Senior Living News Wire

In this week’s video, I talk about my trip to the White House for an event on elder abuse and financial exploitation. 

Research showing that mobile medical devices could save the health system $197 billion over the next 25 years has captured the attention of both device developers and government officials. And that interest is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, despite barriers to the adoption of mobile health (mHealth).

A high-end continuing care retirement community in Florida has defaulted on its $158.2 million mortgage loan, and the state Department of Financial Services’s Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation is in the process of being appointed as receiver for purposes of rehabilitation, according to court documents.

Devonshire at PGA National, LLC, the community’s owner, is a Delaware limited liability company formed in November 2006 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Devonshire PGA Holdings, LLC, which in turn was a wholly-owned subsidiary of SHP Senior Living Investments, LLC. Craig Andersen is listed as the managing member at Devonshire at PGA National, LLC and founder of SHP Senior Living Investments.

The company was formed to buy The Devonshire at PGA National, a CCRC located in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in a $165 million acquisition that closed on May 1, 2007. The community consists of 327 independent living units, 70 skilled nursing beds, 21 assisted living units, and 19 dementia care units. 

At the time of the acquisition, the community was close to 97% occupied, according to The SeniorCare Investor, and much of its annual cash flow was derived from entrance fees that ranged between $222,000 and $687,000. 

GE Business Financial Services ended up with the community’s term loan after acquiring most of the assets of the former Merrill Lynch Healthcare Finance, which had provided $181.2 million in financing for the acquisition. 

The loan balance for the Devonshire at PGA National, LLC became due and payable on April 30, 2012, according to court documents, which say financial statements submitted by the community’s owner “reflect that Respondent did not have the funds to pay off the loan at that time.” 

Since its 2007 acquisition, the community’s occupancy has dropped to about 77%, state filings show.

On May 7, GE Business Financial Services served a notice of default to Devonshire demanding immediate payment of the entire principal balance, along with interest and all leases and rents due to the community.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said it had “determined that [the Devonshire] is insolvent or about to become insolvent,” the document reads.

Under certain Florida statutes, insolvency renders further transaction of business as a CCRC to be “hazardous to its residents, policyholders, creditors, stockholders, or the public” and is grounds for being placed in a receivership. 

On May 14, the Florida Department of Financial Services requested the Second Judicial Circuit to order the Devonshire to show cause as to why it shouldn’t be in state-receivership. It also petitioned to launch an investigation into the CCRC’s financial affairs, requiring full compliance and cooperation. 

Subsequently, Devonshire was ordered on May 31 to appear before a circuit judge on July 9, 2012, “to show good cause if any there may be, as to why the Department should not be appointed Receiver of Respondent for purposes of rehabilitation” in accordance with certain state statutes.

More information can be read at the Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation.

Written by Alyssa Gerace

In the healthcare world, skilled nursing facilities are often a stop for elderly patients transitioning home from the hospital, but an emerging “hospital at home” model could eliminate that stop by keeping some chronically ill patients at home the whole time.

Kaiser Health News reports: 

“Hospital at home” programs fundamentally refashion care for chronically ill patients who have acute medical problems — testing traditional notions of how services should be delivered when people become seriously ill. Only a handful of such initiatives exist, including the Albuquerque program, run by Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and programs in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Boise, Idaho, and New Orleans offered through the Veterans Health Administration.

But the concept – which has been adopted in Australia, England, Israel and Canada — is getting attention here with increased pressure from the national health overhaul to improve the quality of medical care and lower costs. Hospital at home programs do both, according to research led by Dr. Bruce Leff, the director of geriatric health services research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who pioneered the concept.

In a study of three experimental hospital at home programs published in 2005 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Leff demonstrated that patient outcomes were similar or better, satisfaction was higher and costs were 32 percent less than for traditional hospitalizations.

“It’s a very successful model and in five years, I think it’s going to be very common.  But we’re still in the early adoption phase,” said Mark McClelland, an assistant professor at the Center for Health Care Quality at George Washington University.

Despite McClelland’s expectations, this isn’t a model that health care providers are seeing a lot of—so far, at least, says Greg Crist, vice president of public affairs at the American Health Care Association. 

“We’d be hard pressed to see much of a market there because of the complexity of the patients,” Crist says, although he acknowledged there is demand for such a model.

Hospital-at-home models can’t offer the efficiency a skilled nursing center can in terms of having multiple staff available to help residents at various points of need, he says. Additionally, a patient receiving these services at home may eventually need certain medical equipment that’s immediately available at a facility, but would take time to obtain in a home setting. 

