How CCRCs Could Get a Better Read on the Competition

Soon, senior living providers and consumers will be able to compare a state’s continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) across key financial and regulatory metrics in select U.S. states. 

Chicago-based specialty investment bank Ziegler and My LifeSite, an online provider of consumer-focused resources related to CCRCs, this week released the first report in a state-by-state series analyzing a state’s entry-fee CCRCs. The report is intended to serve as a benchmarking report for CCRCs, as well as to help consumers and organizations compare tax statuses, certifications, financial ratios, price ranges and more. 

The first report focuses on entry-fee CCRCs Maryland. The report revealed that 62% of the state’s 34 entry-fee CCRCs are single-site providers, and 85% are not-for-profit. Entry fees for all contract types combined ranged from an average high of $519,228 to an average low of $158,043.

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Monthly fee ranges for all contract types, meanwhile, ranged from an average low of $2,070 to an average high of $4,207, the report found.

The report also revealed that the median size of Maryland entry-fee CCRCs is 342 market-rate units/beds, and that 7 out of 10 entry-fee CCRCs in the state are both Medicaid- and Medicare-certified.

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The goal of the state-by-state project is to present data on as many states as possible, and also to compare states over time, Amy Castleberry, a senior vice president at Ziegler, told Senior Housing News.

“The goal would be to do these reports annually,” she explained.

The report on the next state—exactly which state has not yet been decided—will likely be done and ready to go in the next month or two, Brad Breeding, president of My LifeSite, told SHN.

Breeding does not anticipate these reports to be created for all 50 states, as the reports currently rely on the availability of publicly accessible information.

“I wish we could,” he said of completing 50 separate reports. “The data is just much more sparse in some states than others.”

My LifeSite and Ziegler plan to focus their attention on the states with the most comprehensive and up-to-date data, Breeding explained. Providers in states where this information is not publicly available may be inspired to provide it to Ziegler and My LifeSite themselves, Breeding said.

“We really would like it for the communities themselves to provide this data,” he said.

The states on the short list for reports in the near-term include Indiana, California, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, Illinois and Florida, Breeding said.

When more reports are completed, My LifeSite and Ziegler will ultimately be in the position to track year-over-year trends and prepare compilation reports covering multiple states, Breeding added.

Originally, My LifeSite approached Ziegler with they idea to put together reports on different states. The groups began with Maryland, in part, for convenience.

“Maryland is a state that has lots of information available publicly,” Castleberry noted.

This first report reveals how Maryland CCRCs, in aggregate, stack up against national trends, Castleberry said.

“Most of their financial ratios are what you’d see nationwide,” Castleberry said of Maryland’s CCRCs, adding that the state also has a similar proportion of single-site to multi-site CCRCs, when compared to national statistics. On the other hand, Maryland CCRCs had fewer contract types offered when compared to CCRCs nationally.

Providers in Maryland, and across the country, can look at this first report and see how they compare with the competition, Castleberry said.

“It’s always helpful for senior living organizations to get this kind of information,” she added.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson

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