The “leading edge” of the baby boomer generation is at the industry’s doorstep, and senior living operators must evolve clinical capabilities and lifestyle engagement programming to meet their needs and wants.
NIC data shows the U.S. population aged 80 and over is expected to grow by over four million in the next five years, reaching 18.8 million by 2030. Many of those older adults will no doubt require memory care services if they live long enough. That age wave is fast-approaching and ready to crest.
“We’re now seeing that leading edge of the [boomer generation] hitting late-stage ages,” said Silverado CEO Designate Wayne Sanner during the recent SHN BRAIN and BUILD Conference in Dallas. “We’re just scratching the surface: it’s not coming, it’s here.”
Those demographic trends mean memory care and other operators are looking ahead to the prospect of full communities and growing waitlists. But they can’t just sit back and watch residents move into their communities, they must offer those residents something they need or want. Memory care operators risk leaving money on the table in the form of unmet demand if they can’t expand their services now to fit a greater number of residents into their communities.
Older adults entering senior living today often have more chronic health conditions. Rising acuity has forced operators to hone clinical models, blend real-time data and adjust care services between assessments to provide the best service possible.
Operators will face major obstacles related to those challenges as older adults deal with “a lot of higher level of acuity and clinical complexity,” Sanner said.
Irvine, California-based Silverado operates 27 memory care communities across 10 states.
This wave of demand has led operators to make occupancy gains. West Linn, Oregon-based Anthem Memory Care has reported five of the company’s top-10 months for occupancy gains in just the last six months, showing record demand is taking hold for operators able to seize the moment.
“When we see folks in their 50s and 60s moving into memory care, you recognize that this may be a bigger situation that we had planned,” Scott said during the SHN BRAIN and BUILD Conference.
The memory care sector’s current staffing model might not be equipped to handle an influx of demand ahead. Operators must focus on new staffing strategies, combined with new clinical and social models to reach more older adults.
Pricing power, value and access to memory care
While senior living operators have sought for years to raise the penetration rate of older adults choosing to move into senior living communities, which today stands at 9.3% on average, according to NIC data from 2023. Operators now rely on new marketing and educational outreach to help families grasp the concept of senior living and its benefits, from more in-depth and responsive clinical care to deep lifestyle engagement through unique programming.
Sanner said operators, Silverado included, must continue to present the value of their services and do the heavy lifting on educating the public to make the most of the current strong demand environment.
“It’s really all about a value proposition for us,” Sanner said. “We’re bullish on pricing because we want to continue to reinvest in programs and technology.”
But even as operators overhaul their models to meet new demand, they could be constrained in their ability to serve more older adults by a lack of new supply as development conditions remain at or near historic lows. This limited number of new communities opening could make the availability of memory care the “driving factor” in whether families choose to facilitate a loved one’s move into a community.
But this approach, filling existing communities “if we’ve got available room,” is “not the right long-term strategy,” Scott said. Instead it’s incumbent on operators to strengthen clinical care, care coordination and quality while finding ways technology can bring innovation into memory care operations.
“The interesting thing over the next four or five years is going to be value versus availability, and availability will become the driving factor,” Scott said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re just balancing it all correctly.”
Finding a ‘completely new’ memory care staffing model
Staffing has long been a challenge for the senior living industry, from recruiting new talent to retaining experienced workers. The industry has increased wages sharply in the last five years but operators still find holes in their hiring and retention strategies in rural or tertiary markets.
Clinical staffing remains one of the toughest areas for operators given the complexity of memory care and senior living and the availability of workers in certain markets.
Despite a “heavy focus” on staffing challenges, Scott said Anthem communities have leveled off in its retention rates of new employees even as wages, training and benefits have increased. This means operators must “look at staffing every year” to make incremental improvements. Emphasizing high-touch interactions, Anthem leadership called new hires on weekends to track progress and assess complaints in an effort to make workers more comfortable in their roles.
“We’re going to throw out everything we’ve done in the past and we have to approach it completely new,” Scott said.
That could mean bringing in third-party firms to assist operators in their hiring and retention efforts, Scott said.
Some operators have reported early wins in staffing, especially in recruiting new employees, after centralizing recruiting roles within a corporate home office for all communities. Silverado centralized its recruiting team, which has freed local communities to focus on daily operations rather than the next hire, Sanner said.
Retaining workers, especially in a complex environment like memory care, requires creating an “uplifting” workplace with emphasis on building connections between staff and residents. For example, some Silverado employees bring their children in to visit residents. This has, in some instances, helped communities retain staff and put organic interactions at the center of each community’s daily slate of activities.
“We allow associates to bring children to work, it can be done and it can be done successfully,” Sanner said.
Sanner noted that aging demographic trends in the U.S. are currently “outpacing the workforce” by “three to four times,” highlighting the need for operators to shore up staffing woes. In 2024, Silverado was the first U.S.-based memory care provider to receive the Alzheimer’s Disease International accreditation.
That complements the company’s Nexus program, which supports active, brain-healthy lifestyles for older adults experiencing the early stages of dementia or cognitive decline, combining research-based brain health programming with experiential living to bring comfort, dignity and purpose to all memory care residents.
Memory care residents at Silverado communities contribute over 30,000 hours of volunteering, combined with a hands-on 40-hour course in memory care and dementia training annually across all department roles. Registered nurses and graduate-level social workers are available around the clock to support staff as needs arise, Sanner said.
Technology ‘cannot replace human touch’
Operators have also overhauled clinical care levels to better capture revenue, place residents in the appropriate acuity setting and collect more data to inform care-plan changes between typical health assessments. Anthem moved from all-inclusive care rates with two distinct levels of care to a six-tier clinical care model.
This has helped Anthem clinical teams be more objective in care planning for residents. What initially started as an exercise in capturing more revenue led to improved health care service planning for residents. Infusing artificial intelligence (AI) tools into care platforms has allowed staff to ask more questions and get real-time feedback, Scott noted, improving on-the-fly care adjustments between assessments.
‘It changed our whole clinical approach and the amount of data we are able to get back is incredible and we can individualize the care in a much more meaningful way,” Scott said.
Operators have made tough decisions in getting their preferred tech partners in order to support clinical, dining and engagement efforts.
But technology and innovation must remain largely behind the scenes for staff, enabling personal connections between workers and residents. Silverado is piloting AI initiatives in its communities through a committee that examines the benefits of predictive analytics associated with falls, mood and behavior, Sanner said.
“It cannot replace human touch and engagement, no matter what,” Sanner said. “We want to enhance our human connection and we want to be able to anticipate things like mood, behaviors and falls.”
Balancing this analytical approach is important at the community level, Sanner said. For example, some communities have visits from animals like cats and dogs that create unique experiences, he added, rather than using robotic pets for programming.
While higher occupancy enables operators to push on rent growth and improve margins, Scott said operators must consider affordability concerns as many older adults worry about being able to afford senior living options. If not, operators will risk memory care being for “the 1%” of the population’s most affluent, with a need for private innovation in senior living and further middle-market growth.
Sanner added that he believes 2026 will be “filled with a great deal of optimism” despite pressures on costs and staffing.
“The sense of hope and relief that families feel when they find that solution; you can’t put a price on that,” Sanner said.
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