National HealthCare Corporation (NYSE-Amex: NHC; NHC.PRA) announced that it has recently opened NHC Bluffton, a 120-bed skilled care and dementia center in Bluffton, South Carolina. The $22.6 million project is located in one of the fastest growing senior population areas of the country and is near the DelWebb development of Sun City, Hilton Head.

[Read more →]

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our Free Email Subscription To Senior Housing News or use our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

GE Healthcare recently announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement for its Home Health technology, GE QuietCare(R), with Direct Supply Inc., a provider of eldercare equipment, eCommerce and service solutions to senior living facilities. Direct Supply will distribute and co-market GE QuietCare across the United States.

Direct Supply has extensive and long-standing relationships with skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living facilities throughout the United States. Through Direct Supply’s established country-wide sales and service infrastructure, GE Healthcare will be able to increase its geographical reach and bring GE QuietCare to a greater number of assisted living facilities.

[Read more →]

Check out this week’s movers and shakers…send  us your staff announcements as they come about for consideration for our weekly post.  movers-shakers@seniorhousingnews.com

[Read more →]

Robson Communities, Inc. recently announced that all new homes will be constructed under Masco Homes Services Inc.’s Environments For Living (EFL) program, which prescribes state-of-the-art requirements for energy efficiency and advanced construction techniques. Robson is a large, privately owned active adult community developer in Arizona and each of its seven unique active adult resort-style communities in Arizona and Texas has begun building their new homes according to EFL standards.  The program establishes requirements for tight construction, enhanced thermal systems, fresh air ventilation, balanced air pressure, internal moisture management and combustion safety. A plan review is conducted for each new model to help builders determine the steps required to meet the program requirements.

At all program levels for builders participating in the EFL program, Masco Home Services offers their homeowners limited guarantees* on comfort and heating and cooling energy use. If the actual energy used to heat and cool the home exceeds the estimated usage amount on the guarantee, the homeowner will be refunded 100 percent of the cost difference.

“Quality construction has always been paramount in Robson Resort Communities and energy efficiency is a direct result of our ongoing focus on building excellence” said Chris Harrison, senior vice president of construction for Robson Resort Communities. “We are very excited about introducing the EFL programs into our communities and over 50 home models.”

A new report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College finds that 40 percent of individuals 45-59 expect to retire later than they had before the downturn, with most of the respondents intending to work an additional four or more years before retirement.  The survey entitled, Workers’ Response to the Market Crash: Save More, Work More, interviewed 1,317 individuals age 45-59 on how the stock market crash of 2008 has affected their retirement planning. These workers are heavily dependent on 401(k) plans, as opposed to traditional defined benefit pensions, as a source of retirement income. During the economic downturn, these plans lost about one-third of their value. Even before the crash, many older workers lacked the assets needed to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Other findings from the survey:

• Two-thirds of workers age 45 to 59 report less retirement savings than they had before the crash.
• More than a quarter reporting a level of distress in response to the downturn equal to or greater than that caused by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• About 40 percent expect to retire later than they had before the downturn, most of those who intend to work longer are delaying retirement by four or more years.
• Two- thirds of respondents reported no change in how much they save for retirement in 401(k)s, IRAs, or other accounts.
• Nearly 60 percent reported that they are spending less (which is equivalent to saving more if income is unchanged).

Workers’ Response to the Market Crash: Save More, Work More?

Capital Senior Living Corporation (“CSU”) (NYSE:CSU) announced that Midwest Portfolio Holdings II, LP (“Midwest II”), a joint venture in which it holds a 15% partnership interest, has entered into an agreement to sell three senior living communities to Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN). Upon closing the transaction, CSU will lease the communities from HCN. CSU currently manages the three communities in the joint venture under long-term management agreements.  The three communities, located in the state of Indiana, being leased have approximately 300 units and include 198 units of assisted living and 102 units of memory care, with resident capacity of nearly 350. At the end of 2009, financial occupancy at the combined communities was 90%.

“Similar to our first transaction with HCN, this transaction will also provide immediate benefits to our shareholders,” commented Lawrence A. Cohen, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “In addition to a significant increase to our top-line revenue, the lease will be immediately accretive to cash flow and earnings. While we have been earning management fees on these communities since 2006, we will now be able to consolidate
the results of operations and benefit fully from further improvement in occupancies and rental rates. These three communities are strategically located in the Midwest portion of the country, where nearly 50 percent of our operations are located. We are extremely pleased to enter into another transaction with Health Care REIT, Inc., a leading healthcare REIT that invests across the full spectrum of senior housing and health care real estate.”

For more information, visit http://www.capitalsenior.com/Documents/Release3.8.10.pdf

Willow Towers, a not-for-profit luxury Assisted Living Residence in New Rochelle, New York, and part of the United Hebrew of New Rochelle’s campus of senior services, announced the receipt of the new Assisted Living Residence (ALR) licensure, with dual certification for Enhanced Assisted Living Residence (EALR) and Special Needs Assisted Living Residence (SNALR) by the New York State Department of Health. The new accreditations were developed to strengthen the standards of caring for older adults in a senior residence. A licensed facility in New York provides clients with clear parameters for admission and retention and allows a family to advocate through clearly defined channels through the New York State Department of Health.  Willow Towers features a two-story glass atrium and dazzling views of the Long Island Sound. Opened in 2003, the not-for-profit community located in New Rochelle offers 126 apartments, from studios to 2 bedroom suites — 20 of which are in Willow Towers’ Phoenix Memory Support Neighborhood, now a licensed SNALR.