“Around-the-clock care is very expensive, and even though there are Americans who can afford that, we don’t see that being replicated on a massive scale,” he says.

Read the full Kaiser Health News article. 

Written by Alyssa Gerace

For baby boomers, the financial forecast is only looking more gloomy as the “sandwich generation” says goodbye to inheritance and hello to mounting costs of care for aging parents, which could include pricy entrance fees to continuing care retirement communities. 

For those thinking their financial situations will improve once their parents sell their homes and bequeath the proceeds, writes the Wall Street Journal this week, they might want to think again. 

The WSJ writes: 

Baby boomers: Get ready for a double whammy.

For years now, there’s been a lot of talk about boomers getting tremendous windfalls as their parents pass on. Many boomers, in fact, have been lagging behind in their savings, betting on—hoping for—big bequests, especially since many of them suffered big losses in 2008.

But for a growing number of boomers, things aren’t going according to plan. The postwar generation is living longer—and many are spending their savings along the way. And, of course, many of them also took a hit in 2008.

The result is that, as a group, boomers likely won’t be getting as much of an inheritance as they hoped. Even worse, far from receiving a bequest, a growing number are tapping some of their own savings to help their cash-strapped parents make ends meet.

For families, the result is often a lot of scrambling, dashed dreams, and conflict and angst as parents and children try to come to grips with the lean new reality—and divide up a smaller pie….

Read the original article. 

Written by Elizabeth Ecker

Senior Housing News is proud to announce its first Senior Housing Summit, which will be held this July in Chicago, Ill. 

Attending the event will give you insight into the future of senior housing finance and the state of Continuing Care Retirement Communities from the nation’s most prominent executives. You’ll also get a chance to network with other senior living professionals and executives. 

Due to limited space, all attendees must request an invite to this free event. Participants will be notified if they have been accepted.

Featured Session
CCRCs: The Future of the Senior Living Business?

Meet the leaders of Chicago’s CCRC market and learn why they’re making big bets on the future of CCRCs. Executives from three high-profile CCRC projects will participate in the discussion.

David Reis, CEO, Senior Care Development
Glenn Brichacek, CEO, the Admiral at the Lake
Randy Richardson, CEO, Vi Retirement

Learn more about the other session and request an invite to our free event here.

Date: Thursday, July 26, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Where: Foley & Lardner LLP, 321 N. Clark St. #2800, Chicago, Ill.

Brought to you by:

Construction: Planned

Developer Planning $76.6 Million Senior Housing Complex in Florida

Project Holding 1 LLC, owned by Rajia Ackley, CEO of Coldwell Banker Ackley Realty, is planning an estimated $76.6 million, 22-acre senior housing complex in Kissimmee, Fla., reports the local Business Journal. 

The plan includes a five-story, 655,580-square-foot senior housing project, called Shingle Creek Adult Congregate Living Facility. It would feature around 310 independent living units and 140 assisted living beds, including memory care.  

Housing Investment Trust Invests $8.8 Million to Rehab Affordable Senior Housing Development in Chicago

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) will provide $8.8 million to fund the substantial rehabilitation of an affordable senior housing developments in Chicago, Ill.

Bronzeville Senior Apartments, located in Chicago’s South Lakefront area, is an 11-story high-rise project-based Section 8 building. The HIT will provide $8.7 million in financing through the purchase of tax-exempt bonds and notes issued by the City of Chicago.

Rehabilitation will include interior and exterior repairs and upgrades, along with a number of improvements to reduce the building’s environmental impact though better insulation, storm water management, energy-saving appliances, and more efficient energy systems. 

Presbyterian Homes & Services to Build $13 Million Nursing Home in Minnesota

Presbyterian Homes & Services plans to raze and rebuild a 97-bed nursing home in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, reports the Minneapolis Business Journal. 

The $13 million project is replacing the Maranatha Care Center, which will retain its name. The new three-story facility will be updated with single rooms instead of doubles. The project is currently in the process of getting city approval. 

Easton Home Adding New Low-Income Apartments for Pennsylvania Seniors

Presbyterian Senior Living-managed Easton Home, a senior living complex in Easton, Pa., is planning to develop about 100 new low-income apartments primarily for independent living seniors, reports The Express-Times. 

It will be a multimillion-dollar project built in two phases, but total costs are still uncertain, the article says, and the plans still have to be approved by the Easton Planning Commission. 

Easton Home uses Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency tax credits for its apartments to keep them affordable for low-income residents, and will need them for the new project, according to Presbyterian Senior Living’s president, Steve Proctor. 

