“It makes a connection between a younger person and an older person,” a 79-year-old Bickford Senior Living resident told the Times. “It’s interesting for me to hear what these young people are doing.”
Click here to see Covid-19 News Bulletins from previous weeks.
The post Covid-19 Bulletin: Pandemic Weighs More On Senior Living Occupancy; National Church Residences, Ohio Living Partner on Rapid Testing Program appeared first on Senior Housing News.
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