Article Attribution: This is an excerpt from an article on Skill Nursing News
Original Author: Maggie Flynn – Posted March 20, 2018
A recent report puts some hard numbers to the pressures skilled nursing facilities face — and offered a prediction of its own about the much-anticipated “silver tsunami.”
Though occupancy has been declining in skilled nursing facilities, falling from 87% in 2015 to 82% in 2016, the report from accounting and consulting firm Plante Moran projected a growth in occupancy over the next five to 10 years. Plante Moran’s analysis specifically pointed to the year 2030, when the entire baby boom population will be aged 65 and older — a segment that will account for 20% of the U.S. population.
Facilities that can provide cost-efficient, high-quality care have the best outlook in the face of this demographic trend, the report said. It listed two key attributes for success: Cost-effective management of an episode of care, and labor models that let providers move nimbly in response to occupancy changes.
“In any given year, you’re going to have peaks in your census and you’re going to have a lot of valleys,” Betsy Rust, partner at Plante Moran and one of the report’s authors, told Skilled Nursing News. “Owners and operators have to be looking at ways to manage the volatility better, with different staffing solutions primarily.”
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