Assisted Living by the Numbers
May 7th, 2016

An Assisted Living owner’s “Come to Jesus” Dialogue with Self.

 

How many residents leave your AL every year?

  • 54% leave for all causes.  And it’s getting worse.  Length of stay is down to 22 months.

What is the most common reason residents leave your AL?

  • 92% are forced to leave each year because of declining health.

That means you must replace about ½ of your residents each year just due to declining health?

  • Yes.

What does it cost you to replace a resident?

You own a 100 bed AL with occupancy at the national average (88.4%).  How much do you estimate it costs you to replace the residents who leave each year due to declining health?

  • $176,800.00/year!

If you do nothing different this year, how much will it cost you next year to replace the residents who leave due to declining health?

  • $176,800.00.

There are about 36,000 ALs in the U.S., but let’s just consider the 10 largest AL corporations.  How much does it cost them every year to replace the residents who leave due to failing health?

  • Here’s the corporate breakdown showing the estimated cost to replace the residents who leave due to declining health:

Corporate Losses - Health

That’s seems like an exorbitant amount of money that’s invested to just ‘keep up’ with occupancy with no growth.  So let me ask you – if 92% of your residents leave due to failing health, and only about 5% of your residents leave due to hospitality issues, where is the greater opportunity for reducing these staggering financial losses?

  • Resident healthcare presents the far greater opportunity to reduce financial losses, but we must also continue our focus on hospitality.

What’s your next step?

  • I’m going to review healthcare strategies with my Corporate Medical Officer.

I thought you didn’t have a Corporate Medical officer.  Most ALs don’t see the need.

  • I don’t have one either.  But you can bet I’m going to hire one ASAP!  The world of assisted living and healthcare has changed, and our C-suite can no longer be without one.

E-mail me with comments:  

st**********@il*******************.com











Steven Fuller

Dr. Steven Fuller

Dr. Steven Fuller is a triple board certified physician/entrepreneur who develops programs in support of an Integrated Care model of senior housing.  This model includes 3 equal, interactive, and mutually supportive team members: real estate, hospitality, and healthcare.






<< Back to Blog Home