Seniors Housing Business is the magazine that helps you navigate the evolution of the seniors housing industry.
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www.seniorshousingbusiness.com 43 February/March 2017 n Seniors Housing Business Take the express to capital. The shortest distance to capital is straight talk. CapitalSource, a division of Pacifi c Western Bank, Member FDIC We know how to clear the way for an opportunity. Our industry expertise and effi cient loan process allow us to get deals done. And backed by our solid balance sheet and lending power, we deliver fl exible solutions for any size and type of skilled nursing or seniors housing facility. Whether you're expanding, diversifying, or responding to the reimbursement and regulatory environment, we can get things done. Give us a call to get on board. Don Kelly, Senior Director, Healthcare Finance (888) 674-1462, dkelly@capitalsource.com For more information, visit www.capitalsource.com /shb17. West Coast Investment Company Skilled Nursing Portfolio $31,000,000 Senior Term Loan Regal Senior Care Assisted Living Facility $14,000,000 Senior Term Loan Tryko Partners Skilled Nursing Facility $13,100,000 Senior Term Loan "service creep" or "leakage," this creates a gap in information and results in unbilled services that can quickly add up. "If you go across 50 or 60 com- munities, just imagine the number of services that don't get docu- mented," says Palmquist. "There are a lot of labor costs associated with services being given away." In addition to figuring out what's being given away for free, better logging of services per- formed can also notify manage- ment that a resident's acuity is increasing. Palmquist cited an example of one customer, an 18-location operator, that increased revenue $750,000 per year after track- ing and billing services more accurately. Getting the staff to go along with this change is easier said than done, how- ever. Bad hab- its are hard to break, and train- ing staff mem- bers on new software and procedures is a notoriously slow, painful process. For the Plante Moran Liv- ing Forward client losing money despite 100 percent occupancy, Wollschlager discovered that rather than tracking actual time spent on services, staff were sim- ply checking a box for services performed. Meanwhile, some ser- vices weren't documented at all. "It's not just the staff's fault. We need to hold everyone account- able for let- ting it go," says Wo l l s c h l a g e r. "Everyone gets caught up in the day-to-day, but if we want to stay in business we have to be more systematic about it. Making sure staff mem- bers are docu- menting unscheduled care is very important and requires manage- ment and auditing." Then, of course, there's the con- stant, nagging staff problem across the seniors housing industry — turnover. Losing staff members hurts NOI in lost productivity, training costs and time spent looking for replace- ment employees. Medtelligent estimates staff turnover across the industry at 30 to 35 percent per year, and Wollschlager suggests there's no simple solution. "Some say pay the least you can, then try to keep them there. Others say pay as much as you can because happy workers means happy residents," says Wollschlager. "People need to get their arms around that issue, and there's no quick solution." Seniors housing consulting firm Senior Living NOI suggests an approach where management identifies the top 20 percent of performers, then celebrates and listens to those staff members, according to Jill Haselman, the company's founder and CEO. Executive directors on aver- age spend 65 percent of their time babysitting staff members with poor performance, says Hasel- man. Highlighting and empow- ering the top performers elevates the staff while management gains invaluable information about the Jill Haselman Senior Living NOI Dana Wollschlager Plante Moran