Nursing Long-Term Care Facilities

As the long-term care industry grows and changes to meet the needs of an aging population, companies responsible for the care of elderly are shifting management strategies. This is partly in response to constant changes in state and federal regulations as well as increasing demands of consumers who expect more from caregivers.

Long-term care facilities have run into problems when well-intentioned organizations try to run the facilities, but lack the managerial abilities to do so. They have found out the painful way that long-term, skilled nursing care is a business that requires an excessive amount of attention to detail.

The growth in the elderly population -- the most rapid increase is expected between the years 2010 and 2030 when the baby boom generation matures -- has been accompanied by a proliferation of builders/developers and management companies who specialize in overseeing the daily operations of long-term care facilities.

"Management companies can increase value for providers," said James Foulke, president and CEO of GraceCare Inc. The company has been managing five nursing facilities in the Greater Philadelphia area for 10 years. GraceCare works with MDC Land Inc., a firm that specializes in the construction and development of new and substantially rehabilitated health care facilities.

Philip Miller, president of MDC Land Inc. and developer of the Bala Nursing & Retirement Center, said that asset management is the key to the successful operation of long-term care facilities. "We examine the issues from the broadest perspective, both for our own facilities as well as others," he said. "We put ourselves in the owner's role and look at the pieces. Our strength is in understanding how all these pieces fit together. It...