[Read more →]

Atria Senior Living Group announced renovation plans for Atria Sunnyvale, a local independent and assisted living community, that will create a Life Guidance® memory care neighborhood for residents living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Set to begin in March 2010, the multi-million dollar renovation will also include aesthetic upgrades to the community’s overall interior.  Atria’s Life Guidance communities are secure neighborhoods designed specifically for residents living with Alzheimer’s disease or other memory impairments that includes two secure courtyards with outdoor seating and walking paths.   The 27 apartment Life Guidance neighborhood upgrades will include new carpet and paint as well as new bathroom fixtures, cabinets and surfaces.  

“Our new Life Guidance neighborhood will provide older people, living with memory impairments, an opportunity to live in a home-like setting designed with dignity and safety in mind,” said Zeinab Donner, executive director of Atria Sunnyvale. “It will also help residents retain a level of independence they otherwise wouldn’t achieve anywhere else.  I think that’s what people are really struggling to retain as they age,” continued Donner.  “This expansion reflects what we are all about at Atria, and that is providing the highest quality of life possible in the most comfortable and pleasant surroundings.”

Why is it so difficult to attract capital in the senior housing industry?  Clearly it’s not the demographics, the demand or the oversupply of new product.  It’s the competition that the capital faces.  Many investors are waiting for the bigger, better deal with greater returns with other opportunities on the horizon.  When speaking with private equity and well-heeled investors lately, they are moderately interested not because they don’t feel there is opportunity; it is that the returns are not high enough compared to the potential opportunities in the distressed commercial markets. 

Where ever you look or read, the majority of people are under the impression that there are more price declines ahead for the commercial real estate market.  Just look at the February Congressional Oversight Report entitled, “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability”.  The report, while lengthy and somewhat academic, provides extensive detail on the risks associated with the current state of commercial real estate and is somewhat alarmist.  The report states:

“There is a commercial real estate crisis on the horizon, and there are no easy solutions to the risks commercial real estate may pose to the financial system and the public. An extended severe recession and continuing high levels of unemployment can drive up the LTVs, and add to the difficulties of refinancing for even solidly underwritten properties. But delaying write-downs in advance of a hoped-for recovery in mid- and longer-term property valuations also runs the risk of postponing recognition of the costs that must ultimately be absorbed by the financial system to eliminate the commercial real estate overhang.”

It’s not that investors aren’t interested in senior housing and senior living, the return on investment (ROI) just doesn’t look as attractive against the opportunities and possibilities from the distressed commercial real estate sector.

http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-021110-report.pdf

Patient Placement Systems (PPS) announced that Greystone Healthcare Management has rolled out the Web-based Referral Management System software to automate marketing and admissions for its 25 skilled nursing facilities in Florida, Indiana and Ohio.  Greystone’s personnel were trained and the system was rolled out to all of its facilities within three weeks of the project kick off.  The web-based system provides multi-location nursing home operators and managers with comprehensive data into the sales and admissions process.

[Read more →]

ACTS Retirement-Life Communities Inc., (ACTS) and the Peninsula United Methodist Homes, Inc. (PUMH) and Heron Point of Chestertown (Heron Point), recently announced the signing of agreements in which PUMH and Heron Point have agreed to become affiliates of ACTS effective May 1.  ACTS is the nation’s largest not-for-profit owner, operator and developer of CCRCs. Through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, ACTS has grown from a single location in Fort Washington, PA in 1972, to 23 locations in eight states when the PUMH and Heron Point affiliations are completed.

[Read more →]

Trying to minimize the costs of care for parents or loved ones?  You might be saving costs but your employer is not.  Employees in the U.S. who are caring for an older relative are more likely to report health problems like depression, diabetes, hypertension or heart disease, costing employers an estimated average additional health care cost of 8% per year, or $13.4 billion annually, according to the MetLife Study of Working Caregivers and Employer Health Care Costs. The report, produced by the MetLife Mature Market Institute® with the National Alliance for Caregiving in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Aging, also found that younger caregivers (ages 18 to 39) cost their employers 11% more for health care than non-caregivers, while male caregivers cost an additional 18%. The survey found that:

• Younger caregivers (18 to 39 years old) demonstrated significantly higher rates of cholesterol, hypertension, COPD, depression, kidney disease, and heart disease in comparison to non-caregivers of the same age.
• Employed caregivers find it more difficult than non-caregivers to take care of their own health or participate in preventive health screenings. For example, women caregivers were less likely to report annual mammograms than non-caregivers.
• Employees with eldercare responsibilities were more likely to report missed days of work. Overall, 10% of caregivers missed at least one day of work over the past two weeks because of health issues compared to 9% of non-caregivers. Differences were mostly driven by the much higher absenteeism among younger caregiving employees, age 18 to 39.
• It also found that eldercare may be closely associated with high-risk behaviors like smoking and alcohol consumption.

[Read more →]