Congress Companies to Renovate, Add Onto Mass. Assisted Living Community

The Congress Companies, a construction and development company based in the East Coast, recently obtained a construction loan from East Boston Savings Bank for Phase 1 of a renovation and addition project for Golden Pond Resident Care Corp. 

Congress is partnering with owners Larry and Kerry Kunst for the Golden Ponds project, an assisted living community located in Hopkinton, Mass. 

Construction plans include an additional 41,000 square feet and 47 new assisted living beds, along with renovating the main mechanical and electrical plants servicing the existing 135-bed assisted living facility to meet current requirements and prepare for future expansions. 

Construction: In the Process

Elmcroft to Manage Kentucky Senior Living Center After Construction is Complete

Elmcroft Senior Living is partnering with Ethos of Valley Farms LLC to manage a 65-unit assisted living and memory care center currently under construction in Louisville, Ky.

The agreement includes a provision for Elmcroft to purchase the center in 2015. Ethos has previously constructed and sold two other centers to Elmcroft, both located in Kentucky.

Ethos of Valley Farms in Louisville is expected to open on August 1.

Construction: Completed

Integral Senior Living Opens Senior Living Community in California

Integral Senior Living, a senior community manager, recently announced the grand opening of Lantern Crest Senior Living, an independent living, assisted living, and memory care community located in Santee, Ca. 

The first phase of the new community features 80 assisted living and memory care residences in a resort-style environment. Once all phases have been completed, Lantern Crest will have 400 units, including independent living apartments. 

The one- and two-bedroom apartments all have private bathrooms and individual climate control. The community will offer its residents the ability to participate in community outings, musical programs, games, cards, gardening, painting, and sewing, and will provide scheduled transportation.

Affordable Senior Housing Facility Reopens in California After $84 Million Upgrade

The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC) is celebrating the reopening of Cypress Gardens, an affordable senior housing facility in San Jose, Ca. to showcase the agency’s successful upgrading and revitalizing program accomplished through public-private partnerships. 

Cypress Gardens is one of HACSC’s oldest affordable public housing facilities for seniors, and after years of neglect and deferred maintenance due to limited federal funding, it was badly in need of rehabilitation. 

To make those necessary repairs and upgrades, HACSC leveraged more than $90 million in private funds from Low Income Housing Tax Credits, tax exempt bonds, and commercial loans. Construction costs for the project totaled $84 million.

“Cypress Gardens proves that public-private partnerships are a win-win formula for serving the affordable housing needs of our seniors, disabled, and homeless residents of Santa Clara County,” said Alex Sanchez, executive director of HACSC, in a statement. “This is the kind of teamwork that can be achieved throughout the nation.”

The housing complex has 125 units with capacity for approximately 150 residents, mostly seniors along with some disabled citizens. The rehabilitation project began in November 2010 and included repairing major interior, exterior, and common use areas. Improvements include: New outdoor siding, new windows, new paint, a new walkway, improved landscaping, new appliances, new floor coverings and fixtures, new common area kitchen appliances, a new multimedia center with a new computer, expanded laundry equipment, new air conditioning, and a new fire alarm system. Segue Construction, Inc., served as the general contractor. 

A county-run nursing home in New York was recently sold to a New York City corporation for $4.05 million in a transaction brokered by real estate investment services firm Marcus & Millichap. 

Essex County lawmakers voted 12-6 to sell the 100-bed Horace Nye Nursing Home to the Centers for Speciality Care of the Bronx, one of three bidders interested in the facility.

The nursing home loses more than $2 million a year, according to a Press Republican article. 

“Governments should not be in the nursing-home business,” Roby Politi (R-North Elba) from the County Board of Supervisors is quoted as saying. “A more beneficial alternative exists: the savings of millions of dollars each year, as well as the infusion of $4 million to our budget, as well as putting the facility back on our tax rolls.”

Terms of the transaction include an approximately year-long transfer of ownership, and Speciality Care must agree to hire all current employees along with allowing current residents to remain in the facility if they wish to do so. 

The sale includes the building, lawn, and parking lot located on 3.2 acres of land.

Written by Alyssa Gerace

Lawmakers pushed U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder to work more expediently with the Drug Enforcement Agency to resolve delays in the dispensing of painkillers in nursing homes.

As providers struggle to operate on increasingly thin margins, close collaboration between nursing home administrators and consultant pharmacists is becoming more important, industry experts said Tuesday.

Medicaid spending increased 20% in fiscal 2012, representing the single largest portion of total state spending. This, combined with federally mandated Medicaid eligibility expansions, puts state budgets in a tight spot, a new national study reveals.