You Can Run, but…

Peter FeeneyNews

The senior living industry has been improving the delivery of care for almost two decades.    The network that providers have–which includes other providers, their agents, our risk management consultants (including the one and only Angie Szumlinski), and HealthCap litigation managers–is deep and strong.  Thanks to leadership from AHCA/NCAL and their state affiliates (and I will put in a plug for HealthCap), providers can solve nearly any problem they face with a call or a click. 

I have written about how despite getting better year after year that the senior living playing field is tilted against us by public perception (docs are awesome and nursing homes are bad), snarky press and preying mantises… I mean preying plaintiff attorneys.  The playing field leaves little margin for error and staffing challenges only compound matters.  At the end of the day, facilities that aren’t great can run from trouble, or pretend that trouble isn’t near, but they can’t hide.   

The real problem for ownership groups with multiple facilities is that one bad facility can tank your results, and not just from a liability standpoint.  From a liability standpoint, when a single facility goes bad, you have to fix it and fast.  If ten out of twelve facilities in a group are awesome, that might sound great to somebody who doesn’t know better, but it is not.   

We have years of data that show provider group results are crushed by just one or two bad facilities.   

From the owner’s perspective, those same facilities demand the most time and energy, are the toughest to staff, and suck the life out of management teams. In the meantime, how well is that same team managing the rest of their group?  One bad facility with persistent problems can detour resources, degrade management attention and create a game of whack-a-mole. 

These issues were painted over by a soft insurance market that lasted over a decade.  Accounts attracted quotes from multiple carriers, which drove liability insurance premiums lower and lower.  At the end of the day, one hundred of those carriers picked the wrong risks and didn’t charge enough to cover claims.  They were enticed by the large premium and the ten good facilities and overlooked the two bad facilities.  That was a loser’s game and it is over. 

If you have one or two bad facilities, you are paying way more for liability insurance. Click To Tweet

We have eighteen years of data that show that providers with a longer view have better results.  Providers who successfully pull their lower-performing facilities up to the level of the better facilities will outperform their peers.  It takes discipline, focus, effort, and a network to facilitate turning around the poor performers and ultimately improving the performance of the group.   

The broader HealthCap network, which is nationwide and involves every possible discipline relevant to senior living, is within easy reach.  A couple of phone calls max, or a few mouse clicks, and you are on the road to transforming your operation and your bottom line.  Talk to our risk consultants or go to our risk management website – nearly all of the materials are available to you even if you are not a HealthCap member.   

Our vision for the future is to help the industry provide better care if you are a HealthCap member or if you aren’t.